Digital Arts Meetup #2

Join us for the second Meet Up, focusing on live music performance, reactive visuals and AI!

A York Creatives Presents event, supported by XR Stories, The Guild of Media Arts and PATCH

Join us ahead of February's York Creatives Drinks to hear speakers from academia and industry talk about - and perform - their work applying digital technologies to the world of live performance.

Musician, composer and visual artist Desmond Clarke will discuss his recent project as a resident at the XR Stories Studio. Desmond is collaborating with Chilean recorder player Carmen Troncoso to create digital visuals that respond to the audio of Carmen's live performance. The project unites digitally generated imagery and live algorithmic processing into a responsive digital artwork. Desmond will relate the R&D journey across his time in the XR Stories Studio, and share his plans for the future of this project.

Then, University of York professor and jazz musician Federico Reuben will share insights into what it is like to jam with Artificial Intelligence. The tracks on Federico's free jazz trio Sveið's latest album, 'Latent Imprints' were all performed live using neural audio synthesis, technology which enables musicians to improvise in a live setting with AI-generated sounds - also being produced live. Federico will discuss the methodology behind this new mode of live music, the work that went into training the AI models used, and the challenges posed by improvising alongside AI.

There will be talk, live performance and improvisations, and time for questions with both presenters, following the talks. This event will lead into the monthly York Creative Drinks.

Please note that this event will be taking place in Patch Bonding Warehouse. Please contact enquiries@xrstories.co.uk to advise of any access requirements ahead of time.

Photography, filming and recording will take place at this event. Please inform a member of the XR Stories team before the event if you do not wish to be photographed, filmed or recorded. If you have any questions about photography/videography, please read the University of York photography and video privacy notice.

What is DAMU?

DAMU is a new meet up for York, aiming to fill an important gap in our City’s creative potential! It will support and develop artistic practice that involves digital technology, and artwork that can be installed, exhibited, and toured, in public spaces, galleries, museums, etc. The meetups will provide opportunities to leverage our UNESCO Media Arts status, and explore all the ways to generate new media art for the City, region, nationally and globally.

XR Stories, York Creatives and the Guild of Media Arts are jointly supporting this meet up, because of shared interests in immersive and digital, and developing the creative community in York and North Yorkshire.

Who’s it for?

All creative practitioners who are working with or in digital media.

When do we meet?

We’ll aim to meet at least every quarter in City venues and spaces.

What do we mean by digital art?

Digital Arts and Media arts can be very broad terms, and the City of York with its UNESCO Media Arts Creative City designation means it broadly, including the widest range of creative digital professions and projects.

This meet up is more closely focused on artworks and artistic practice that involves digital technology and actively engages audiences.

What can I expect from the meetup?

We will develop the meetup format together, based on shared interests and needs, and may well include elements like:

Sharing

• Inspiring projects and artists.
• Work in Progress. If you’re developing a project and you’re looking for fresh ideas or creative unblocking, feedback, and technical problem solving.
• News about funding opportunities.

Connecting

• To peers and community collaborators and stakeholders to develop new collaborations and work.

Developing

• Getting support and advice from fellow creative practitioners.
• Mini-workshops on specific tools or software (e..g Unreal Engine, Touchdesigner, Processing, Cinder, Disguise, Mapmapper), or sources of funding.