future instruments 2214

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Put most crudely for the fretfully hierarchical minds of 2214, Gan is a cross between a synthesizer, a record collection, and a game of golf. Taking its name from regions of ancient China and its language, old acronyms for telecommunications networks, the now-inundated villages of the Maldives and a childlike slang for “game,” Gan is both a musical instrument and a way of listening. It sounds like just about anything you can imagine, and most of what you can’t. To play Gan you need to visit a Gan Field with some smart paper (use your own or pick some up for free at the gate) running the necessary software. Rather like a park, the Gan Field is an attractive, three-dimensional area filled with grassy hills, sculptures, and unusual architectures. (One of the most popular ones is located half a mile above Vancouver, but its waiting lists can be long.)

The dimensions and sectors of the Gan Field correspond precisely to certain musical changes, and your smart paper is the map. Doubling as the membrane of a speaker, it always plays continuous loops of between ten seconds and ten minutes whose characteristics depend on where you are on the field. As you move through it (as an individual or in teams) and discover new areas, the loop accordingly changes and develops like a composition, and you can save the results.

There are also random variations in the sonic make-up of the Gan Field from day to day, known as “the weather,” but some elements always remain the same. What’s more, on the Field you can find and use pre-existing loops and recordings, interact with the other Gan players you meet as you roam, listening to and drawing on their loops, and employ props and vehicles for various compositional purposes. Gan is a musical instrument you walk around inside.