Blogs

LAKE Studios Berlin — Dance Research and Residency Center

To round out our 2024 Submerge program, LAKE Studios is seeking finished performance works that explore the intersections of (live) music and dance. We are particularly interested in artists and works that give voice to underrepresented cultural expressions in the German contemporary dance and performance scene.

OUR CALL: We are looking for finished pieces — solos, duets or trios — 30 to 40 minutes in length, to be presented in an evening or afternoon double-bill with another artist’s work. We will also give consideration to durational pieces or installations designed for public spaces.  Artists must be willing to offer a two-day workshop, The Choreographer’s LAB, to introduce their work processes to other professional performance artists. Workshops will take place from 11:00 – 16:00 on two consecutive days. Chosen pieces will be presented either the week of August 5th, August 19th, or the week of August 26th. Artists must be based in Berlin.

THEME: Pleasure and Groove, Rhythm and Resistance

“We need to learn how to practice love such that care—for ourselves and others—is understood as political resistance and cultivating resilience.”  Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good

This year’s SUBMERGE Festival will highlight the confluence of music and dance, and their joint potential to foster joy, strength, resistance and resilience. We will consider works connecting (live) music and dance that address any of these questions:

Do you have a finished work that holds at its center the relationship between music, rhythm and dance?

A piece that explores the philosophical potential of rhythm, the musical body, the gratification of dance performed with live music, and/or the risks and rewards of presenting the dance-inherent-in-music and the-music-inherent-in-dance? Does your work fit the guiding quote above?

Does it explore activism via tools of music and dance? 

Is your work engaged with underrepresented dance and music within the German contemporary dance and performance scene?

Does your work celebrate the joyful power of performance and challenge us to think critically or act with awareness in the face of adversity?

The SUBMERGE Festival will take place in barrier free studios.

WHAT WE OFFER:

• Two-day Workshop 500€ for one facilitator
• Performance 350€ per artist
• Light and tech support for performance
• Professional video and photos of performance
• Child care support during workshop and performance
• Accessibility support
• 4 hours of Studio time in July or August

To apply, use the application form, available HERE and on our website for download. Applications can be submitted in German or English. Email complete forms to submergefestival@gmail.com.  

APPLICATION DEADLINE: May 15th

WHAT COULD BE LYING FALLOW IN THE ARTS?

This a call for a 2 months paid residency for collectives (existing or newly established on the occasion of this call, ideally 5 persons). The period of 2 months can be spread over a maximum of 5 months. Read more about the practical details further below.First we would like to give you more info about the context and the framework of this call.

 Berlin, April 10th 2024

Hello to all members of the Dance-tech.net family and enthusiasts of the digital dance realm,

As we look back on the remarkable journey that Dance-tech.net has undertaken since its inception in October 2007, it's thrilling to consider the path that lies ahead. Born from a vision to blend the realms of dance, technology, and digital culture, Dance-tech.net has grown into a vibrant community of artists, technologists, and scholars who share a passion for pushing the boundaries of what's possible in art and technology.

A Vision Expanded

Dance-tech.net has always been more than a platform; it's a living, breathing ecosystem that thrives on collaboration, innovation, and exploration. Our mission has led us to foster an environment where new ideas can flourish, where the intersection of movement and technology sparks creative fires.

Our Supportive Partners

As we embark on this next chapter, we're excited to announce the support of key partners who share our commitment to innovation and education in the realms of dance and technology. Lake Studios Berlin (lakestudiosberlin.com) continues to be a steadfast supporter, providing a space where artists and technologists can converge and create.

Radiona (radiona.org), with its dedication to open community and innovation, aligns with our vision of a collaborative future.

Furthermore, we're establishing special educational partnerships with leading organizations in the AI space: Hugging Face (huggingface.co) and Fal.ai (fal.ai/dashboard). These collaborations are set to enrich our community's understanding and application of AI in dance and performance, marking a significant leap forward in our collective exploration of digital technology.

Looking Forward

This next phase for Dance-tech.net is not just about growth; it's about deepening our engagement with the digital world and its potential to transform dance and artistic expression. We are standing at the threshold of a new era, ready to explore the possibilities of movement, embodiment, cognition and digital technology with a special focus on AI's role in redefining these domains.

An Invitation to Explore | Helps us  with new directions...

This journey would not be possible without you, our community. Your curiosity, passion, and creativity have been the driving force behind Dance-tech.net's evolution. As we move forward, I invite you to join us in this exciting new phase. Let's continue to challenge the boundaries of dance and technology, together. Let me know in the comments how do you feel about these new and how can we reacticate the community and these exciying filed of inquiry.

Warm regards,

Marlon Barrios Solano Curator | Dance-tech.net and Movimiento.org 

Play with this generative desgn and AI app here:

https://inpursuitoftolenghosts.vercel.app/

This is the unseeable space in which machine learning makes its meaning. Beyond that which we are incapable of visualizing is that which we are incapable of even understanding. — James Bridle

Latent space, in the realm of machine learning and artificial intelligence, refers to a high-dimensional abstract space where data’s intrinsic, hidden features are represented in a compressed form. This space is particularly significant in the context of generative models, such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and transformers, where it serves as the groundwork for the models to learn, encode, and manipulate the underlying patterns of the data they’re trained on. By navigating through this latent space, these models can generate new instances of data that, while reflective of the learned patterns, are distinct and original.

In “Duets in Latent Space,” embodies a live collaboration between the artist or user— situated before a laptop — and generative AI models that reside within this enigmatic latent space. Through various forms of input, whether they be movements, sounds, or digital interactions, the AI responds in kind, generating visual, auditory, or textual outputs that are played back in real time.

In “Duets in Latent Spaces,” I navigate different trajectories in the domain where machine learning finds its meaning inspired by James Bridle’s contemplation on locating these spaces beyond our capacity to visualize or understand.

“Duets in Latent Spaces” is conceptualized as a lecture-performance, installation and webpages, designed to bridge the realms of the tangible, the remembered and the speculative, facilitating presentations both in person and online.

This project unfolds through a series of vignettes combining stories, re-tellings, interfaces, software, movement scores and re-performances, each spanning 3 to 7 minutes, that illuminate trajectories of the generative potential of human-AI interaction, inviting the audience into a collaborative narrative that melds human intuition, storytelling with algorithmic playfulness.

Each segment is woven with personal stories, dances, histories about cybernetics, migration, post-coloniality and choreographic thinking. They venture into uncharted probability spaces, powered by bespoke applications I’ve developed to interface with advanced generative AI models and machine learning models for body and gesture recognition.

These interactions forge semantic and action landscapes that delve into the deep, unseen dimensions of data, cultural memory and language. By reversing the hegemonic narratives of generative AI and manipulating inputs, actions, and prompts, I navigate the AI models’ generative processes exploring their emancipatory potential, forging unique cognitive recombinations with evolving texts, images, and soundscapes set within the ethereal spaces of desire, affect, memory, longing and hybrid materiality.

Central to this project are several technologies: p5.js, enabling creative coding in the browser; Next.js, for rendering server-side React applications; machine learning models for hangs gesture and body movement recognition; humansLarge Language Models (LLMs), offering extensive capabilities for generating human-like text; and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), known for producing highly realistic images. These technologies underpin the performance, emphasizing REAL-TIME dynamic interactions that highlight the creative and epistemic challenges of generative AI.

Moreover, “Duets in Latent Spaces” extends beyond the performance realm into live, interactive applications, making the underlying technology directly accessible. The apps themselves, alongside their source code, are freely available, inviting further exploration and engagement from the audience and the broader community. This transparency aims to demystify the technology, encouraging a hands-on understanding and critical examination of AI’s role in shaping our perceptions of identity, creativity, and reality.

This project and each node is a mutable invitation to ponder the unseen forces that mold our digital and physical existence (as memory and imagination), offering a nuanced perspective on the intricate relationship between human cognition and artificial intelligence. Through this work, I challenge audiences to reflect on the invisible dimensions that influence our world, inhabiting the gap between the known and the unknowable latent space of entropic creativity.

It has been presented at:

-. Generative AI, Arts and Ethics, think-tank at Chateau de Fey, France March 5th of March 2024.

-. ACCAD Future Tech | The Ohio Stare University OSU Dance (Online) February 22nd 2024

-. Unfinished Fridays @ Berlin Lake Studios February 23rd 2024.

It can be adapted to be presented as installation-performances, installations, online apps and as line and online lecture-performance.

Nodes

Hyper-elements in Latent Space

• Model: Stable Diffusion XL
• Perlin Noise
• GitHub Repository with project description, code and live app

Extraordinary Alien

• Model: MediaPipeGesture Recognition
• GitHub Repository with project description, code and live app

Entropic Haiku

• Model: GPT-4
• GitHub Repository with project description, code and live app

In Pursuit of Stolen Ghosts

• Model: Stable Diffusion XL
• GitHub Repository with project description, code and live app

Bauhaus Time Traveller

• Model: Stable Diffusion XL
• GitHub Repository with project description, code and live app

Impossible Simplicity

• Model: MediaPipe Pose Landmark
• GitHub Repository with project description, code and live app

Lots of gratitude for the granted access of the most advanced realtime models from Fal.ai

For booking and/or information contact marlon@dance-tech.net

Call for professional choreographers, dance companies and directors who want to participate in the Video Dance Showcase, to be held in Almada - Portugal, between September 19 to October 6, 2024.

The Video Dance Showcase is a section of the Quinzena de Dança de Almada - International Dance Festival, this year in the 32nd edition.

- The organisation will assure the conditions for the presentation of the selected pieces, being responsible for the programming and promotion of the presentations.

- The organisation will provide space and technical conditions for the presentation of selected videos.

- The organisation will be allowed to record and photograph the event and use excerpts of the pieces for promotion, archive, and educational purposes.

- The organisation will choose the location and time of presentation, within the duration of the festival.

- The authors are invited to attend the screening and participate in the presentation if they have the possibility to be present.

The submitted proposals must be:

- Works of Video Dance with a duration of 8 minutes or less.

- Presented by video directors, choreographers, dance companies or other institutions that hold the rights of presentation (proof of author's permission for presentation in the festival must be sent if the application is approved).

Online application form available here: https://forms.gle/YtXEMpkmi5rKmZ3L8

Dealine for applications: 8 April 2024

Hello Dance and Tech for ever lovers,

Natalya Velikanova, digital artist, and myself are creating a new digital hub called Novatopia (https://novatopia.fr/), based in Toulouse, France.

We offer workshops and residencies on VR, AI and dance.

Please find the program in the site itself. Sorry it is not yet translated in English.

Novatopia: Digital Hub Toulouse, Occitania, and more to come ….A new time-space where artistic and technological innovation meet to create a limitless creative lanscape, paving the way to the expression of new digital forms and immersive experiences in Toulouse and in its proximity.
Co created with @nataliya.velykanova (@gate22official)
It would be a pleasure to meet with you in some of the events ….
#workshop #conference #creation #art #dance #performance #music #AI #Toulouse #Novatopia

Inspired by Nahuel: Marlon Barrios Solano delves into generative design and human-computer interaction at Lake Studio Berlin, inspired by Nahuel Gerth's innovative approaches. Read more

Meta-fictions: Entangled with Odd Kins: Reflect on the interplay between dance, AI, and narrative in Marlon Barrios Solano's latest project, showcasing unpredictable artistic evolution. Explore further

Unfinished Fridays #106: Don't miss a unique evening at Lake Studios Berlin on February 23rd, 2024, featuring new works by resident artists and special guests. Details here

Sacred Economics (2019 Remix): Engage with Charles Eisenstein's ideas on transforming our economic systems towards sustainability, presented in a thought-provoking remix. Watch now

Poetics of Encryption Exhibition 24: Visit KW Institute for Contemporary Art from February 17 to May 26, 2024, for an exhibition exploring digital tools, secrecy, and the cultural implications of technology through the work of over 40 international artists. Learn more

Stay informed and inspired with this week's selection of engaging events and exhibitions!

Immersing myself in this residency at  Lake Studio Berlin, I have been inpired by the young designer and creative coder Nahuel Gerth. Based in Prague, he is not just a designer, but a visual storyteller, playfully weaving together the threads of science, arts, technology,  with  the laguage and tools of generative design. I am inspired by his passion for innovation and playfullness, while exploring  the boundaries of human-computer interaction and design.

Nahuel is also a new dance-tech.net member.

PLAY WITH SOME OS HIS LIVE APPS!

Dancing Team https://nahuelgerth.de/tools/dancing-team/

Digital Twin https://nahuelgerth.de/tools/digital-twin/

Nahuel, plays with  form, code, and emboiment. He uses procesural design for the web as a medium of art and playfully expands interaction with elegamt design. Visit  Nahuel's Website and follow his journey on Instagram @NahuelGerth.

🖌️ Contrast and Identity 🖌️

One facet of Nahuel's work that profoundly resonates with me is the stark contrast it presents between the materiality of emboiment and slick graphic dynamic 2D design. He juxtaposes algorythmic design with the material reality of embodiment. This interplay between Nahuel's digital geometies and my corporeal existence creats a compelling narrative tension. 

impossible simplicity
Day 2 AIR Lake Studios Berlin
Concept, programming, video and performance by Marlon Barrios Solano
https://marlonbarrios.github.io/body-tracking-pose/

🎨  Residency Experiences 🎨

t Lake Studio Berlin, my residency immerses me in a world where art and technology seamlessly blend to create a new frontier of expression. Armed with tools like p5.js and MediaPipe, coupled with the flexibility of web-based platforms, I sculpt interactive, generative environments that transcend traditional boundaries. These digital dances, born from code and creativity, exist as fluid experiences accessible to all, embodying the inclusive spirit of open-source technology.

Through my exploration, I strive to foster collaboration and inclusivity within the artistic community. Every keystroke and algorithmic tweak represents not just artistic creation, but also a commitment to sharing knowledge and insights. The LapTop Dances Prototype, a culmination of concept, programming, and performance, serves as a tangible manifestation of this ethos.

As I delve into realms of creative coding, machine learning, and generative AI, both in text and image, I anticipate the evolution of participatory performances that blur the lines between the digital and physical realms. Stay tuned for updates as I unveil the results of this exploration within the Laptop Dances | Soft Spaces project.

For ongoing research and developments, visit Marlon Barrios Solano's website.

 the body of the text
LapTop Dances Prototype
Concept, programming and performance by Marlon Barrios Solano
Code and live app here:
https://github.com/marlonbarrios/the_body_of_the_text
7th day of AIR at @lakestudiosberlin

In this residency I am researching creative coding, machine learning, generative AI  (text and image) and participatiry improvisational performance.

https://marlonbarrios.github.io/

I will be presenting some of tis reserach very soon and it is part of the project Laptop Dances | Soft Spaces.

#ArtAndTechnology #GenerativeArt #DigitalSculpture #InteractiveArt #CreativeJourney #dancetech

Reflecting on the culmination of our residency at Lake Studios Berlin in November 20th 2023, “Meta-fictions: A Fugue entangled with several odd kins and intelligences” represents a significant milestone in my journey exploring the realms of generativity, dance, and AI. This performance was not just the result of collaborative efforts but also a testament to the boundless possibilities that arise when different worlds of creativity and technology intersect.

Throughout the residency, my focus was on leveraging the capabilities of generative AI, to create an innovative choreographic tool also inrelation with the history of the use of rule systems and improvisational structures by dancers and actors. We iengaged in a dynamic dialogue with AI. We created a generative loop of continuous improvisation in collaborations with AIs. This process illustrated the true essence of generativity — an evolving, unpredictable artistic expression.

In “Meta-fictions,” we delved into the realm of self-aware storytelling. The performance was a conscious blend of fiction and reality, constantly evolving and reshaping itself based on the interactions between the dancers, AI, and the audience. This approach allowed us to explore the narrative in a way that questioned and played with the very nature of storytelling in the digital age. We collaborated and performed with fabulation engines.

A key aspect of the residency’s outcome was its rich tapestry of cultural influences due to our nationalities and complex histories: Venezuela, Mexico and Spain. From ancient indigenous chants to the modern rhythms of Spanish pop and American hits, the musical landscape of the performance was diverse and vibrant. The inclusion of Miguel Bose’s iconic performance in drag from Almodovar’s “Tacones Lejanos” brought an element of cinematic flair, merging music, film, and dance. The movements, inspired by the dramatic essence of bullfighting, connected our digital creation with deep-rooted cultural expressions. Longings, belongings and exiles were present.

In this project, AI took on multiple roles — as a repository of memories, a source of imagination, an evidence of cultural mashup and as collaging unique worlds. Durinf the process, AI-generated visuals of ethereal forms of jellyfish and algae, were not just artistic elements but symbolized the blending of the natural and digital realms, hight art conceptuality and fantasize about alien rituals. These OddKins represented the symbiosis of life forms. We watched Donna Haraway documentary and also sang karaoke. Working with LLMs is going meta all the time.

As I look back on “Meta-fictions,” I see it as an exploration in the field of performance art and installation. It’s a vivid example of how computation and AI happens is time and time happened in semantic realms. This residency at Lake Studios Berlin was an opportunity to navigate the uncharted (yet familiar) waters of generativity, AI, and dance improvisation. Stuff that changes in real-time.

Thanks to the artists collaborators in this residency Dakota Comin, Cesar Rene Perez, and Vera Rivas and the support of Lake Studios Berlin.

All images are from Maria Kousi and were taken in November 17th 2023.

Read experimental process documentation on Lake Studios Berlin blog

Following Quinzena de Dança de Almada’s organisation as a space for the presentation and sharing of experiences between contemporary dance artists, we are inviting choreographers, dance companies and professional directors to submit their projects for presentation on the International Platform for Choreographers and/or on the Video Dance Showcase.

The 31st edition of Quinzena de Dança de Almada - International Dance Festival will be presented in Almada (Lisbon, Portugal), from September 21 to October 8, 2023.

Interested parties can submit their proposals until January 22, 2023, for the International Platform for Choreographers and April 9, 2023, for the Video Dance Showcase. Conditions and online forms are available here.

For any question, please feel free to contact us via quinzena@cdanca-almada.pt.

Hello all, here is the link to the Soma Session Thursday, September 8. Reyna J. Perdomo is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic; Soma Session 3 with Reyna
Description; GYROKINESIS® Method and Embodied-Balanced-Flow Body/Mind Training with Reyna.
Time: Sep 8, 2022 01:00 PM Caracas, 1 PM EST., 7 PM CET.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81041596974?pwd=bFB1MHdlSHlnczQ1Zi9UVmw3UUhIUT09

Meeting ID: 810 4159 6974
Passcode: 369443

Hello all, 

MotionDAO, an artists collective exploring the affordances of the blockchain for  movement and inter-disciplinary artists.

We have been  meeting, thinking and creating experiments and we have now the opportunity to meet and share our experience in Kassel  Germany during Documenta 15th.

This is the MotionDAO group on dance-tech.net

MotionDAO is a Dance-tech.net project

Claim you special NFT. Scan the QR code and you will be prompted to create a Near wallet to collect the NFT. The daily NFT are gifts for you from MotionDAO artists. #artist #collaboration #motiondao #artblockchain #blockchain #nearprotocol #near #dancetech

Here is the recoding of the meditation session of today uploaded in the Internet Archives ... (supported by MotionDAO/Near Protocol)

https://archive.org/details/sati_07_27_22

Hello all,

I will be offering a a weekly online meditation sessions every Wednesday at 12pm. EST.

The sessions are  led in English and are offered for free to dance-tech.net and movimiento.org members.

These sessions are supported by MotionDAO/Near protocol and are part of the MotionDAO Somatic Care Intiative.

All levels of experience are welcome.

To receive the zoom link please leave a comment in this post!

Session Description:

Sati: The Practice of Mindful Awareness 

We will explore the potency of embodied awareness: ‘bodyfulness’ as a reframing of the four foundations of Mindfulness (Satipathana) as presented by early buddhism. We will practice Sati in combination with contemporary practices influenced by embodied cognition and somatics. The sessions start with guided mindfulness practice, silence and unfolds to a council/dialogue practice.

My Bio:

Marlon Barrios Solano is a Venezuelan-American interdisciplinary artist, educator and researcher based between the US  and Europe. With a hybrid background in movement arts, performance/dance studies, software engineering and psychology, he investigates the intersections of socio-technical systems, embodied cognition, choreography, computation, networks, somatic awareness and social innovation in art, pedagogy and healing.  He is fascinated by software, complexity and culture.

He is a Certified Vipassana/Mindfulness Meditation Teacher by Spirit Rock Meditation Center (USA) and practices under the mentorship of Stephen Batchelor. He is a student of the Somatic Experiencing Certification Program (NYC) and he is an  Embodyoga® 200 Hour Teacher (RYT200). From 2016 to 2021, he worked and lived  at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA in the US.He teachers mindfulness meditation to artists, technologists  and creative professionals.

Marlon was a research associate at the Inter-University of Dance/University of The Arts (UDK/HZT) in Berlin (Germany) from 2013 to 2016 and a collaborator of Lake Studios Berlin. He was a 2017 Hombroich Fellow (Germany) and has been artist/researcher  in residency at ICK Amsterdam 2013-14 and at the Gilles Jobin Company in Geneva (Switzerland) 2009-2012. He has taught and developed projects in the US, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South America.

As a dancer  in NYC, he collaborated with New York choreographers Lynn Shapiro, Merian Soto, Dean Moss and Susan Marshall and with musicians Philip Glass, John Zorn and Erik Friedlander. He holds an MFA in Dance and Technology 2004 intersecting networked environments,  performance of improvisation and embodied cognition from The Ohio State University, USA. 

He is the creator and curator of the social networks dance-tech.net and movimiento.org and the producer of the dance-tech interviews.

He is one of the leaders of  MotionDAO: Artists Exploring the Blockchain.

https://marlonbarrios.github.io/

Buddha design byIgor Stromajer

To receive the zoom link please leave a comment in this post!

I have been hosting an Embodied Writing Session along with Lauren Tietz. We would like to invite any dancer/embodied practitioners who are interested in embodied writing practices to join us.
The sessions are led by whoever wants to share their practice or experiment with practice. Sessions are held via Zoom.

I will share zoom links on here. The dates and times are not "consistent", but we have been meeting Mondays sometimes around 10am CST or 2pm CST.

You can message me or reply here if you are interested.

We are also gathering a knowledge bank and a writing archives for some kind of publication (live, hard copy, digital, NFT).

These sessions are supported by MotionDAO

 I am so happy that our project #MotionDAO was included in the current #gitcoin grants rounds for quadratic funding. 

The GitCoin organization  matches  your donation using an algorithm that favors the amount of donations/supporters instead of the amount of $ donated. So real crowd funding.

You may donate just a dollar in ETH , DAI, USDC  or Matic and it gets algorithmically augmented based in the number of supporters.

This round is until March 24th.

Support MotionDAO.

We are an international think-tank of artists, researchers, creative technologists and token engineers paving the way of creative innovation in the web3 for/with movement artists/embodied perspective.

To donate you need to use your Metamask wallet and you may use ETH or Matic. Please share and...thank you!

Cool opportunity  to get you wallet and etc! Follow videos!

Ask us questions and join the conversation in our super active Telegram Channel.

#innovation #project #funding #engineers #creative #ethereum #polygon #matic #kernel #motiondao

DONATE HERE

BIONICA AUDIOVISUAL IS A PROJECT BY BIONICA WOMEN, ART, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY FROM BARCELONA-SPAIN. 

BIONICA purpose of bionica is to vindicate thinking, production and and the artistic and technological practices carried out by women. 

In this first version of BIÒNICA are interested in exhibiting a diversity of audiovisual proposals from all over the world. 

The call extends to all artists regardless of their gender who deal with issues related to women and enthusiasts of film, dance film, video or documentary.

Biònica Audiovisual will be held online, based on the website www.bionicas.net as well as an online presentation in the context of Biònica women, art, technology and society found remotely from the city of Barcelona between 27 and December 30, 2021.

DEADLINE :  D-2Oth 

SUBMIT HERE