WAIVE Europa

Heritage is for everyone. With heritage, we can share our memories and culture. For most people, sharing is also a memory, an experience, and a celebration. A lot of heritage material is stored in our archives and can be used in many more different ways. Think of musicians who can incorporate sounds from the archive into their music or filmmakers who can use fragments. Many makers, therefore, work with archives on a one-on-one basis for their creative process.

Still, there are many artists and other people who do not come into contact with the beautiful material that is kept in the many archives. It can be difficult for people to approach the archive. There is also a lot of material so it may be intimidating for some to know where to start in all the material that archives offer. Which material is interesting for which application? In addition, despite all the work being done, there is material in archives that remains unused.

Archive and music

The WAIVE Europe project aims to make archival material accessible to artists and the public in a new and user-friendly way. The project has two parts. Firstly, a database of heritage material is being developed that people can easily use to create music and images with the support of artificial intelligence. The program can generate original drum and guitar sounds and at the same time suggest a sound fragment from the archive's heritage material. WAIVE Europe creatively reuses auditory and visual archival material that can be produced live into new electronic music (EDM) with matching visual material. For example, an artist or someone from the audience can use a fragment of a nature recording in the music or perhaps use a fragment of an interview as a melody.

Heritage at the festival

Secondly, WAIVE Europe organizes live shows throughout Europe. Cultural events such as festivals offer an excellent opportunity to expose audiences and artists to new material. Many people who come to festivals want to join a special creative social event and party with all the experiences available. WAIVE Europe allows artists to reach the audience with their music in a special way. Above all, because WAIVE Europe uses heritage material, artists and audiences can be intimately involved in the music and visuals of the local heritage of where the festival takes place. This way the festival not only comes to the location, but the location is also part of the festival.

Role Sound and Vision

At the foundation of the development of WAIVE Europe’s database is the large archive of Sound and Vision. As a result, Sound and Vision develops both the content of the database as well as the organisation and management of the collaboration between the partners. In addition, Sound and Vision takes an active role in the communication between the parties and in contacting the organizers of the festivals where the live shows take place.

This project is in collaboration with Thunderboom Records for the development of the database and the organisation of the live shows. The archival material is gathered together with material from the BBC, Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, and the Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council. The further organisation of the live shows is done in collaboration with various computer scientists, Arran Lyon and Superposition, and (ii). They provide support in production, musical and visual areas.