Join us at Mesh Festival 2024 – Tooling the Future

We would like to extend an invitation to our community to join us for the innaugural edition of Mesh Festival 2024 in Basel, Switzerland, October 16 to 20.

An ambitious and skillfully curated initiative by iart, the House of Electronic Arts, and the Basel Academy of Art and Design, Mesh Festival's debut unveils a top-notch program of presentations, performances, exhibitions, concerts, and club nights and workshops. Meet visionary makers from the international media art and tech community and expect bold, experimental, surprising, but also practical insights into technologies and their possibilities.

As an official partner of Mesh Festival, Derivative team members Greg Hermanovic, Markus Heckmann, Isabelle Rousset and Jarrett Smith will be there for the event, Greg with a talk and Markus a beginner workshop. We’re very pleased by the generally strong presence of TouchDesigner talent with performances, presentations, installations, and workshops led by some of our brightest stars and we've listed these for you below.

Together we will engage in a future-oriented debate about multidisciplinary collaboration and the potential of technological tools to shape the world of tomorrow. See you there we hope!

About

The first festival edition takes place under the title "Tooling the Future", what does this mean? From the festival website we read:

Art and technology in dialogue

The accelerating technological developments of recent years (e.g. artificial intelligence, mixed reality and robotics) are opening up new opportunities for artists to realise their ideas. They work closely with technologists and scientists to conceive and realise their works. Many exciting works in recent years have been created through the interplay of different disciplines.

And what does this collaboration look like? How does technology shape art? Or vice versa: how is technology driven by artistic work?Mesh is dedicated to these questions and visualises them using impressive artistic works. It addresses social and societal contexts and shows various connections between culture, education and industry.

Tools for a better future

The first festival edition takes place under the title "Tooling the Future". It is dedicated to the question of new or different tools for shaping a friendly future.

From the vision of an AI city to transcending planetary boundaries, our world is becoming more connected and intertwined every day. With powerful tools such as artificial intelligence, texts, images or entire environments can be created with the click of a computer key. Advances in quantum computing promise to solve previously unsolvable computer problems. But what kind of solutions and spaces do we want? What are the tools of the future that we really need?

 

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Meet the Derivative Team

TouchDesigner Artists and Presenters

Nonotak’s aesthetic is inspired by minimal architecture and optical art. NONOTAK is a creative duo founded by visual artist Noemi Schipfer and light & sound artist Takami Nakamoto that was conceived in late 2011. 

Biography

NONOTAK work with light & sound installations and performance pieces to create ethereal, immersive and dreamlike environments which are built to envelope, challenge and stagger the viewer capitalising on Nakamoto’s approach to space, light & sound and Schipfer’s experience with kinetic visual and geometric drawings. This results in a duo who creates pieces that put together light, sound and space in order to provide audience a unique visual and sensitive experience.

The large range of projects NONOTAK are capable of designing and producing allowed them to experiment in many different fields of arts : Architecture, Music, Fine Arts, Digital Arts, Scenography, Theater, Cinema, Dance, Design and Fashion.

Today, TouchDesigner is an all-purpose real-time software tool – for making generative art, playing content, visualizing data, designing public-facing interactive interfaces, prototyping, pre-visualizing, projection mapping, and is used for driving motors, servos, DMX, lasers, LED arrays, audio, and doing spatial tracking, XR/AR, web communication and now interfacing with AI systems.But folklore has it that TouchDesigner began as a VJ tool and evolved into something more. How did this transformation happen? This talk will explore how and why the current TouchDesigner naturally grew from its original beginnings.

About Greg Hermanovic & Derivative

Derivative was founded in 2000 by Greg Hermanovic, Rob Bairos and Jarrett Smith.

TouchDesigner's deep roots are in the PRISMS software product developed at Omnibus Computer Graphics in Toronto, Los Angeles and New York in 1984 to 1987. When Omnibus collapsed due to higher than anticipated costs of purchasing and maintaining its competitors, coupled with an even higher level of expectations instilled in its shareholders, PRISMS was purchased from the Omnibus liquidators by Kim Davidson and Greg Hermanovic, forming the inception of Side Effects Software.

Side Effects developed and licensed PRISMS to end-users for 11 years until 1998, and PRISMS was used in over 200 feature films, culminating in its first Academy Award in 1998. Meanwhile Houdini emerged in 1995 as Side Effects Software's next-generation product, serving the visual effects market to this day. In 2002, Side Effects Software received its second Academy Award for the innovations within Houdini, with another 300+ features films made with Houdini to date.

Greg Hermanovic spun-off Derivative in 2000, starting from the then-current Houdini 4.1. Derivative embarked on a mission to make a real-time 2D and 3D interactive animation product, suitable for authoring any form of interactive art/media/visualization.

Derivative's first generation of its product TouchDesigner spanned from TouchDesigner 007 to 017 during 2002 to 2007.

Then in 2008 Derivative released its next-gen TouchDesigner 077 in beta form, which was a rewrite of its previous incarnations, incorporating fully procedural OpenGL compositing and rendering system using the GPU, a new user interface and more. Today's TouchDesigner 099 is the latest evolution of that next-gen platform.

Tickets and full details at festival webpage

TouchDesigner for Interactive Installations

TouchDesigner can be quite the beast with it's wide range of uses. This 3 hour, introductory workshop will focus on the elements required to get started with TouchDesigner as a tool for interactive installations: besides video playback and image based effects, topics will include generative 2D/3D and rendering, interfacing with external input and output devices as well as investigating various protocols to allow control of an installation.

The workshop will start with an overview of Interface workflow and basic concepts behind the node based development environment and then provide context by giving step by step instructions to build an example network that could be adapted to an interactive installation.

Biography

The media artist Markus Heckmann studied media technology at the TU Ilmenau and the Bauhaus University Weimar, before he started work as Technical Director for Derivative (Toronto, Canada) in 2006. In this capacity, Heckmann is primarily engaged in product development, technical support, outreach, and education.

In his artistic work he combines the aesthetics of generative computer graphics with the physical properties of light. For his media performances Heckmann uses Derivative's software TouchDesigner to develop new visual instruments, which allow him to perform live with the music. The visual worlds created in this way are far removed from any representation but bring the medium itself to dream. Colors, shapes and movements draw imaginary spaces that Heckmann explores and documents with virtuosity. The artwork is created in the same moment in which it is viewed.

Registration and full details at festival web page

Ĭichti@ is a transmedia live/cyber dance performance ritual addressing gender and body oppression. We move to liberate and heal by translating our body movements with a vaginal muscle sensor, which activates light sources within the installation. For Ĭichti@, we developed net-ktar, a cyber instrument that captures bio-bodily data to be sent online.

Biography

sWitches is a cyberfeminist, artivist, transdisciplinary collective (members: Pamela Varela, Ines DeRu, Ella Hebendanz) whose work focuses on reclaiming technology as a tool of creation, emancipation, and contemporary magick. Taking the witch as a symbol for the rebellious feminist, they hack their way into the patriarchal technoscientific field to extend.

Tickets and full details at festival webpage

Delve into the world of creating impressive user interfaces and previsualization in TouchDesigner.

This focused workshop on previsualization and UI design in TouchDesigner is tailored for artists, VJs, and commercial creators. It explores the critical role of previsualization in the creative process. Techniques for practical project planning and effective conceptualization will be covered, ensuring that creative visions are fully realized. Strategies for pitching projects and communicating ideas to clients and collaborators will be discussed, with a focus on the power of previsualization. The workshop highlights the importance of real-time work in enhancing both the artistic process and audience engagement. Through detailed instruction and expert guidance, participants will gain the skills necessary to create stunning UIs and previsualizations in TouchDesigner.

Biography

Shandor Chury is a distinguished French Belarusian multidisciplinary artist and the founder of Paris-based OVVO Studio. With a rich background in music, art, and scientific training from Minsk and Paris, Shandor works as a creative technologist, multimedia artist, technical director, and art director. OVVO Studio epitomizes a multidisciplinary approach, integrating hardware, software, sound, light, and video to create compelling multimedia experiences. The studio’s portfolio spans the globe, with half of its projects dedicated to artistic endeavors such as festivals, exhibitions, galas, and shows, and the other half catering to commercial clients including brands and events.

Registration and full details at festival webpage

Exploring the research into Microprocessors that mimic Natural Processes using flocking systems with WERC\

WERC will be discussing their research on using thousands of microprocessors to emulate collective natural behaviors. We are constantly surrounded by dynamic natural processes, from large-scale events like cloud formation to intricate local systems such as how a tree forms its branches or how flocks of birds navigate without collision. Many of these processes can be distilled into simple rules. WERC is deeply fascinated by identifying these rules and translating them into the digital realm.The biological processes within groups of organisms, such as flocks of starlings or groups of fireflies, create visual spectacles that have captivated humans for decades. Rather than merely recreating these visuals digitally, WERC seeks to uncover and program the underlying rules governing these behaviors...

Biography

Art collective WERC focuses on designing and developing new media art. Central in its works is the interaction between human, nature and technology. The result is the humanizing of technological processes. WERC explores the boundaries between the physical and the digital world: where does one world end, and the other begin? And should we even speak of two separate worlds?WERC was formed by artists Olav Huizer, Joachim Rümke, and Jelle Valk, who met at Minerva Art Academy in Groningen. They bonded over a shared love for experimentation, digital art, and site-specific installations...

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Jason Bruges is internationally renowned as a pioneer of the hybrid space between art, architecture and technology.

About Jason Bruges

His artworks are site-specific, ‘sculptural barometers’ that tap into the emotional tapestry of a community or place by translating live feedback into living, breathing, spatial interventions. A master of light and kinetic art, Jason combines his architectural knowledge with a high-tech, mixed-media palette to explore spectacle, time-based artworks and dynamic immersive experiences. His installations are moments of theatre that transform in response to their surroundings and connect people with their environments. In 2002, Jason set up Jason Bruges Studio where he works with a talented team of architects, engineers, computational designers, creative technologists and project managers to deliver a diverse array of art projects world-wide. The team blend architecture with interaction design, intervening in the urban environment to weave a sense of magic into the fabric of a place. To develop the work, the Studio relies on design by making and prototyping to support innovation. This experimental approach has positioned the studio at the cutting-edge of media art and architecture. Paving the way for a new genre of cross-disciplinary creative practices, Jason Bruges Studio combines technology and storytelling to evolve bespoke artworks that surprise, delight and stir the imagination.

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Biography

Marc Tamschick is Founder, Creative Lead & Managing Director at TMS. He studied graphic design at the Kunstakademie Stuttgart, then animation and directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. He founded TMS in 2007, specializing in media scenography, immersive narrative spaces and installations of new technologies.

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Acksetron Kusanagi is the dream of a depths writing machine with which a thought: a name, a phrase, a verse, a definition would be exactly placed within a volume of fiction.It is a software for composing Diaphors, thought volumes featuring: A, the depths of a book; B, the transparencies of a film; C, the movements of a reading mind.Diaphors are one of the three main shapes of Search, which is one of the three planes featured in the long-distance metafiction of 'The Library is on Fire'.'The Library is on Fire', created and written by Charles Arsène-Henry, can currently be seen on the third floor of the Luma Tower in Arles.Acksetron Kusanagi is the result of five years of development between Erik and Charles.

Biography

Learning from the past to (re-)create the future is the maxim of the moment of Erik Axel Eggeling, a software engineer specializing in software in art production and media architecture based between Basel, Switzerland and Seville, Spain. He is interested in finding the balance between technological minimalism and cutting edge technology to achieve as much expression as intuitively as possible.With a background in civil engineering, computer graphics, and art history, Erik has previously worked for iart in Basel, realizing projects such as Acksetron Kusanagi for The Library is on Fire at Luma Arles, the Kinetic Multi-Channel Video Installation Flower Meadow for the LG OLED Art Project, and media facades such as the Novartis Pavilion Media Facade, the Peter Jones Media Facade in London as well as M+ in Hong Kong. Erik is now leading the studio Minimal Logic, which focuses on art production with software such as TouchDesigner.

In this presentation, I will showcase a dynamic audiovisual tool I have developed in TouchDesigner over four years. It creates realtime generative visuals from synthesizer data, emphasising versatility and quick prototyping of new ideas. In addition to the talk, I would welcome the opportunity to perform using the AV tool at the festival also.

Biography

Pauric Freeman is a new media artist working with sound, video, and installations. He develops visual systems that respond live to sonic data, experimenting with new approaches to audiovisual composition. He has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, and his work has been recognized for its innovative approach to performance.

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RayTK provides a familiar node-based workflow to use advanced rendering techniques that would otherwise require specialized programming knowledge.

Biography

Tommy Etkin (Tekt) is an artist and software developer based in Los Angeles, co-founder of Immerse Studio and creator of RayTK.

Registration and full details at festival webpage

Using TouchDesigner as a tool, we will explore the creation of modular systems for expression ourselves using bodies, hands, faces, sound and visuals. No prior experience is necessary, please bring your most quantum self.

Biography

Daniel Sabio AKA The Glad Scientist (b. Augusta, GA, USA, 1988) is a Puerto Rican conceptual media artist living and working in Barcelona, ES. Most well-known for their live audiovisual performances, where they perform onstage with a VR headset, their poetic work ranges from these virtual reality modular synth performances and multichannel sound installations to brain/heart/emotion controlled artworks and video game experiences, with the chosen medium being a reflection of the concept at hand. Their career has taken a non-linear path, with their mix of programming, poetry, music, and visual work starting its fusion in 2011 in Atlanta while studying at Georgia Tech...

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What can be done to explore the virtual space in a way that gets us away from only the screens? Reimagine the game engine as a stage – how could we add human dancers, real-world objects, or reimagine the environment as a collaborative playground?Working with Unreal Engine as synthesizer and interface, we’ll investigate the game world as shared object theater. We'll explore a number of different alternative ways of interacting with Unreal: - Producing interactive music and developing the system as synthesizer, via MetaSounds - Interfacing real-world object scans (via various iPhone apps) - Adding human interactions, via machine learning interface and movement The concept will be to take the largely personal, solo world of game development and open up the virtual world to real-world, human interactions, returning us to physical gestures and collaborative performance through music and movement. To allow this to integrate with other workshop programs, we'll also look at how this tool can work together with TouchDesigner across artists and media.

 Biography

PETER KIRN is a music artist, technologist, and journalist with Lebanese-American heritage, creator of the daily site cdm.link. he has developed included performances and interactive labs for CTM Festival, MUTEK (Montreal, Japan, Mexico, and Dubai), European Space Agency, and SONAR. He studied music composition at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Registration and full details at festival webpage

We will discuss how TouchDesigner and other analogue methods promote academic and creative practice, integrating theory with a hands-on approach and nurturing a community.We will share our experiences in teaching and academic research within the arts and technology fields, focusing on our roles in leading the Digital Arts department at HfG Karlsruhe. We will showcase students' works as case studies, highlighting how embodied knowledge sharing is presented in their research and artistic outcomes, blending technology, arts, and scientific research.

Biography

Helin Ulas is a Berlin-based visual artist and designer. She researches the impact of socio-political changes on communities and technology's role in shaping culture and ecologies. Helin is a lecturer at HfG Karlsruhe and NYU IMA Low Res, focusing on real-time media and alternative computational models.Prof. Anne Duk Hee Jordan is an artist known for her work on transience and transformation. She creates motorized sculptures and edible landscapes, blending robotic consciousness with organic life. Her art explores the dialogue between natural phenomena, philosophy, and human agency, encouraging a shift in ecological perspectives. Together, Prof. Anne Duk Hee Jordan and Helin Ulas lead the Digital Arts department at HfG Karlsruhe, HfG Digital Arts, located in the Media Arts Department, manifests a playground for going from analogue to digital.

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Program / Schedule / Timetable

Full program on festival website>>