The “Diamond in the Mud” Project addresses areas of the senses that Westerners tend to overlook. It is also an Asian concept rooted in Buddhism that self-cultivation can be developed at home as a householder and is not merely confined to a temple or monastery. It has been said by Buddhists that enlightened beings are those who "grew" out of the "mud" of the material world. So, like the lotus flower, which penetrates through sullied mud and water, but emerges unspoiled, enlightened beings are beautiful and pure even though they grow up in the material world. The phrase “a diamond in the mud” is an analogy for this and in keeping with it, the Digital Art Weeks would like to issue this call to sound artists and hörspiel authors to submit stereophonic soundscape works in regard to the beautiful and the sullied. The works will be chosen on their ability to transcend the listeners into a “moment of tranquilly” and out of the confines of the everyday, or as expressed in the Diamond Sutra: “Dwell upon nothing and produce the pure mind.”

Playback System

Constructed as a dock for Apple’s famed iPod, the iCarta stereophonic audio playback system will be used to play back all of the selected works. The systems not only offers an interesting solution for public pod-casting, but it also acts uniquely as a bathroom dispenser for the indispensable: Le papier toilette.

Submission Information

Please submit all works electronically in MP3 format and accompanied by a completed application (The title of the work, a short description of no more than 100 words, and a short biography of the author of the work of no more than 50 words). Submission should be made available for downloading at a link of the submitter's choice or can be sent per email or snail mail to the address below. Selected works will be presented at the Literaturhaus in Basel, Switzerland over a period of three days from the 25th to the 27th of September 2008. Information about the artist and the work will appear electronically and all of the works will be made available to download for pod-casting. A listening space will be provided that goes along with the concept of the project and the needed hardware and audio library (iPod shuffle) will be made available. Works should be no longer than 5 minutes in duration. Winning Prize: iCarta Audio Player

DEADLINE: Monday, 15th September 2008. Notification of acceptance of proposals will be sent out on or before Monday, 22th September 2008.

Websites

http://www.digitalartweeks.ethz.ch/web/DAWPlus/SoundScape08