viral symphOny is a collaborative electronic noise music

Noise music

Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...

 symphony created by the digital artist Joseph Nechvatal

Joseph Nechvatal

Joseph Nechvatal is a post-conceptual art digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.-Life and work:Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago...

 . It was created between the years 2006 and 2008 using custom artificial life

Artificial life

Artificial life is a field of study and an associated art form which examine systems related to life, its processes, and its evolution through simulations using computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986...

  C++ software based on the viral phenomenon

Viral phenomenon

Viral phenomena are objects or patterns able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them....

 model. It is 1 hour and 40 minutes in length.

Awards

• viral symphOny was chosen as prize winner at the 9th Festival Internacional de Investigación Artística de Valencia, After The Net, 5-29 June 2008, Valencia, Spain
• viral symphOny was voted #2 in the top ten at free103.9 radio in 2007
• SoundLAB VI selected artist: Joseph Nechvatal
  Joseph Nechvatal
  Joseph Nechvatal is a post-conceptual art digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.-Life and work:Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago...
  
  

Movements

• movement 1 : the enthrOning

28.10 min

• Joseph Nechvatal : original concept viral structures
• Matthew Underwood : nano, micro, meso and macro structures
• Andrew Deutsch
  Andrew Deutsch
  Andrew Deutsch is a sound artist who also teaches at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.-Life and work:Deutsch received his BFA in Video Art and Printmaking from Alfred University in 1990. He obtained his MFA in Integrated Electronic Art from Rensselaer Polytechnic...
  
   : meso and macro structures
• Stephane Sikora : C++ programming
• Steven Mygind Pedersen : IEA project technician

• movement 2 : murmuring tOngue Of Ovid

20.53 min

• Joseph Nechvatal : original concept, viral structures, & synthesizer
• Matthew Underwood : nano, micro, meso and macro structures
• Stephane Sikora : C++ viral programming
• Ovid
  Ovid
  Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
  
  's Metamorphosis: text
• Jane Lawrence
  Jane Lawrence
  Jane Lawrence Smith , born Jane Brotherton, was an American actress and opera singer who was part of the New York art scene from the 1950s on.-Life and work:...
  
   Smith: voice

• movement 3 : pastOral pleasures

12.08 min

• Joseph Nechvatal : original concept, viral structures, and text
• Matthew Underwood : nano, micro, meso and macro structures
• Stephane Sikora : C++ programming

• movement 4 : viractual terminate

10.10

• Joseph Nechvatal : original mix concept
• Matthew Underwood : nano, micro, meso and macro structures
• Andrew Deutsch meso and macro structures Stephane Sikora : C++ programming
• Kevin Harkins: orchestration for percussion, didgeridoo, piano, violin and strings

• pOstmOrtem

28:10

• Joseph Nechvatal : original mix concept
• Matthew Underwood : nano, micro, meso and macro structures
• Andrew Deutsch meso and macro structures Stephane Sikora : C++ programming
• Kevin Harkins: orchestration for String Section (Violins, Cello and Bass), Dijeridoo, E-pad (sort of harmonium-ish) Air Pizz (hammered calliope, sometimes including the hammered operator), Grand Piano, Orchestral Percussion Section, English Horn, Bassoon, Harp and Horn Section (French Horns, Trumpets, Trombone)

Performance history

• The complete viral symphOny was performed at Diapason at 882 Third Avenue, Brooklyn New York on Friday February 13, 2009
• viral symphOny is downloadable for free at www.archive.org
• The first three movements of the viral symphOny net broadcast by WebSYNradio four times a day from September 30 to October 7th, 2010.http://droitdecites.org/2009/10/02/joseph-nechvatal-sur-websynradio-30-sept-7-oct/
• Web published in 2010 its entirety as part of the W2F Festival
• The complete viral symphOny was performed as the soundtrack to a digital art projection by Joseph Nechvatal (in collaboration with Stephane Sikora) on September 26th, 2010 at Galerie Richard in Paris.

Recording reference

• viral symphOny (first movement only) CD Produced in 2006 at The Institute for Electronic Arts
• viral venus vibratOr web published at Soanyway
• http://www.ubu.com/sound/nechvatal.html viral symphOny (28'09") and murmuring tOngue Of Ovid (20:53) web published at UbuWeb
  UbuWeb
  UbuWeb is a large web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives.-Philosophy:...
  
  ]