Technopoiesis (2023)
Technopoiesis is a curatorial project resulted as a 2-day concert event at Fylkingen, the venue for the world’s earliest attempt during the ‘60s exploring technological shifts on society through discourse on philosophy, sound engineering and intermedia art.
In September 1966, Fylkingen launched a festival of performances and lectures, exploring an area where scientific and artistic interests meet. As Knut Wiggen wrote in the 1967 Fylkingen Bulletin, “the fact that someone receives aids or tools means that at the same moment, he is made responsible for how he uses these aids and tools. In this case, the artist's responsibility would be that he must acquire knowledge of and give artistic expression to the hidden ‘requirement (krav)’ of the time - in relation to basic life values that these new human tools impose on him. “What the probably ill-chosen word ‘requirement (krav)’ has in fact entailed—if it would perchance question about a strongly changed moral system; or the development of a way of thinking complemented of the natural sciences; or about an in-depth knowledge of man, of things and of man and things—seems to be a central problem for the solution of which neither artists nor scientists can fully rely on their respective technologies.”
Technopoiesis presents artists from Northern Ireland and Ireland, showcasing performances by Mark Buckeridge, John Macormac + Robin Price, Muiredach O’Riain and Quantum Foam. A two-night concert—consisting of drums, lasers, electroacoustic interactions, analogue improvisations and AI compositions—will aim to echo Fylkingen’s retrospective quest with today’s concern by searching for forms of poetic tensions and possibilities in the machine age.
Mark Buckeridge, Untitled. A lyric-based improvisation performance using voice and piano. Image by Robin Price.
Muiredach O'Riain, The Well Trained Algorithm 23 x 1. Generative AI composition, trained with seminal works of J. S. Bach and La Monte Young, "The Well Tempered Clavier" (TWTC) and "The Well Tuned Piano" (TWTP), and performed with midi guitar sending synthesised sounds beyond traditional intonation. Image by Robin Price.
A Conversation (2016/2023) by Edy Fung. Image by Robin Price.
John Macormac + Robin Price, Rule Driven Collaborative performance including a drum kit prepared with contact microphones triggering synthesised sounds in real-time, as well as improvisation with modular synthesisers. Informed by mathematics, geometry and the natural world, each component enacts a set of carefully formulated, self-determined rules. Image by Robin Price.
Archival Showcase at Fylkingen (Fylkingen Bulletin no.1). Image by Robin Price.