MOD/ALL workshop
Published
Year after year, decade after decade, new technological innovations have enabled composers and musicians to enhance their craft, and nowadays there are almost countless options to examine and explore. Each new plugin promises new sonic universes to get lost in. Each new synthesizer claim to be sounding fresher than the last. Technology has made the impossible seem possible, the unreachable within reach. There is however some aspects that tend to get overlooked in the process.
What exactly is the impossible? Where is the artistic goal hidden in all the possibilities of technology?
The MOD/ALL project is going to address exactly this, by diving into the questions of the artistic purpose of technology. Through practical work and experiments we will develop our artistic visions.
– How does the technology you use relate to the artistic ideas you’re trying to get across?
– At what point is technology helping and when is it getting in the way?
– What software is making you sound like you?
– Which controllers or instruments enable you to express yourself?
MOD/ALL will kick off with a series of discussion nights in which we will examine the questions above and many more. Slowly talking our way towards new concepts that will take artistic expression as it’s focus, using technology as a tool to make it into a reality. Finally the results will be showcased through demos and performances!
MOD/ALL invites artists of all disciplines that use technology in a live creative setting to join.
For further questions and to sign up for the series, contact Lars Ove Toft at lars.ove.toft@bek.no
Launch
On December 1st we invite you to join the launch of MOD/ALL. From 14.00 – 16.00 we will inform about the workshops and give some demonstrations, and light refreshments will be served.
Discussion 1: Bridges and Walls
18th of January 2018, 19:00 – 22:00
Discussion 2: Embodimapping
25th of January 2018, 19:00 – 22:00
Discussions 3: Implementations
1st of February 2018, 19:00 – 22:00
Practical Week – Workshops
28th of February to 5th of March 2018
MOD/ALL will be led by Tijs Ham. Tijs started his artistic career in the visual arts but soon moved to music and sound art. Using the moniker Tapage he has released many EP’s and albums on a wide range of record labels. He is the co-founder of the Soundlings Collective and has been instrumental in setting up the Think Tank Meetups, which discusses many topics related to arts and technology. For the past years Tijs has been active as an organizer for STEIM (Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music) while being involved in many sound related projects. He regularly performs onstage, both solo and as part of the trio The Void*, playing his custom-built instruments based on feedback and recursion.
Workshops during Practical Week
Practical week is here, as part of the MOD/ALL project! Based on the topics we have covered and touched upon in the discussion evenings this winter, the workshops addresses, practically, what the possible impossible is, and where the artistic goal might be hidden in all the possibilities of technology.
The practical workshops are open to both previous participants of MOD/ALL, and to newcomers who are well experienced with technology in their practice. If you have never done any programming, mixing or build modules, but think this might be interesting for your future practice, you are more than welcome to listen in and observe what the others are doing!
Five practical workshops from 28th of February to 5th of March 2018. The workshops will last for approximately 2 hours, from 13.00 – 15.00. You are welcome to come earlier or to stay behind if you would like to work on your own.
Wireless Sensors
Wednesday 28th of February, at 13.00
We will be looking at the wireless sensor platform Sense/Stage developed by Marije Baalman, and you will be able to play with sounds while moving the sensors through the air.
Sense/Stage
Marije Baalman playing live
Communication Between Softwares & Hardwares
Thursday 1st of March, at 13.00
OSC, MIDI, Audio analysis, Serial, Soundflower, Jack… There are many different ways to connect different programs together. We will explore several of these and look into the advantages of combining different software and hardware!
Open Sound Control
Versum demo by Tarik Barri
Programming Tips & Tricks
Friday 3rd of March, at 13.00
PD, SuperCollider, Max/MSP, Processing, openFrameworks… Each of these programming languages enable creative users to design and make their own applications, shaping their ideas into something that compiles. There are many different approaches to programming and this afternoon we will each share our do’s and don’t s.
SuperCollider
Pure Data
Processing
openFrameworks
Teensy and Control Voltage Processor
Sunday 4th of March, at 13.00
Modular synthesizers are gaining in popularity every day. Especially the Eurorack format is being used by many boutique companies that continually develop new modules. During this workshop we will explore what it takes to build our own module using a Teensy micro-processor.
Teensy
Radio Music – A virtual radio module for Eurorack
Radios and Mixer Feedback
Monday 5th of March, at 13.00
No-input mixing is a fascinating method of making noises through creative wiring of standard analog mixers. We will first investigate how we can make a mixer ‘sing’. Then move on to more complex sounds and eventually using radio to further enhance the sonic possibilities.
Three Mixers Rehearsal by Tijs Ham
Discussion evenings
Discussions 3: Implementations
1st of February 2018, 19:00 – 22:00
BEK, Project Space 1
For the last discussion evening as part of the MOD/ALL project it is time to make the switch from theory to practice. How to translate all these artistic ideas to actual artworks, instruments and performances? We invite you to bring along your own practical questions as our discussion will focus on turning these into concrete plans of action.
Feel free to talk about your own experiences and ask all of the questions that boil up as we go!
Discussion 2: Embodimapping
25th of January 2018, 19:00 – 22:00
BEK, Project Space 1
For the second discussion evening we will dive into the terrain of embodiment and mapping. What strategies do we use to make our technologies work the way we want them to? How do we make the translation of our performative movements to sounds or images?
Feel free to talk about your own experiences and ask all of the questions that boil up as we go!
Discussion 1: Bridges and Walls
18th of January, 19:00 – 22:00
BEK, Project space 1
The MOD/ALL project will start in the new year with a discussion on the metaphor of technology as a «bridge», enabling you to reach new grounds of expression, or technology as a “wall”, separating the performers and audiences.
We will dive into topics such as:
– Showing or hiding technology
– Implementing effort
– Technology as a “black box” (where everything is possible)
– The laptop… Instrument, toolbox, both, neither?
– Developing instruments and developing virtuosity
– Virtual and tactile expressions
Feel free to talk about your own experiences and ask all of the questions that boil up as we go!