Dreaming of public music robots
Music automats have historically had a close relationship with public spaces, especially in the Low Countries. In the past centuries you could find several church bells and carillons in a single Dutch or Belgian city, signalling the hour, or announcing deaths, births and celebrations. Traveling singers had barrel organs to spread stories and news on public squares. In the first half of the 20th century, automatic pianos, organs and orchestrions provided entertainment at dance parties and fairs. Music automata intensified communal moments and places; they formed a community along with musicians, church, believers, e.a., and made that communal experience in a sense "playable".
In the second half of the 20th century, the church's influence on public places diminished and the automobile, as the ultimate symbol of progress and individualization took over the streets. Public places were considered mainly as transportation or parking spaces. Fortunately, the spirit of the times changed gradually and from the 90s on public streets and parks regained more attention. People realize that children as well as adults need public parks, markets, gathering spots, etc. to play, celebrate, play sports, rest, etc. When church buildings are now (often) empty in Belgium and The Netherlands, local institutions, action groups and politicians look for ways to create new public, democratic meeting places in or around those churches, which fill various needs and also function as a center for a neighborhood or city. Anno 2024 there are opportunities to reshape a "communal" place.... and then the music automata reappear on the scene, albeit in a new form.
In recent decades, those music automats evolved into digitized music robots. The sound produced remains acoustic but the electro-mechanics to make beaters, horns, etc. move and play are controlled by a processor (on the instrument). New parts of instruments can now become part of the live performance (e.g. the wind supply of an organ can be controlled) and artists, hackers and engineers are also trying to automate sound machines and instruments (trumpet, cello, etc.) that were previously (difficult or) not. In the Logos Foundation (Belgium), for example, an entire orchestra has been built of robotic instruments, from recognizable organs or vibraphones to less conventional wind machines, thunder cans, doorbells or long springs. These new music robots have also become highly modular: they can be easily connected to other audio devices, computers or interfaces. For example, you can easily connect a piano keyboard to such a robot to play it like a "usual" musical instrument.
This robotization took place within experimental music, digital art and technological research, in labs, concert halls and museums, with few applications for public squares or streets. Yet I see the results of these robotic developments as promising for public spaces because they enable a rich palette of social interactions. Let me clarify this with the example of a small organ robot that would have a permanent place in the corner of a public square and be managed by a group of enthusiasts. A resident or community musician could then e.g. create a tune or short piece of music to be played weekly on a market day or on recurring social events. At larger, annual or one-time celebrations, a band can integrate the music robot into a live concert or a participatory installation can be created on the street where everyone plays the local music robot for one day. Or on the annual "Earth Day" nature lovers collaborate with artists or digital hackers, connect a live cam & laptop with the organ to play animal sounds as organ sounds on the square. The music robot thus evolves into a fluid monument around which neighborhoods and communities discuss the publicly audible (i.e. the public soundscape) and talk about what they do or do not want to express as a community through sound.
In this scenario, public music robots are much more flexible than the former carillon or orchestrion. For example, a vibraphone robot set up in a park can play softly and only be audible within a 10-meter circle; a trumpet robot can play in non-Western keys to express the different cultural backgrounds of a neighborhood; the internet or all kinds of radar, touch interfaces can be connected to such instruments to create interactive sound installations. Thus, a neighborhood or district can employ a contemporary music robot for a wide range of purposes, from purely functional tasks (displaying the hour or traffic flow), over reinforcement of communal experiences (births, carnivals, etc.) to more specific or individual goals (an artistic installation, a solo concert, etc.). Similarly, input is possible from very diverse groups -from "ordinary" residents to specialized computer geeks or professional musicians- to shape the sound performance of such a fixed robot in a public place.
I see this dream of public music robots as a continuation and renewal of the carillon tradition in which neighborhoods and villages give their physical place in the world a specific sound with the help of 'carillon' robots. In the past there has already been innovation in the carillon world: just think of the carillons in parks in the U.S. to commemorate wars. If we combine such innovations with practices from sound art, site-specific musical performances, community music and robotics, we arrive at a contemporary art form that fits our dream of more inclusive, democratic and ecological community rituals.
As written earlier, the momentum is there to shape public places together, especially as we presumably move toward a future with fewer or less noisy cars. Let's seize this opportunity and let hundreds of bells and sound robots ring!
Hans Roels
(February 2024)