The NODE Institute has been founded about a year ago by #nodeheads David Brüll and Stefan Kraus in Berlin. Both have been active members in the visual programming communities of VVVV and TouchDesigner for a while and they have made it their mission to provide a global hub for research, education and networking to the creative coding and visual programming communities.
Studio, Meeting, Workshops
To that end the Institute has been organising monthly community meetings, artist presentations and workshops in their Berlin studio, which is home to a group of likeminded creatives. In 2020 The NODE Institute launched the first version of its online learning hub with a series of TouchDesigner and VVVV webinars and a growing number of online courses, that users can access anytime and anywhere.
Learning & Teaching TouchDesigner
The TouchDesigner education is spearheaded by Stefan Kraus, who has been teaching Interaction Design and Live Video performance for almost 20 years. Instructors to date include VanTa, Alphamoonbase, Enviral Design, Carlos Serrano, MXZEHN. The program aims at two different groups: Carefully researched, yet well explained resources cater to industry professionals, artists and designers and a clear, structured learning path makes it easy for beginners to get up to speed quickly.
If you are thinking about teaching TouchDesigner you should talk to stefan.kraus@thenodeinstitute.org
Learning resources are either free or come in three prices. The economic value of education materials can vary dramatically depending on context (Art Student vs Big Corporate) and location, so we leave it to the users to assess their engagement in three steps: Individual, Professional and Company.
TouchDown
Online courses are great, but sometimes you just need to be able to talk to a teacher and you can do that at the TD Sprechstunde ("Consultation") - an online meeting every two weeks where everybody can show up - in the Berlin Studio or via Zoom and discuss their projects privately with some of the NODE Instructors. The other way to get in Touch is the monthly TouchDesigner Roundtable in the Berlin Studio - when the virus allows or as a streaming show.
NODE Forum for Digital Arts
The NODE Institute is supporting the NODE Forum for Digital Arts in curating the essential user conference and workshop program for the VVVV community.
