FLOW operates on two levels, firstly as an engaging live performance environment and secondly as a vehicle to discuss a number of philosophical ideas relating to sound as art. As a performance piece FLOW exists to provide an inclusive interactive environment for musicians and casual visitors alike. A series of sensors allow those who enter the arena to make interventions in an immersive soundscape through their movements, opening up possibilities for the exploration of sound and gestural action within the space. The piece challenges the conventional roles of performer and spectator and offers interactive technology as a means of uniting the two. The artist creates a re-imagination of the performance paradigm based on active engagement rather than passive observance through the establishment of a circular discourse between human and computer. The following paper will also examine the nature of sound as art, suggesting that the poststructural ideas of Derrida and Deleuze and Guattari can be used as a conduit to define sonic emergences and morphologies within a Human/computer discourse, both in terms of timbral nature and spatial diffusion. Central to this is the concept that suggests the relationship between man and machine in interactive sonic art is one of energy transfer from organic fluidity to digital regulation and back to energy in the form of processed sound, according to the processes put in place. This leads into a final discussion of the nature of experimental compositional process, the choice between the determinate and the stochastic and the compromises between these that may need to be made to retain artistic coherence.

Le son est souvent qualifié de postmoderne, dans la mesure où les installations sonores associent son et visuels, enfreignant ainsi le principe de la séparation des genres qui constitue l'un des fondements de l'art moderniste. Cependant, dans de nombreux cas, le son manifeste une matérialité et des fonctionnalités relevant du moderne. Cela est vrai dans l'architecture, où l'on retrouve la notion de son moderne associée aux techniques d'isolation sonore pratiquées dans les immeubles modernes des premières décennies du XXème siècle. Ces techniques ont donné lieu à un son qui incarnait l'idée d'efficacité et qui soulignait la maîtrise technique de l'homme sur son environnement physique - autant de caractéristiques de la culture moderne. Il existe d'autres situations dans lesquelles se manifeste le son moderne. L'installation associant le son et les visuels peut dans certains cas être qualifiée de moderne, et dans le cas d'œuvres sonores portant sur les notions de temps et d'espace, nous avons pu identifier une conception de la spatio-temporalité tout à fait moderne. Ce sont autant de domaines qui permettent de déceler l'empreinte du moderne non encore révélée. Car si le récit du moderne dans son ensemble a été raconté de nombreuses fois, ce n'est pas le cas de l'histoire peu connue, mais tout aussi mouvementée, du son moderne - une histoire qui permet de revenir sur la question du moderne, et de révéler son actualité. / Sound installations are generally classified as postmodern: by associating sound and visuals, they infringe the principle of the separation of the genres typifying modernist art. Yet sound can nonetheless manifest a materiality and functionality that tie in with modem ideals. ln architecture for instance, we can identify the notion of modem sound in the context of the soundproofing techniques employed in modernist buildings in the early 20th century. These techniques gave rise to a sound that epitomized the modern idea of efficiency: stripped of any extraneous elements, it encouraged efficient behaviour among its listeners, while underscoring man's technical mastery over his physical environment - yet another modem trait. The notion of modem sound also manifests itself in other situations: certain installation associating sound and visuals can be described as modem, while many sound works addressing the notions of space and time testify to a modem concept of spatio-temporality. The story of modernist has been told many times, but yet to be told is the equally eventful story of modem sound - a narrative that revisits the question of modernism and underscores its relevance today.

Through interrelating the Acoustic Communication concepts of soundscape with contemporary collective memory studies, this research project explores the relationship between commuters and the London Underground (LU) soundscape in order to create an interactive sonic environment on the Internet. The methodology combines fieldwork and artistic work, focusing on commuters’ perceptions of time and space, and on their sonic memories, as elements through which to interpret the space. The objective of the fieldwork is to investigate commuters’ aural memories of the LU soundscape, including the feelings and sensations that it stimulates. The artistic objective is to facilitate the interaction between the soundscape and its users through an interface that allows a creative combination of sounds to assemble aural memories into a sound-driven multimedia experience. Twenty-four commuters participated in the ethnographic study during the three phases of the research; they followed the researcher’s model, which combines the processes of listening and remembering. The researcher thus developed an interactive sonic environment where commuters can experience a non-linear virtual journey through the soundscape of LU, then apply this as a means of reflecting on the original commuting experience. The interactive nature of the process makes it possible for individual memories to be linked in a creative shared experience; it fosters the development of on-line sound-driven narratives.

A pesquisa tem o intuito de explorar a noção de \"Presença\", que é amplamente estudada no campo das artes da cena e em performance art. Essa noção é emancipada a um dispositivo conceitual criativo nas áreas da música e de arte sonora. Passando por questionamentos acerca da performance musical, contrapõe o conceito de obra à ideia de impureza, que surge como um território propício para a investigação do conceito de presença. Para isso, é levantada uma definição desse conceito, balizada em estudos teatrais e filosóficos, que possibilitam a abertura de um campo de estudos em criação e performance sonora. Dentro desse contexto, são feitas reflexões sobre artistas que buscam relacionar seus trabalhos a elementos extramusicais, e que, de alguma forma, tangenciam o conceito de presença que fora delineado. / The research aims to explore the notion of \"presence,\" which is widely studied in the stage arts and performance art. This notion is emancipated to a creative conceptual device in the areas of music and sound art. Through discusses about the musical performance, the research opposes the concept of work to the idea of impurity, which appears as a breeding ground for the investigation of the concept of presence. Therefore, it is raised a definition of this concept, rooted by theatrical and philosophical studies, which allows the opening of a field of sound studies about performance and composition. In this context, reflections are made about artists who seek to relate their work to extramusical elements, and that, somehow, are related to the concept of presence that had been outlined by this research.

A pesquisa tem o intuito de explorar a noção de \"Presença\", que é amplamente estudada no campo das artes da cena e em performance art. Essa noção é emancipada a um dispositivo conceitual criativo nas áreas da música e de arte sonora. Passando por questionamentos acerca da performance musical, contrapõe o conceito de obra à ideia de impureza, que surge como um território propício para a investigação do conceito de presença. Para isso, é levantada uma definição desse conceito, balizada em estudos teatrais e filosóficos, que possibilitam a abertura de um campo de estudos em criação e performance sonora. Dentro desse contexto, são feitas reflexões sobre artistas que buscam relacionar seus trabalhos a elementos extramusicais, e que, de alguma forma, tangenciam o conceito de presença que fora delineado. / The research aims to explore the notion of \"presence,\" which is widely studied in the stage arts and performance art. This notion is emancipated to a creative conceptual device in the areas of music and sound art. Through discusses about the musical performance, the research opposes the concept of work to the idea of impurity, which appears as a breeding ground for the investigation of the concept of presence. Therefore, it is raised a definition of this concept, rooted by theatrical and philosophical studies, which allows the opening of a field of sound studies about performance and composition. In this context, reflections are made about artists who seek to relate their work to extramusical elements, and that, somehow, are related to the concept of presence that had been outlined by this research.