“Economusic: Keeping Score” is a performance concept by Larry Bogad which he has performed live in New York, Helsinki, Barcelona, Buffalo, San Francsico (at SFMOMA and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts), and on the UC Davis campus.  In this piece, economic data is converted into music and performed with a great deal of audience participation.  For example, Bogad may play the Unemployment rate on his flute while the audience is instructed on how to follow the musicalized data projections so they can “harmonize” by singing the Incarceration Rate.  This application was created under Bogad’s supervision, by a crack team of UC Davis programmers. Using this program, the performer can have the computer play many different hand-traced data lines using any from a large choice of instruments–from digeredoo to choir voices.  This provides the performer with a wider range of options in performance–performing live data in dialogue with the program, or narrating or gesturing as the program continues to play.

Project Contact: Larry Bogad

Project Collaborator: Treena Balds