Concert machine is an open portal, an interactive tool allowing for the creation of telematic artistic events in which the audience participates actively. The idea of the project was born from the reflection on various forms of access to musical events in the age of lockdown. The creators noticed that most of the content made available to the audience is based solely on the simple scheme of transmission and rebroadcasting of the event, so these forms are only a substitute for a concert played live with the presence of the audience. In response to this scheme, the Concert Machine offers an entirely different approach to organizing online events. It assumes interactive participation of the audience in the concert. Concert Machine is a project created in cooperation with an_Arche New Music Foundation, the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center, and the Telematics Laboratory of the Poznan Academy of Music. 

The creators themselves write about the portal:
“CONCERT MACHINE is an open networked instrument to inspire composer(s) and listener(s), to generate a specific telematic experience of audience participation in concerts on performer-like rights. The website with the (re)transmission of the concerts is our starting point, the basic function. However, a key element of the project is the interactivity/interpassivity of the players and listeners. This can take place in many ways. CONCERT MACHINE is a tool to prototype this type of event.”  

The art&science Future Labs space hosted the inaugural concert for the portal. An instrumental octet resulting from the combination of the Sepia Ensemble  and the Kwaśny Deszcz jazz trio under the baton of Marta Kacy performed compositions by Sebastian Dembski, Michał Janocha, Jan Skorupa, Aleksandra Słyż and Katarzyna Taborowska-Kaszuba. All compositions were dedicated to the emerging portal, using its assumptions of audience participation.

The initiators of the project are: Rafał Zapała and Jan Skorupa.

www.maszynakoncertowa.art