✓ SUBMITTED · CultureHub Los Angeles Residency · submitted 2026-05-21 · awaiting decision — this page is the public record of the proposal
CultureHub Los Angeles · residency 2026 · submitted

Notepat
Jam.

A six-channel audio piece performed solo on six salvaged laptops — each one revived by booting it into AC Native, each voicing one channel of CultureHub LA's 5:1 Kalio surround.

Proposal by @jeffrey (Jeffrey Alan Scudder) · aesthetic.computer

Status
Submitted 2026-05-21 · awaiting decision
Venue
CultureHub Los Angeles · flexible studio · 5:1 Kalio Audio surround · showroom space
Cycle
Fall 2026 – Winter/Spring 2027 · 1–2 weeks in residence
Support
$2,000 stipend · technical support · documentation · one public offering
Instrument
notepat · a keyboard piano inside Aesthetic.Computer · play it at aesthetic.computer/notepat
System
AC Native · a bootable operating system that turns a laptop into an Aesthetic.Computer instrument
Call
culturehub.org/los-angeles · residency
Source
fedac/native/ · grants/culturehub-2026/
Colored-pencil and gouache illustration on cream paper: a dim sound-art showroom where six old, mismatched, salvaged laptops sit in a ring on low plywood tables, lids open and turned screens-away, a soft colored glow — pink, cyan, gold, green, purple — spilling from behind each lid. Six to eight people of varied ages sit low on the floor in a circle inside the ring, listening; loudspeakers on tall stands encircle the room. One performer, off-center and at the same eye-level as the audience, sits at one of the salvaged laptops. The colored glow washes up onto every face; the edges of the image dissolve into bare cream paper.
▸ Notepat Jam, in the round  ·  six salvaged laptops booted into AC Native  ·  one voice per channel of the 5:1 Kalio surround  ·  the audience seated inside the piece

§The Submitted ProposalCultureHub LA residency form · as submitted

The CultureHub Los Angeles residency form and the answers submitted on 2026-05-21.

Project title
Notepat Jam
One-sentence description
A six-channel audio piece performed solo on six aging laptops — donated, thrifted, e-waste-bound — each revived by booting it into AC Native, each running the notepat instrument and voicing one channel of CultureHub LA's 5:1 Kalio surround, the audience seated inside the speaker field.
Project & use of time~1450 / 1500 chars

notepat is an instrument inside Aesthetic.Computer: a keyboard piano where every key is a note and the screen is the score. AC Native is an operating system that boots from a USB stick — plug it into almost any laptop and the whole machine becomes one Aesthetic.Computer instrument: no desktop, no apps, just notepat, fullscreen. I revive a rack of six aging laptops by booting each into AC Native, synced over the studio's local network into one tempo and key, each voicing one discrete speaker of the 5:1 Kalio surround. I perform the piece solo. The residency runs in three parts: build, open programming, and perform.

Read the full pitch ↓
Public engagementtwo open events
Two open events. Mid-residency, open programming: a public workshop and dialogue where anyone can bring a laptop and, with me, boot it into AC Native and play notepat — turning a dead machine into an instrument in an hour. The residency culminates in the Notepat Jam concert: a ~30-minute six-channel piece performed solo in the 5:1 Kalio surround field, the audience seated inside the speaker array. Live-streamed; the multitrack and the AC Native image released open-source.
Artist bio~675 / 750 chars
Jeffrey Alan Scudder is an artist, educator, and technologist based in Los Angeles who builds musical instruments and creative tools for other artists. He holds an MFA from Yale and is an Author in Residence at UCLA Social Software, hosted by Casey Reas. He created Aesthetic.Computer — a mobile-first runtime and social network for creative computing — along with Whistlegraph and AC Native, a bootable operating system that turns a laptop into an instrument. He hosts NELA Computer Club, a biweekly demo night at Plot.Place in Chinatown. His work is held in the collections of KADIST and SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark.
LA-based?required
Yes — based in Los Angeles; hosts NELA Computer Club biweekly at Plot.Place in Chinatown.
Work samples2 links
aesthetic.computer/notepat — play the instrument live in the browser · aesthetic.computer — the full runtime and the body of work the residency draws from.

§The Roomsix laptops, six channels

Each of the six revived laptops drives one channel of CultureHub LA's 5:1 Kalio surround. The piece is genuinely multi-channel — six voices placed around the audience, who sit inside the piece rather than facing a stage.

Front L
salvaged laptop AC Native · notepat
Front C
salvaged laptop AC Native · notepat
Front R
salvaged laptop AC Native · notepat
Surround L
salvaged laptop AC Native · notepat
Surround R
salvaged laptop AC Native · notepat
Low / sub
salvaged laptop AC Native · notepat
▸ one performer at the center · six laptops synced over the studio's local network · audience seated inside the 5:1 Kalio field

§Pitch

Notepat Jam is a six-channel audio piece for six laptops — and the six laptops are the point.

notepat — the keyboard as a piano.

notepat is an instrument inside Aesthetic.Computer: a keyboard piano where every key is a note and the screen is the score. You can play it right now at aesthetic.computer/notepat. It is small, immediate, and made to be picked up by anyone.

AC Native — the laptop as the instrument.

AC Native (fedac/native/) is an operating system I build that boots from a USB stick. Plug it into almost any laptop and the whole machine becomes one Aesthetic.Computer instrument: no desktop, no menubar, no apps — just notepat, fullscreen. A 40-year-old desktop convention is set aside; the machine becomes a single thing you play.

Six salvaged machines.

For this residency I revive a rack of six aging laptops — donated, thrifted, e-waste-bound — by booting each into AC Native. The instruments are not bought; they are rescued. The six are synced over the studio's local network — no internet, no cloud — into one tempo and one key.

A piece composed for the room.

CultureHub LA's 5:1 Kalio surround system is why this belongs here. Each laptop drives a discrete speaker, so the piece is genuinely multi-channel — six voices placed around the audience, who sit inside the piece rather than facing a stage. I perform it solo: live notepat played over parts I build into the machines across the residency.

Open programming.

Alongside the concert, I run open programming: a public workshop and dialogue where anyone can bring a laptop and, with me, boot it into AC Native and play notepat. A dead machine becomes an instrument in an hour. The point of the residency is not only the piece — it is showing the room how the piece is made, and handing the method back.

§Four Registers

notepat

A keyboard piano inside Aesthetic.Computer: every key a note, the screen the score. Playable live at aesthetic.computer/notepat. The instrument.

AC Native

A bootable operating system (fedac/native/). A USB stick turns almost any laptop — including a salvaged one — into a single Aesthetic.Computer instrument.

The Piece

A ~30-minute six-channel composition, performed solo. Six revived laptops, each one voice of the 5:1 Kalio surround. The audience inside the field.

Open Programming

A public workshop and dialogue. Bring a laptop, boot it into AC Native, play notepat. The method handed back to the room.

§How It Answers the CallCultureHub LA themes

Integration of old + new techAC Native boots a modern creative-computing OS on old, discarded laptops; the salvaged machine becomes the new instrument.
Ecological responsibilityThe six instruments are revived e-waste. No new equipment is fabricated for the show — the sustainability is structural, not a statement.
Localized networksSix laptops synced over the studio's own local network — no internet, no cloud. The local network is the instrument's spine.
Human connectionThe audience seated inside the surround field, not facing a stage; the open programming opens the software to anyone who walks in, hands-on and in dialogue.

§The Network, Right Nowlive from aesthetic.computer/api/metrics

…Handles
…KidLisp pieces
…User pieces
…Active now
Fetching api/metrics …

§The Lineagespecific, not canonical

PLOrk · Princeton
The original laptop orchestra (2005–). Six laptops, one piece, hand-fabricated speaker hemispheres. Notepat Jam keeps the format but folds it to one performer and a surround system.
The Hub
Bay Area network-music ensemble (1986–). Cross-machine signal as composition. Here the network is local and small — six machines, one room.
Mark Fell · Multistability
Tight gridded notation as compositional material. notepat's key-is-a-note, screen-is-the-score posture inherits that notation-as-instrument stance.
Goodiepal
Radical Computer Music. The argument that the computer itself is under-designed as an artistic instrument. I toured Europe with him in 2018; AC Native descends from those conversations.
Permacomputing / salvage
The growing practice of keeping old hardware alive instead of discarding it. AC Native makes a USB stick the act of revival — an e-waste laptop becomes a working instrument.

§Residency Plan1–2 weeks · build / open / perform

BuildRevive and image six salvaged laptops with AC Native. Set up per-laptop spatial routing into the 5:1 Kalio system and local-network sync. Tune the showroom configuration.
Open programmingA public workshop and dialogue: anyone brings a laptop, boots it into AC Native, plays notepat. A dead machine into an instrument in an hour.
RehearseWrite the parts into the machines; rehearse the solo performance against the surround field. Lock the ~30-minute piece.
PerformThe public Notepat Jam concert in the showroom. Six-channel piece + short Q&A. Live-streamed.
ShipEdit the multitrack; release it and the AC Native image open-source so the method travels past the residency.

§Status✓ submitted