Soundwwwalk performances are an emerging genre of live browser-based performances where improvisation meets plugin sound-collage and multitab mixing, shamelessly blending the traditions of acoustic ecologies, pro-surfing and laptop performance. The artists take the audience on a sonic detour through the World Wide Web.
A Soundwwwalk considers the act of surfing the World Wide Web as a form of sonic action in the networked space of the Internet, a place where multitudes of sound sources, sonic events and acoustic phenomena converge. All performances follow the Soundwwwalk One-Line-Manifesto: “All sound sources must be played in a browser, must not be self-produced and must be publicly accessible.” The artists perform their Soundwwwalks in person on stage or transmit the notation, sometimes in real time, to a local interpreter operating the browser.
The performance series was initiated in 2009, inspired by the world wide web becoming the largest possible library of sonic artefacts and recordings, considering any sound and video file uploaded to the web as potential but fluctuative material for sonic ideas and actions.