Transfer

MusicMakers Hacklab

DIY Utopia

A century ago, Generation Z’s modernists imagined a future generation in which the role of artist and technologist had fused. In that hybrid world, boundaries between media, image, sound and innovation would blur into new forms of expression. Today, that vision is our reality.

MusicMakers Hacklab is a weeklong open, collaborative laboratory hosted by Peter Kirn of CDM (createdigitalmusic.com) and sound artist Darsha Hewitt (darsha.org). It allows practitioners from a range of disciplines to reconnect with the work of early pioneers in a new context. Participants will get the chance to mix rediscovered analogue and electronic techniques with new, still-evolving digital processes connecting to the Generation Z : ReNoise exhibition. For example:

  • The optical-musical interface, finding synesthetic connections between visual arts and sonic objects;
  • Gesture and embodiment, relating objects and movement to sound, through sensors derived from Leon Theremin and other early inventors;
  • The art of noise, constructing new sound-making and sound-amplifying devices.

The public is invited to check-in on the Hacklab's progress throughout the week as participants engage in hands-on workshops, talks, and skill "boot camps". Participants also have the opportunity to work with Andrey Smirnov, former director of the Moscow Theremin Centre and curator of the Generation Z : ReNoise exhibition at CTM 2014, and his Theremin-derived circuits. The Hacklab's intensive free-form collaborative development concludes with a series of public performance at the MusicMakers showcase on Sunday 2.2. at HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU2).

Several special talks, open to the general public, are also organized as part of the Hacklab on Tuesday 28.1. and Wednesday 29.1.

Facilitators

Darsha Hewitt

Darsha Hewitt (darsha.org) is a Canadian artist that makes sound installations and teaches DIY electronics workshops. She just completed a Fellowship in the Klangkunst program at HBK in Braunschweig and was recently nominated for the 2013 Marl International Klangkunst Preis. She is the founder and head mentor of the Dardi_2000 Mentorship Program.

Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn is an audiovisual artist, technologist, and journalist. He is the editor of CDM (createdigitalmusic.com and createdigitalmotion.com), and co-creator of the open source MeeBlip hardware synthesizer (meeblip.com). His work ranges from teaching creative coding with open tools to making experimental live techno, and as a writer has been a hub of discussion of trends in live and interactive visuals, and the design of new music technologies.

Participants

Hacklab participants, pre-selected following an open call, include:

Facts

Runs: 27.01 – 02.02.2014

daily 12 – 18:00

Opening of the MusicMakers Hacklab

Kunstquartier Projektraum, Fri 24.01.2014, 19:00

WretchUp performance by Mouse On Mars, Peter Kirn, Rupert Smyth, DJ-Set by , Hyperaktivist

MusicMakers Hacklab Conversations

Kunstquartier Projektraum, Wed 29.01.2014, 12:00

Talks & presentations with Native Instruments / Florian Grote and Florian Schneidmadel, Robert Henke, Marije Baalman / Thomas Spier, Derek Holzer

MusicMakers Hacklab – Showcase

HAU2, Sun 02.02.2014, 14:00

Godfried-Willem Raes, Film Man & Machine – Naked Robotic Love Story by Jesse Roesler, Performances by Peter Kirn, Darsha Hewitt, Mirjam Sögner and Hacklab participants