[spectre] CALL - Workshop-in-Exposition: Thresholds of the Algorithmic - ALMAT @ BEK

[Hanns Holger Rutz]

Call for Applications:
Workshop-in-Exposition: Thresholds of the Algorithmic
Bergen (NO), June 2018.

(please distribute)

Algorithms have been used in music and sound art even before the
emergence of “computer music” in the 1950s, but today we witness an
entire new wave of interest, reflected in festivals, genres,
publications and research projects. It is the very notion of algorithms
that is shifting. They are no longer an abstract formalisation, but
emerge from artistic praxis and experimentation and become entangled in it.

Almat and BEK are happy to announce a call for participation in a
workshop-in-exposition taking place in Bergen, Norway, June 2018. This
will be a part of BEK and Notam’s ongoing series of workshops for
advanced users. It is a hybrid format that places the workshop inside an
exhibition context, where the exposed works and artefacts form the basis
of the workshop’s activity. Instead of “closed works”, what is exposed
to the general public are objects, sounds or installations that are open
to engagement and reconfiguration during the workshop.

Algorithms that Matter (Almat) is an artistic research project funded by
the Austrian Science Fund FWF, PEEK AR 403-GBL, and based at the
Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) in Graz, Austria.
BEK and Notam are centers for innovation and use of technology in music
and the arts in Norway. Both Notam and BEK have a strong focus on
education, and strive to establish new goals and provide new impulses
for current music technologists and artists.

- https://almat.iem.at
- http://www.bek.no
- http://www.notam02.no

- Full text of the call:
  https://almat.iem.at/assets/downloads/almat-bek_call2018.pdf
- Application form:
  https://almat.iem.at/assets/downloads/almat-bek_form2018.pdf

## Theme and Format

Thresholds are locations of transitions, points where one modality
becomes another, where a qualitative change occurs. In physics the point
where an aggregate state changes—the phase transition—is a distinguished
transitional location were the properties of the adjacent states become
evident. Similarly, in this workshop-in-exposition we want to study the
properties of the algorithmic by putting ourselves in threshold
positions and actively shape them. More than merely separating two
sides, one can spend time on a threshold, move along a ridge, performing
a tightrope walk while trying not to fall to either side.

Situated within the Almat artistic research project, this event aims at
bringing together practitioners and researchers in the field of digital
art, sound art and computational aesthetics. The hybrid format of
workshop-in-exposition puts on display works of the participants
pertaining to the theme, and at the same time avails them for
interrogation, discussion and reconfiguration during the week long workshop.

The full call embeds a list of three different ‘thresholds’ from which
the applicants should point out a specific one, that they recognise as
being addressed by their own artistic work. This will act both as a
point for further exploration during the workshop and as a bridge
towards audience perception.

## Application

Please read carefully the call and fill out the form provided at
https://almat.iem.at/call2018.html and send it to almat at iem.at along
with the required accompanying documents.

We aim at a balance of gender and background of the applicants.

Conditions:

- Duration of exhibition: from 08 June to 17 June 2018
- Start date (in situ): 04 June 2018
  (preparation and set up from 04 June to 08 June 2018)
- End date: 17 June 2018
- Applicants must be present during the workshop.
- Workshop fee must be paid by confirmed participants (see form)

**Application deadline: 16 February 2018** (e-mail reception, 24:00 CET)

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at
almat at iem.at.

iem.at | kug.ac.at | bek.no | notam02.no | fwf.ac.at