Building a prototype of a space-controlled electric intrument has never been so easy, honestly! Just don’t touch the pitch antenna! Become one!
DAY1
- Getting to know Theremin, a thereminist’s anatomy, theremin technology, its history and place in contemporary electronic music or radio art. Theremin everything.
- How do we make a space-controlled electronic instrument? And how do we use antennas?
DAY2
- Building a circuit of an instrument based on theremin technology.
- Electric potential of a human/ thereminist.
DAY 3
- Building circuits.
- Developing individual or group projects."
Bio
Tata Frenkel is an artist-researcher, musician from Vilnius, working within fields of electroacoustics and education, a thereminist. Tata is a practicing educator and guest lecturer in cultural institutions.
In this hands-on live-coding workshop using Gibber, participants will be introduced to the basics of live-coding using a browser based environment. The session will begin with an overview of Gibber, followed by guidance on setting up the environment to start coding immediately. Attendees will learn fundamental concepts of Gibber, explore sequencing melodies and rhythms, and engage in interactive coding sessions to create dynamic compositions. The workshop will also cover how to generate and manipulate visuals, enabling participants to craft compelling, real-time multimedia performances using Gibber.
Gibber is developed and maintained by Charlie Roberts, an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), USA.
Students are required to bring their own laptop and headphones.
Bio
Anis Haron is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and a senior lecturer in Multimedia University, Malaysia. A proponent of art and technology, Anis has been pursuing research in the field of sound and music computing with applications in art practice for over a decade. His works has been exhibited and published internationally at venues such as Pixel Festival for Electronic Art and Technological Freedom (Norway), Harvestworks Digital Media Art Center (USA), 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art - ISEA (Canada), and UP Fine Arts Gallery (Philippines) among others. He holds a BFA in New Media from Universiti Sains Malaysia and an MFA in Computer Art from School of Visual Arts, NY. He also pursued his graduate studies in Media Arts & Technology program at University of California Santa Barbara and holds a PhD in Creative Multimedia from Multimedia University, Malaysia.
Whether you work in the medium of music, video, or installation, you have probably faced the situation of working with a program or tool and thinking to yourself, "I wish this could do X." Sometimes it might be a very simple function that would make everything about your project so much easier, but somehow it isn’t there. The goal of this workshop is to enable you to create your own tools for live performances and installations in Max/MSP and thus greatly expand your artistic toolkit through the combination of simple methods. So, what is Max/MSP? It is a graphic programming language with a special emphasis on building applications for sound and video. Instead of writing code, the user connects objects with patch cords, much like working with a modular synthesizer. Specialized objects perform advanced functions, allowing you to focus on the overarching structure of a program instead of having to wrestle with every small step along the way. Since programming and UI-building are so closely interlinked in Max/MSP, you can experiment and even start playing with your program while you are programming it. This enables an intuitive workflow and a more experimental approach to tool-building than what traditional coding languages allow. In other words, you don’t need to understand everything you will be doing to start building useful programs.
However, the capabilities of Max/MSP reach far beyond the digital realm. Whether you want to integrate sensors, control motors, visualize live data from the internet, or implement machine learning, Max/MSP gives you the tools to do it. Combine this with extensive documentation, a vast library of free and paid extensions, and its close integration with other tools such as VST, Processing, vvvv, or even JavaScript, and it should be apparent why it would be a valuable skill to acquire. In this workshop, we will first engage with the basic structure, UI, and workflow of Max/MSP. Starting from the very basics, we will explore the tools of Max and how to create a canvas for experimentation for ourselves. In a series of exercises, you will be introduced to some possible techniques for processing and controlling sound, as well as how to approach creating your own tools on a structural level. In the second half of the workshop, we will work together on your ideas, developing ways to put them into practice by creating your own live performance or installation in Max/MSP. This can be as simple or complex as you choose it to be and will be presented at the closing of the UPDATE Festival.
Participants are required to bring their own laptops.
Bio
Heinrich Lenz is a musician and sound artist from Cologne. His work includes composition, live performance as well as sound and audiovisual installations. The main focuses of his work are minimalism, generative structures, and very long forms, as well as music for altered states of consciousness. From 2016 to 2021, he studied Electroacoustic Composition at the University of Music "Franz Liszt" in Weimar. Combining ambient music with studies of room acoustics and impulse responses, he developed music at the boundary between performance and installation: sleep music. Since 2018, he has regularly organized sleep concerts, in which he appears both as an organizer and as an artist. His bachelor's thesis dealt with the social-psychological and cultural backgrounds of sleep music. From 2019 to 2020, he studied abroad at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and studied Electronic Music from 2021 to 2024 at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, where he completed his master's degree. His master's thesis focused on the use of machine learning for assisted real-time composition, culminating in an eight-hour live performance. From 2018 to 2024, Heinrich Lenz was a scholarship holder of the Hans Böckler Foundation and was a Fellow at ON After School in 2023. In 2024, he is an Artist in Residence at No End To The Road, Witten. His projects, especially his sleep concerts, have been supported by various public institutions, and he has presented his vision of electronic sound art at the Experimance Festival (2024), Tarmac Festival (2023), and Nowhere Festival (2023), among others.
Focus of Liepaja Noir is on how to tell a story, using a wide range of visual and dramaturgic strategies of the noir genre. The envisioned outcome of this class will be a collection of short pictographic stories (sequence of photos or drawings incorporating text or sound) unfolding the plot, which as the genre calls us for, will convey a pronounced dramatic charge. Big part of our efforts will be in appropriating noir visual style pertinent to the dramatic storytelling. Although noir is associated with crime films from the 40's and 50's, its roots lay in German Expressionist Cinema, and Nouvelle Vague is one of its many offshoots; therefore we will give a try in defining a "localized variant" of the movement, appropriating landmarks, stories and social character of the place.
Bio
Zil Lilas is a professor and since 2021 a vice-rector at the Academy of Media Arts, Cologne (Germany). Lilas has been consistently engaged with the phenomenon of new technologies and human creativity. After graduating from the Ohio State University (MFA 1998) he was professionally engaged in Hollywood (Walt Disney Studios, Metrolight, and etc.) on a number of animated films, games, publications, and television projects. He has been an author of diverse body of artistic work lately focusing on performative animation and wide conditions leading to emergence of an artwork.
In the workshop, participants will use various visual materials (images, photos, GIFs, videos – either self-made or found) that, with the help of ambisonics technology and Reaper DAW, will be transformed into sound sketches/ sound compositions or soundscapes that complement the visual material. Participants will have the opportunity to record their own sounds or use free sound libraries such as freesound.org.
The workshop is suitable for beginners as well as those looking to expand their knowledge in the audio field. No prior experience with ambisonics or extensive DAW knowledge is required, but basic computer skills and an interest in sound are essential.
The workshop will use Reaper DAW (free trial version) and free ambisonics plugins. Participants will learn sound processing and mixing techniques, as well as methods to create spatial soundscapes using various plugins.
This workshop is realised in the framework of the Artillery 35 project “Soundfields”, supported by Nordplus Horizontal.
Participants are required to bring their own laptops.
Bio
Gustavs Voldemars Lociks is a new media artist from Liepaja (LV), whose artistic practice revolves around media processing and generative tools used to challenge various medai boundaries and to explore the readability of information. With a strong foundation in visual and audio media, Gustavs has actively participated in numerous projects and exhibitions. He has presented his creative work at notable events, such as a music concert on the roof of "Lielais Dzintars" and the "Skaņu Mezs" experimental music festival. In addition, Gustavs has held a solo exhibition titled "Reference Metadata" at the RIXC gallery in Riga, delving into the exploration of artificial intelligence and its application in both visual and audio generation. In 2020, he was awarded the Spelmanu Nakts prize as Video Artist of the Year. His video work "Spectating the Groundhog Day" is also included in the Latvian video art archive at Noass Art Centre. Gustavs' artistic focus lies in the merging of technology and artistic expression.
Sunken in bright screens, entangled in the cables and immersed in VR glasses? How do you imagine a nerdy media artist? Luddite activities are not productive anymore but how to human while living in the post-human world? How to feel your own body in transhumanism realm? How to survive in any crisis (ecological, political, etc.) and stay artist. When you are always online, do you still believe in the offline reality? Let's downgrade ourselves and start to treat somatic practices equal to artistic ones.
Prof. dr. Vytautas Michelkevičius after 20 years of curatorial, research and writing practice in media art, invites you for some easy and demanding physical and mental exercises: walking, chatting, swimming, going to sauna and getting lost in your city with psycho-geographical twist. Let’s bring some Fluxus and Pataphysics in post-digital post-media art. Have you known that pioneer net artist Heath Bunting, after many years of being heavily online in media art festivals, started to give workshops "How to climb a tree"; which seemed to be very popular and useful? Let's fake somatic practices together and invent new ones adapted to media artists!
https://rosalindgoldberg.com/pages/fake-somatic-practice.html
Each of your contribution is very valuable: please bring any survival skills you have (from anecdote or storytelling to foraging and cooking) and we will have quality time together and prepare a manual for OFF-grid media artist.
Let’s UPDATE ourselves!
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO BRING FOR THE WORKSHOP: everything you find useful and can work off-grid.
Bio
Vytautas Michelkevičius is a curator, writer, educator, failed emerging artist and young sauna master. He is leading the Department of Photography, Animation and Media Art at Vilnius Academy of Arts. He is founder of post-media art festival in Vilnius www.umede.lt In 2015 he was curating Lithuanian Pavilion in Venice Biennale with Dainius Liškevičius project “Museum”. 2010-2019 he was artistic director of Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts. After that he started to run Doctoral programme of arts at the same school and is eager to organize various social events and students’ trips. More about his books and writings check here: https://vilnius.academia.edu/VytautasMichelkevicius.
This intensive and practical workshop is designed to elevate your AI image generation skills beyond basic prompts. This isn't about simply typing a few words and hoping for the best.
Through some practical exercises, we’ll explore various strategies for controlling AI output, using techniques like image-to-image, light transfer and style transfer to achieve your desired aesthetic. To be accessible to everyone without need a powerful computer, we’ll work with online tools such as Krea and Runway. To conclude, we'll develop together an experimental AI video using the techniques learned. Whether you're aiming for stunning visuals or unique artistic expressions, this workshop will give you the tools and confidence to harness AI's potential.
To wrap it up, we'll overview the latest advancements in AI for imagery and video such as ComifyUI, FLUX.1, SAM 2, SV3D, Dream machine... Giving you an idea of the future of this exciting field. This workshop is perfect for those who want to take their AI-driven creativity to the next level. Join us and learn to master the monster! Who is it for?
Artists, designers, anyone interested in using AI for image generation. No prior experience with AI is required.
Participants are required to bring their own laptops.
Bio
Hi! I'm Munnoz, a graphic designer specialized in motion, 3D and new techs from Spain. I'm right where art and technology meet, therefore, some even call me "Digital mix media artist", but... Let's skip the fancy words and titles. In my workshop, you can expect dynamic and practical learning from a normal guy. If you want to know more about me and my work, you can have a look at my website :)
Closing in on the sea, the workshop will explore tensions and spaces between more-than-human body and media technologies. Participants will discuss their relationships with water in its manifold manifestations (a.k.a. Blue Humanities), ranging from environmental debates and natural-science considerations to philosophical, historical and literary pondering – and not least body/media contact with the sea as such. Between the studio and the beach – where water, earth, air and fire create both cosy comfort and contrasting confrontation – either individual or group artistic works and interventions emerge.
To attend the workshop, no specific technical or artistic skills are needed, a positive or at least inquisitive attitude toward water/sea/non-human-nature is welcome, as well as an open mind.
Participants are required to bring their own laptops.
Bio
pETER Purg’s artistic practice ranges from (lecture) performances and intermedia installations to body-art and public-space interventions as well as participatory art(ivism), while his recent scientific inquiries include ecocriticism, blue humanities and artistic research methodology. For the GO! BORDERLESS 2025 European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica - Gorizia he currently leads the art-sicence-DIY lab programme xMobil and the media-arts+performance series PostMobility as well as coordinates the international curators board for the Pixxelpoint 2025 festival of contemporary art. He is Associate Professor at the University of Nova Gorica and currently Dean of the School of Humanities, while he also leads the New Media module in the Digital//Media Arts and Practices graduate//postgraduate programme at the School of Arts. More at www.pleter.net
This workshop will be exploring experimental and creative approaches to using motion capture using the ROCOCO suit and Unity game engine. We'll focus on artistic ways to use tracking technology in unconventional methods. For example, we'll attach trackers to a waving flag to capture the flowing movements of fabric during a performance, or place them on flexible materials to record how they respond to sound vibrations. The aim is to inspire creativity and open up new ideas on how these tools can be used.
Participants do NOT require prior knowledge in any 3D programs or Unify, NO technical background is needed; everyone is welcome to explore and experiment!
Participants can bring their own laptops, if the device is able to run Blender and Unity without difficulty.
Bio
Oleksandr Sirous is a media and sound artist using cutting-edge and innovative technologies in his practice. He uses participatory practices in his work to explain the complex processes taking place in the world around us. In 2018 he was the curator of the course of new media art in the Kharkiv Academy of Visual Arts. In 2019 he became one of the founders of FRONTIER, a VR and AR festival in Kharkiv. Since 2019, he has been a teacher at the 3D programming course in the Kyiv Academy of Media Arts and part of PHOTINUS Studio in Kyiv. Funded by the Ukraine Support Program of the Goethe-Institut, Oleksandr Sirous was artist-in-residence at ZKM (Karlsruhe) in 2023. Oleksandr Sirous has been artist-in-residence at the RIXC Center for New Media Culture (Latvia) in 2023 and 2024. His artworks have been exhibited at the MEET Digital Culture Center in 2024 (Milan) and RIXC Gallery in 2024 (Riga).