Music Tech fest – IRZU INSTITUTE

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Music Tech fest – The festival of music ideas

Music Tech Fest is the festival of music ideas, mixing performances and experiments, hacks, demos, and installations. Since 2012 MTF has been redefining how music is perceived, performed and experienced. From the heart of the startup scene in Berlin to Microsoft Research in Boston; from the home of the London Symphony Orchestra to the Centre Pompidou in Paris; from the European capital of culture and creative technology in Scandinavia – to Cankarjev Dom for the whole of Central Europe. #MTFCentral is coming to Ljubljana. The future is to be invented.

#MTFCentral is the festival of music ideas: a weekend of musical discovery and experimentation, held at the incredible Cankarjev Dom and +MSUM, the Museum of Modern Art in the heart of Ljubljana from the 18th to the 21st of September. If you’re wondering what to expect, we’ve put together a taste of the past Music Tech Fests which took place in Berlin, Paris, London and Umeå in this highlights video.

In addition to the 24-hour hack camp and the research symposium, this is what you can expect on the main festival stage at Cankarjev Dom between the 18th and 20th September 2015.

FRIDAY: THE SCIENCE OF MUSIC, THE MUSIC OF SCIENCE:

4pm: The Science of Music
Experimentation is at the heart of music’s progress – not just in terms of what it can sound like, but also how it can be used. The scientists of music are producers, hackers, craftspeople, therapists, composers, teachers and industry innovators. From the hospital to the internet, and from wearable musical instruments to the reinvention of classical music – this session investigates new ways of thinking, alternative uses and new experiments in the science of music.
FEATURING: Simon Penšek, Elio Icaza Milson, Blaž Erzetič, JMZM collective, Roey Tsemah (Whitestone), Leonid Imennykh, Vincent Favrat (Musimap) and Ann Rosén / Sten-Olof Hellström

6pm: The Music of Science
Data becomes art. Physical processes and reactions create sound. Equations create rhythms. The worlds of physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology combine in the mind of the computer to create sonic artwork and musical experiences unlike any we have known before.
FEATURING: Joanna Alpe / Luka Topolovec / Tine Postuvan (Makelight United), Andrea Santini, Robertina Šebjanič / Aleš Hieng Zergon, Matevž Pesek / Luka Zakrajšek / Manca Žerovnik, Adam John Williams, Peter Sciri / Alexander Wankhammer (Sonible) and Rolf Gehlhaar

8pm: Strange Dreams
Music’s greatest power is on the subconscious mind. Through cinematic immersion, giant controllers and underground currents of molten rock, we explore the collapse of the imaginary barriers between artist and audience, performance and space, dream and reality.
FEATURING: Leonardo Gabrielli / Paolo Bragaglia, Luka Prinčič, Håkan Lidbo, Brane Zorman and Uzvočevalci

SATURDAY: PERFORMANCE CYBORGS:

2pm: The Creator’s Laboratory
A look into the experimental laboratory, where ingenious minds tinker in basements and breathe life into found objects and affordable electronics. Discover new uses for 8-bit lo-fi technologies and join the quest for pioneering noise machines fashioned from as much recycled material as possible.
FEATURING: Matej Rodela (Trobla), Damir Prizmić / Igor Brkić, Daniel Zuvela (Maltempo effects), Slavko Glamočanin (Naprave), Sonda3, Tom Fox (Vulpestruments) and Matt Black (Ninja Tune)

4pm: Performance Cyborgs
The boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion. This session takes the intangible and ephemeral world of music and makes it physical: a tactile and gestural phenomenon. The body becomes the musical instrument and we manipulate sound in space like a malleable, three-dimensional object in the air.
FEATURING: Sebastian Lexer, Cirkulacija 2, Jamie Bullock (Integra Lab), Antonio Križnič (Ableton), Harshside, Giorgio Klauer and Rob Canning

6pm: Technology Mutants
We shape our tools, and they, in turn, shape us. We recycle machines and hybridise instruments, manipulate memory, interpret data and transform ourselves through musical expression. We are what we create.
FEATURING: Yoshihito Nakanishi , Tadej Droljc, Dušan Zidar, Alexander Grigoryev, Miha Mohorčič / Karmen Gostiša and Chris Reilly

8pm: GUNK: Geek Punk
Technology is not sterile. It’s messy, rough and ready. It’s about immediacy of expression. Get your hands dirty, pull something apart, make new noises, form a band. Geek punks, electro legends and music hackers join forces to tear up the stage. No future? No – this IS the future.
FEATURING: Eden Grey, Theremidi Orchestra, Nina Farič, MMessy Oscillators and Graham Massey (808 State)

SUNDAY: #MTFLaunchpad:

2pm: #MTFLaunchpad
Introducing the inventors of the future: children enter the world of music technology through coding and making; barriers to participation in music are removed with instruments accessible to people with disabilities; intuition is enhanced through collaboration and new musical possibilities.
FEATURING: Tamara Friebel (The Collaborative Mind), Claire-Gillian Watt, Benjaman Schogler (Skoog), Vahakn Matossian (Human Instruments), Stephen Hetherington (OHMI Trust) and Phil Heeley (Inclusive Music)

4pm: #MusicBricks
8 new startups and over half a million on social reach after just 6 months: #MusicBricks is a toolkit of some of the best music technologies coming out of EU research centres that allow creators, developers and digital content makers easy access to core building blocks of music. At #MTFCentral we exclusively reveal the innovative prototypes from the first round of #MusicBricks incubation.
FEATURING: High Note, Sound in Translation, Airstrument, Enboard, #FindingSomethingBondingSounding, eear, Dolphin and Interactive Cube

6pm: #MTFHacks
Your first chance to see the inventions and designs by creative developers using some great new technologies including #MusicBricks, a compendium of both physical and virtual interfaces and APIs, exclusively available at #MTFCentral. From new types of physical interfaces and performances to software projects and startups. Every completed hack will be demonstrated and the winners will be announced on stage.

8pm: #MTFSessions
World famous artists perform with emerging local artists, using new musical instruments and in entirely new collaborative contexts. It’s not just an experimental, improvisational session featuring some of the finest artists in the world of music technology – it’s also a jam session and a party.
FEATURING: Phil Heeley (Inclusive Music), Run Dreamer, Namosh, Matt Black (Coldcut), Reeps One, and many more.

Each session is ticketed and arranged around a broad theme. Admission is free to each session, but tickets are strictly limited. More performances and demos are being added to the programme by the day. Ensure your place by registering at the #MTFCentral Eventbrite page.