Convergence
Seminar on technological and somatic perspectives on interdisciplinary artistic practices
Initiated by Klaas Devos, Giusy Caruso and Umut Eldem
The event is a collaboration between the Conservatoire's research groups CREATIE, CORPoREAL, and ARIA.
21 and 22 April 2023
at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp
The implementation of technology in interdisciplinary artistic practices and research has been creating new implications in multisensory approaches and extended embodied creativity. In these frames, the hybrid live and virtual performance space is becoming even more of a place where artists can experiment with what we call “phygital” and “somatech” experiences. These are hybrid forms of artistic expression mixing computation and embodiment, a form that opens new avenues in multisensory inclusivity, digital embodiment, and technological interactivity.
How can the artist orient themselves around the ever-expanding possibilities of technological tools, techniques, and stages?
The second edition of the Convergence seminar will focus on the use of new technologies and digital stages in interdisciplinary/intermedia artistic practices. This year the focus expands through themes of Klaas Devos' artistic practice-based PhD. in the arts ’Thinking Bodies in Dance. A Somatic REACh. (research in expanding awareness through algorithmic choreography)'.
Researchers, artists, and anyone currently engaging with this subject are welcome to share their practices, experiences, and historical perspectives. The seminar will take place on April 21st and 22nd 2023 at Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, Belgium.
- Extended Somatic Practices: To what extent can computational creativity unveil the hermetic and introspective nature of embodied creativity in interdisciplinary performing arts, hybrid constellations where somatic and technological knowledge/knowing interweave?
- Metaverse and Hybrid Stages: Which innovative approaches in the performing arts industry/production are developing hybrid, live and virtual performance spaces? How can we integrate these representations and experiences in these environments and the metaverse? To what extent are artists defining and dealing with the avant-garde aesthetics of ”phygital art”?
- Intermedia Technologies & Techniques: The new possibilities facilitated by technology blur the borders between not only the interdisciplinary performance practice, but also the intermedia creative process. What are the new and innovative tools, practices, and techniques available to artists in the space between disciplines?
Programme
DAY 1 - 21.04.2023
Installation Space
- 10:45 - 18:00 Installation space showcasing works from participating artists.
Witte Zaal
- 10:30 - 11.30 Morning reception with tea and coffee
- 11:30 - 11:45 Introduction
- 11:45 - 12.45 Keynote, Prof. Dr. Maaike Bleeker: New Corporeal Literacies
- 12:45 - 13:15 Adriana la Selva & Ioulia Marouda: Archi-textures of access: Virtual Translations of Embodied Knowledge in Theatre Training
- 13:15 - 13:45 Break
- 13:45 - 14:15 Thomas Moore & Pascal Gielen: Hide to Show - ‘Memefying’ Live Music and Digitalizing Social Relationships within Contemporary Internet Aesthetics
- 14:15 - 14:45 Rudolf Arnold: Multisensory Embodiment and Performance of Sexual Arousal in Art and Science
- 14:45 - 15:30 Break
- 15:30 - 16:30 Keynote, LWT3: Wearable Interaction Sensors
- 16:30 - 17:00 Jorge Guevara: Applied Research into Graphical Representation of Dance in Virtual Reality
- 17:00 - 18:00 Break
- 19:00 - 20:00 Evening Concert at Gele Zaal
DAY 2 - 22.04.2023
Installation Space
- 12:00 - 17:00 Installation space showcasing works from participating artists.
Witte Zaal
- 12:00 - 12:45 Reception with tea and coffee
- 12:45 - 13:00 Introduction
- 13:00 - 13:30 Keynote, Screen Dive: Cultivating a Global Community of Interactive Audiovisual Makers
- 13:30 - 14:00 Cora Gasparotti: Sonified Proprioception Technique – S.P.T.
- 14:00 - 14:15 Break
- 14:15 - 14:45 Francesco di Maggio & David Fierro: Body-Brain Digital Musical Instrument
- 14:45 - 15:15 Diego Maranan: The universe as home: Exploring the tension between climate change and the space race through somatic experiences.
- 15:15 - 16:00 Break
- 16:00 - 16:30 Pedro Latas: Embodied Bits
- 16:30 - 17:00 Closing session
