jon phillips is a new friend of mine who has been contributing a lot to my progress with blogging and combining social media with experimental art. he has a new project in the works that i would like to share with everyone, the laoban sound system project. hosted by jon’s company fabricatorz which he runs, as i understand it, out of his home office in beijing.


Laoban Soundsystem is an open sound system. The plans for all speakers are available on-line. The events the soundsystem participates in are media events that generate further media. Anyone who attends the events, creates the speakers, or produces content for them, please tag your work with laoban.

The Laoban Soundsystem events are a new type of media event where all are welcome to join, bring media, laptops, video players, cameras, and other recording devices. The goal is to mix media, explore what artists, DJs, musicians, designers, and architects are working on RIGHT NOW — successes, failures, and rough edges are welcome at Laoban events! The ultimate plan is for consumers to be producers by both mixing media, and by tagging any recordings they have with “laoban” when posting onto twitter.com, flickr.com, or other places. jon phillips

jon is using innovative free culture techniques to promote and finance this amazing project. many of them remind me of the type of hybrid culture that lawrence lessig suggests in his book ‘remix‘. one technique that fabricators is using is event related sponsorships. an idea that i hope to implement in future projects.

We are seeking sponsorships for the Laoban Soundsystem 2.0 being built in Guangzhou, China right now. It is to be used all summer in China for events. It is a custom engineered Chinese sound system, a research project, and a vehicle to connect sponsors with a large web-based and live audience connected to music, art, media, china, and web culture. Every time the system is used will be a media event, generating massive traffic and attention to the project and sponsors.

Contact us to be a sponsor and lets get this built!

jon let me know that stock will be available soon for this awesome new sound system so if you are interested in becoming a sponsor or would like to purchase a sound system you can reach jon through all his various contact methods.

Contact Information

Phone
GLOBAL +1 415-830-3884 (via Skype)
USA +1 510-499-0894
UK/EUROPE +44 79-6722-1636
CHINA+86 132-6817-8381 (Beijing)
CHINA+86 136-0282-8624 (Guangzhou)
TAIWAN+886 09-2851-3443
E-mail
Chat & Instant Message
msn, aim, yahoo chat kidproto
jabber/gtalk jon@rejon.org
irc rejon@irc.freenode.net
skype kidproto
sip rejon@ekiga.net

if this article peaks your interest read my interview with jon phillips.

Come out tomorrow afternoon and evening, Friday, May 1 at CCD300 for a last minute event tomorrow in Cao Chang Di for the Qianti 2009 Performance Art Festival. Matt and I are setting up the upgraded Laoban Soundsystem 1.0 and will use the new Xiaoban Baby Speaker Samples we have in the stack for the event to start at 2 PM on May Day (May 1) and will last for a few hours. If you are hardcore, come out from the start. My guess is the best time to come after the performance art is at 5:30 PM and we will keep the bass and dubstep going for as long as people are on the scene. There is cheap drinks and food all around the space, so all is well on that front.