The algorave moved live coding from experimental venues into clubs with dancefloors, first held in London in 2012

In 2011 Alex McLean and Nick Collins coined ‘algorave’ by combining ‘algorithm’ and ‘rave.’ The idea was to take live coding out of experimental venues and into clubs with proper sound systems, lights, and audiences there to dance rather than observe. The first algorave took place on 17 March 2012 in London, as a warm-up for the SuperCollider Symposium, featuring McLean’s project slub among others. By 2013 algoraves were happening in Birmingham, Karlsruhe, Sheffield and beyond; today the format exists on every continent. Its aesthetic is deliberately raw: code projected large, performers visibly thinking, mistakes acceptable, music emerging from logic rather than pre-recorded loops.

Examples

The algorave format: the performer’s editor projected on a screen above the dancefloor; the audience dances to live-generated music while the performer occasionally makes and recovers from an error in public.

Assessment

Describe two ways an algorave differs from a conventional DJ set, and explain how TOPLAP’s ‘show your screens’ principle makes the algorave format coherent.