What is London Community Laptop Orchestra?
We are a community based laptop orchestra, open to anyone who’s interested, with no experience required. We believe in the political and transformative potential of collective creative actions. Focusing on guerrilla performances (public performances without permission), we believe experimental music should not just be heard and experienced by everyone but can also be played by anyone, without any prior experience or training. This is aided by the accessibly and adaptability of the computer as a tool for performance.
Why did you start it?
I’ve run a few laptop orchestras through educational institutions, but this is the first one that's been entirely untethered from that landscape. I think outside of those structures, it can be hard to find creative communities doing this type of freeform work. Art spaces can curate out the amateur, enforcing a boundary between who and what we get to see. I wanted to make an ensemble that encourages both tech people and non-tech people to get involved, with an ethos that anyone can make and engage in art-making given the freedom and encouragement to experiment.
Who or what inspired you?
Our core inspiration is the Scratch Orchestra (1969-1974), with its focus on Marxist organising principles and experimentation at its forefront. Their work drives the type of pieces we want to make/ play. Also, my partner Agnes, her way of thinking about technology in an organic and tactile way inspires the way in which I want this laptop orchestra to feel unique against the likes of Stanford and PLOrk, focusing less on the cutting-edge technology and more on the laptop as an accessible tool with an expansive range of approaches to creative practice.