Symphony #2 for Dot Matrix Printers

CreditsSymphony #2 for dot matrix printers was commissioned by Hull Time Based Arts (UK) and realised with support from the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology. Concept, design, construction and composition: [The User] – Emmanuel Madan and Thomas McIntosh.
Software: Thaddeus Thomas, ReDada software. Electronic engineering and manufacture: David Ozsvari.

Awards & Distinctions
1999.09 Honourable mention, Digital musics section, Prix Ars electronica, Linz Austria
2001.10 First Prize, Performance section, FCMM Festival, Montréal QC Canada

Tour History
2010.09 TodaysArt Festival, The Hague Netherlands
2010.06 MUTEK Festival, Montreal Quebec
2004.06 Netmage Festival, Bologna Italy
2001.08 Avanto Festival, Helsinki Finland
2001.10 FCMM Festival, Montréal QC Canada
2001.06 format5 Festival Parochialkirche, Berlin Germany
2001.02 Mois multi, Méduse, Québec QC Canada
2000.02 EXIT Festival, Créteil France
1999.11 Atlantico Festival, Lisbon Portugal
1999.10 Beursschouwburg, Brussels Belgium
1999.10 ROOT Festival, Hull Time Based Arts, Hull England
1999.10 ICA, London England
1999.09 Batofar, Paris France
1999.09 net_condition, ZKM, Karlsruhe Germany
1999.09 Recombinant, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz Austria

Press review
“…Some of the year’s finest electroacoustic sounds. … [The User] extend Kraftwerk’s mission by inhabiting mechanised conceptual space rather than mocking it from a distance.” — The Wire, London 1999.12″Le cri primal des imprimantes… Pour célébrer la révolution numérique, quoi de mieux que ce pied de nez à la course au progrès technologique?” — Libération, Paris 1999.09.24

“The grinding yet pure harmonies and funky line-feed percussion of these machines was unlike anything we have heard before.” — Mute, London 1999.10

“Pendant près de trente minutes, les imprimantes vont sonner et swinguer comme de la «vraie» musique instrumentale, avec rythmes, graves, consonances aquatiques, respirations et envolées lyriques. Incroyable d’entendre comment une technologie dépassée, l’imprimante matricielle, détournée de sa fonction première, génère cette techno industrielle, lancinante et mélodieuse.” — Libération, Paris 1999.05.28

“The piece hints at the commercial, inbuilt obsolescence principles which drive so much technological innovation and development. At the same time, it highlights the ‘junkyard’ ethos which drives so much technological music, which advances as much by the reappropriation and misuse of decrepit machinery as by the application of new tools. In turn, the machinery is reborn when it is put to service performing new and previously unimagined functions.” — The Wire, London 1999.10

“O certo é que, seja qual for a perspectiva com que se ohle para esta obra pioneira, o resultado é música, com ritmos, harmonias e ambientes próprios de um escritório com vida.” — SON sexta-feira, Lisbon 1999.10.15

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  Symphony for dot matrix printers: The Office Suite - 2001

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  Symphony #1 for Dot Matrix Printers - 1998

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  Quartet for dot matrix printers - 2004

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  Optinen ääni (Optical Sound) - 2005