Upgrade! Boston: Moments of Inertia by R. Luke DuBois, with Todd Reynolds :: February 8, 2011; Doors open @ 6:30 pm. Performance begins @ 7:00 pm :: MIT Media Lab (E14), 6th Floor, Room 633, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts (map).

Moments of Inertia is an evening-length performance based on a teleological study of gesture in musical performance and how it relates to gesture in intimate social interaction. The work is written for solo violin with real-time computer accompaniment and video. Moments consists of twelve violin études written by R. Luke DuBois for Todd Reynolds – ranging from 1-10 minutes in length – each of which uses a different violin performance gesture as a control input for manipulating a short piece of high-speed film (300 frames-per-second) – of objects and people in motion. Continue reading

Upgrade! Warsaw at Gallery 2.0,
 Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw,
 Krakowskie Przedmieście 5.

Upgrade! Joburg: Remote Lectures Series: Call for Proposals — Deadline: May 31, 2010.

Upgrade! Joburg will Skype anyone anywhere to give a one hour lecture, demonstration or performance to an audience in Johannesburg. Each session will be streamed live and recorded to our podcast album for anyone to download and watch at anytime after the event.

Why: Being literally at the bottom end of the African continent, the Johannesburg digital and new media art scene needs connection and inspiration to grow, develop and learn to have a little fun.

What you get: A great opportunity to access an African audience; and if you like we will organize a lecture from Joburg to you too. Continue reading

DEADLINE EXTENDED Upgrade International 2010: Soft Borders :: October 18-21, 2010 :: Sao Paulo, Brazil :: Call for Participation — Deadline: May 7, 2010.

We invite proposals of papers, posters and workshops for Soft Borders - the 4th Upgrade! International Conference & Festival on New Media Art, that will take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from Oct 18th to 21st.

All the information about submitting proposals and the event can be also found online at the conference official website.

A brief summary only is required for the selection process. This should be submitted electronically via the online submission system, by 30/April/2010. You will be asked to create an account with the system before uploading your summary. Continue reading

Upgrade! Eindhoven: Tetsu Kondo (Japan) :: March 14, 2010; 8:00 -10:30 pm (doors open 7:30) :: Temporary Art Centre, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

The next Upgrade! Eindhoven presents Albert van Abbe and MAD Artist in Residence, Tetsu Kondo discussing Kondo’s work and vision. Kondo is an artist, musician and researcher whose work includes drawing, installations and musical instrument design. He is currently teaching at Tokyo Polytechnic University.

Kondo will also demonstrate his Dendraw, a software instrument he developed, that transforms the beauty of visual programming into live interactive sound performances. The Dendraw generates specific sine waves depending on screen position. Continue reading

Upgrade! Warsaw: Electro-acoustic Concert — Sindre Bjerga, Nils Rostad, Thaw - Hubert Napiórski, CADAVeR - Piotr Olczak :: February 22, 2010; 8:00 pm :: 2.0 Gallery, The Academy of Music, 58/60 Krakowskie Przedmieście, Warsaw, Poland.

Sindre Bjerga has been wiretapping the secret frequencies of ghostly drones for years now. Though a steady flow of releases on numerous labels around the world he has been channeling the spectral transmissions from the grey void… Expect psychedelic drones that sometimes collide with snippets of found sounds from half-demagnetized tapes and concrete sounds from wrecked kitchen utensils… Recent releases: “Crystal cranium, diamond head” (Blackest Rainbow) and “Black Cobweb mind” (Klang und Krach). Continue reading

Upgrade! Warsaw: Paweł Janicki :: November 3, 2009; 6:00 pm :: 2.0 Gallery, The Academy of Music, 58/60 Krakowskie Przedmieście, Warsaw, Poland.

Paweł Janicki (1974) is an independent media artist and producer working in the field of media art, microsound aesthetics and algorithmic composition, is a creator of audiovisual interactive systems, installations and performances. He creates and continuously develops software tools and interfaces. Special place in his activity takes developing software according to his own projects – and broadly – creating his own media either sabotaging already existing solutions. Continue reading

Upgrade! Boston: China Blue and Joseph Butch Rovan :: September 22, 2009; 7:00 - 9:00 pm :: Center for Advanced Visual Studies | MIT N51-390, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd Floor, Cambridge, MA.

China Blue is an internationally exhibiting artist who is interested in how sound shapes space. She searches for the hidden acoustic identity of a structure, and uses those sounds as sculptural material to create immersive environments. China Blue’s work has been shown in galleries and non-profit spaces world-wide, including Finland, Sweden, France and the US. She was the US representative at OPEN XI, Venice, Italy, an exhibition held in conjunction with the Architecture Biennale. Continue reading

Upgrade! Warsaw: Johannes Bergmark and Nano with Andrzej Załęski (percussion) :: March 24, 2009; 8.30 pm :: Studio Gallery, Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, Poland.

Johannes Bergmark plays improvised and live electronic music for invented instruments, selected objects and electronics, among other things. He has made many instruments of his own design and construction (as well as some traditional ones) and he also makes his own contact microphones. Bergmark is also an occasional writer, electro-acoustic music - and text-sound composer, sound poet and piano technician. In his attitude a skeptic and surrealist, not an artist. Continue reading

Upgrade! Paris: Alain Thibault :: March 17, 2009; 7:00 pm :: Point Ephemere, 200 quai de Valmy, 75010 Paris.

Alain Thibault will present Elektra festival and will talk about the diffusion of digital arts with Anne Laforet. Elektra, a Montreal-based cultural initiative, presents artists and works of art that align the latest electronic music and visual creations derived from new technologies (animation, installation and robotics). Continue reading