Abstract

The development of high-speed networks in recent years has led to the implementation of a stable infrastructure, which is suitable for most types of networked performance - a musical performance involving two or more separated entities over a high-speed network. Most multi-site network performance systems have so far been concentrating on providing high quality audio connectivity but haven’t explored the musical and performative potential offered by a network of musicians and machines.We address technical and philosophical issues and propose a number of strategies which aim to identify possibilities for a new performance practice in the context of multi-site networking. We refer to an on-going collaborative project between the Sonic Arts Research Centre and Stanford University, and to the use of algorithms that act as distributed cues in the structuring of live-electronic improvisation in the project BLISS.