PLOrk, THE PRINCETON LAPTOP ORCHESTRA PRESENTS “MACHINE YEARNING” APRIL 23, 2014
Machine Yearning by PLOrk: with special guest THE ROBOT
Robot programming by Ryan Luke Johns, and Charlie Avis (*14), and live projection mapping by Gene Kogan in collaboration with Ryan Johns. Project initiated by Axel Kilian and Jeffrey Snyder
This piece takes place at the Arch Lab, behind the Frick Chemistry Building a short walk away from the hall. You’ll be led to the site by PLOrk with the percussion parade, and arrive at an outdoor space where the performance will take place. This collaboration came about through Axel Kilian, an Assistant Professor in the Architecture department, who acquired an industrial robot for his department and was dreaming up interesting artistic projects in which to use it. A collaboration with PLOrk sounded like a great idea, so we went to work putting it together. Most of the sounds you hear are produced by the electromagnetic fields generated by the motors of the robot as it moves – we worked out the software to be able to program the robot to play specific pitches. PLOrk members amplify and alter these audio signals and add our own sounds to the texture. Thanks so much to everyone involved for their hard work on putting this together!
rough performance video
