"Speculative Sound Synthesis" workshop at the impuls Academy 2025 in Graz, Austria from February 17-23, 2025.
https://www.impuls.cc/academy-2025/special-programs
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The "Speculative Sound Synthesis" workshop is intended for sound artists, computer music composers, and performers who are committed to critical, speculative approaches at the intersection of art and technology. It is conceived for those engaged in practices that question, challenge, criticize, deconstruct, recompose, reformulate, shift, dislocate, endanger, or reject established standards of sound synthesis and (music) technology.
The workshop is part of the artistic research project "Speculative Sound Synthesis"[1]. The project aims to recompose the relationship between technology and artistic practice in an attempt to unleash aesthetic potentials of sound synthesis that would otherwise remain hidden within the technological apparatus. In this aesthetic destabilization of sound technologies, speculation is the primary method.
Participants are invited to bring a small "Speculative Synth" - an instrument, software, hardware, code, or idea that is translatable and open to external signals. The workshop will involve presentations, collaborative experimentation, and exploration of each Speculative Synth (applicants may find examples on the project's webpage[1]). Thus, the workshop provides a platform for exchange and reflection on personal approaches.
Two participation options are available:
- Group A: Active participants presenting work and experimenting (daily 10:00-18:00) - Group B: Listening participants attending sessions as observers
The workshop will take place at the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG), utilizing their multi-channel sound system and technical infrastructure. It will culminate in a public exhibition/performance at the Impuls Festival.
To apply, please register to the impuls Academy 2025 and then submit the following to office@impuls.cc and speculative@iem.at by October 1, 2024:
- Statement of interest in the workshop - For Group A applicants: Description of your work, letter of intent (max 500 words), and description of your Speculative Synth (max 500 words)
For the complete call text and further information on the application and registration modalities, please visit the website of the impuls Academy 2025[2].
The "Speculative Sound Synthesis" project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) within the program for Arts-based research PEEK (AR 713-G).
Best regards,
The Speculative Sound Synthesis Team
[1] https://speculative.iem.at/ [2] https://www.impuls.cc/academy-2025/special-programs