We will showcase a variety of engaging and thought-provoking presentations from our community, followed by 90 minutes dedicated to conversation, socializing, and mingling with friends and peers at a cash bar.
This year's hosts from Derivative are Greg Hermanovic, Jarrett Smith, Isabelle Rousset, and Michel Didier, alongside presenters VJ BunBun, Sébastien Mercier aka Neurotypique and Hugo Daoust from Atelier Lozano-Hemmer.
Schedule
1:30 - 2:00 Welcome
2:00 - 3:00 Derivative Masterclass Session
Greg Hermanovic – Emergent TouchDesigner Tech
Michel Didier - Of Cables and Noise: VCV Rack Meets TouchDesigner
3:30 - 4:00 Talk: VJ BunBun | okVJ, TouchDesigner Toolkit For Live Performance
4:15 - 4:45 Talk: Hugo Daoust | Beyond Nodes: Working as a Creative Technologist in Contemporary Art
5:00 - 5:45 Talk: Sébastien Mercier | The Wrong Tool For the Job
5:45 - 6:00 Closing
6:00 - 7:30 Social time with cash bar
Program
1:30 - 2:00 Welcome - Derivative
Greg Hermanovic – Emergent TouchDesigner Tech
Derivative founder Greg Hermanovic will present an exciting assembly of hot off the press technology developed around the latest release of TouchDesigner. This session will focus on interesting use-cases and techniques including gaussian splats and new developments in Particle Operators (POPs). The session will also dive into the seamless interoperability of TouchDesigner with platforms like Blender, Algoriddim DJay, DMX, MCP and more. All this mixed with some personal insight, peeks under the hood and behind the scenes, some pro tips, and tools from TouchDesigner users you should check out to boost your skills.
Michel Didier - Of Cables and Noise: VCV Rack Meets TouchDesigner
Exploring recent visual and technical advancements in TouchDesigner, Michel will connect VCV Rack with TouchDesigner, using modular synthesis to drive procedural visual generation. Through a live demonstration and technical breakdown, the session will showcase techniques for connecting these tools to create audiovisual experiences.
Michel Didier is a Montreal-based technical artist and tool developer at Derivative working on TouchDesigner. A graduate in Computation Arts from Concordia University and a former creative developer at Moment Factory, he is eager to produce innovative projects that leverage cutting-edge hardware and software.
https://derivative.ca
https://learn.derivative.ca
https://www.instagram.com/touchdesigner
https://www.youtube.com/TouchDesignerOfficial
https://twitter.com/1null1
This talk explores how VJ BunBun and supermarket_sallad use okVJ's interface for custom controls, scene management, MIDI and audio-reactive workflows, as well as the shaderChanger and fxStacks. They'll show how it can be used to quickly build setups for anything from one-off shows to more established live performance systems and talk about the history of the project and the design choices they've made along the way. okVJ is a free, open-source toolkit for building and performing live visuals in TouchDesigner. Designed to be easy to modify and extend, it can help artists create custom VJ workflows rather than forcing a fixed way of working.
BunBun, is a Montréal-based multimedia artist & VJ whose style is best described as brightly hued, ultra-textured, beat-synced, and holographic-like.Their work has been showcased at many prestigious international festivals, concerts, conferences, and clubs, and has shared the stage with a wide spectrum of musical talent.
https://www.instagram.com/vj.bunbun
https://www.facebook.com/vj.bunbun
https://vjbunbun.com
https://www.instagram.com/simondavidryden
https://simondavidryden.me
4:15 - 4:45 Talk: Hugo Daoust | Beyond Nodes: Working as a Creative Technologist in Contemporary Art
Building an interactive artwork is rarely about realizing a fixed idea. It is a collaborative process in which artistic intent and technical possibilities evolve together. Drawing from projects developed with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, this talk explores how technical decisions, from software architecture to sensing technologies, become creative decisions, shaping both the artistic process and the final work.
At its core, the presentation asks a simple question:What qualities should a system possess so that an artwork can retain its conceptual and emotional intent across different contexts?
Hugo Daoust is a Montreal-based Creative Technologist collaborating with contemporary artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. His work spans research, software development, sensing technologies and exhibition production, contributing to interactive artworks presented internationally in museums, festivals, performance venues and public space. Interested in the relationship between artistic intent and technical design, he develops computational systems that shape how artworks are created, experienced and exhibited.
https://www.instagram.com/hugodahoo
https://hugodaoust.com/
Tools have become more than a means to an end; industries are structured around them through workflows, benchmarks, and "no brainers" in place, often prioritizing optimization over research. What does agency over your tools and workflows feel like in this industry, and how can TouchDesigner help center the focus of projects on the results rather than the tools themselves?
Sébastien Mercier, aka Neurotypique explores audiovisual creation in real time, for artists, for brands or for personal research.
Neurotypique honed his visual skills by working 7 years in an agency as a graphic designer and art director. Always a musician, his work pivoted almost entirely towards visuals for the music world: live shows, VJsets, album covers, audiovisual and interactive installations.
Teaching and community building are a big part of his practice, as seen through his modular synth collective, RiCO, his organisation of TouchDesigner meetups for the Paris community, and by the many talks and workshops he gives in design schools.
https://www.instagram.com/neurotypique
https://www.instagram.com/rico.collectif
5:45 - 6:00 Closing