Artsformation launched last month in cooperation with CATCH, the first online series of workshops on the topic of science fiction. The third session of the series, entitled The Future Composer, is now open for registrations.

The Future Composer

In the science fiction story Outsider by An Owomoyela, we meet historic researcher “Mota” and the artificial intelligence “Io”, who live in a transhumanist society. Mota is met by an Earth ship with a single woman “Eva” who they struggle to understand, as Eva expresses her cyborg-phobic opinions, rejecting the genetic alterations of Mota’s people. Among others, the story raises questions of what constitutes a human, and where the threshold is set between human and non-human when a society evolves as a result of technological advancements.

In this hands-on creative sound programming and speculative workshop, we will look at the use of algorithms in musical composition and how it has influenced digital music. Together we will speculate about the future of music composition; Can generative methods enhance our creativity or which implications might autonomous computer music have for future creativity? How do the digital tools we use affect the way we create music and which kind of music we make? We will discuss the relationship between humans and algorithms in artistic creation and what forms of hybrid co-creation the future might bring. What will future music sound like? How will it be created and who will be the creators of it?

Participants will be introduced to the basic structure of creating sound in Max/MSP – a visual programming language for music and multimedia, which has been widely used by composers, performers, software designers, researchers, and artists to create interactive installations, generative music compositions and audiovisual performances. Along with a quick start tutorial of the digital platform, participants will explore examples of algorithmic music composition and create their own interactions. These examples will highlight an alternative way of thinking in terms of sound creation, that is flexible, unpredictable and interchangeable. Through this hands-on workshop we will explore creativity in a co-creation process between artistic decision making and unpredictable feedback from generative methods. Can the autonomy of algorithms as a “co-composer” inspire new and unexpected perspectives in creating digital sound?

The workshop requires a computer with the software platform max/MSP installed. The software can be downloaded here and includes a free trial of 30 days. 

https://cycling74.com/downloads 

Date/Time: 16th March, 16h-19 CET (online event)

Workshop led by Julie Ostengaard

Registration: https://forms.gle/Nxhpv52Gd3DhSNZx8

Max. 15 Participants

A link for the workshop will be sent out to participants one day before the workshop begins.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/483714875996340/

Artsformation will use this workshop as part of its data collection. This means that a researcher will be doing participant observation during the workshop. We may also approach you to ask if you would be willing to participate in an interview following the workshop. All data collected will be anonymised. Upon registration to the workshop you will receive detailed information about the research conducted. If you have any immediate questions, please do not hesitate to contact Post Doc Kirsti Reitan Andersen, Copenhagen Business School, on email: kra.msc@cbs.dk.

About Julie Østengaard

Julie Østengaard is a sound artist, electronic composer and performer with a master’s degree in electronic music and sound art from the Danish National Conservatory of Music. She has taught music technology at the Danish National Conservatory of music and composition at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory. Julie works both solo and collaboratively with projects where the performing arts, visual arts and sound art blend together in experimental constellations and has in recent years appeared on bla. Click Festival, Spor Festival and exhibited at Den Frie(KE18) and created sound installations for the danish science center Experimentarium.

https://www.julieoestengaard.com/

About Digital Alchemy: Workshop Series

‘Digital Alchemy: Workshop Series’ is a series of online workshops created in relation to the current exhibition at Catch “Digital Alchemy: Future Technology Products Inspired by Diverse Voices in Science Fiction” created by Mirabelle Jones. Right now the exhibition is closed due to lockdown and instead we’ve created an online workshop format to be able to work with the themes of the exhibit.