AVLAB 1.0 · Advanced Project Development Workshop

Medialab-Prado issues a call for audio/video projects within the context of the AVLAB 1.0 International Workshop, that will take place from September 17 through October 1, 2008 at Medialab-Prado (Madrid, Spain).

Director: Javier Duero

Teachers: Francisco López, Hans-Christoph Steiner

Introduction

Widespread digital technologies have established the conditions for a set of transformations in languages related to sound and visual culture. New technological practices related to artistic creation take place in a reality characterized by the dissolution of traditional disciplines and the appearance of work processes both online and off-line that are transversal and collaborative in nature. These chance formations also characterize the ways that projects are produced, publicized and distributed, bringing into question the concepts such as “work”, “property” and “author”.

In this context of deep cultural changes is important to establish a connection between image, the prevailing traditional concepts, and sound. Since sound has been generated electronically, its influence has meant that experimental music and sound creation have taken on a new prominence as specific modes of creation. Their relationship with other visual languages such as cinema, television, video games, etc., has enabled the appearance of narrative and aesthetic subgenres which have enriched these new forms of expression.

The AVLAB 1.0 call for projects focuses on work within the framework of sound as protagonist, in addition to the broad field of scientific, anthropological and socio-cultural research related to the sound phenomenon.

AVLAB is one of the ongoing programmes at Medialab-Prado (Madrid), aimed at the production, research, and dissemination of projects related to sound and visual creation. Conceived as a horizontal collaborative structure, AVLAB works in a network of other platforms and centres related to artistic research.

Objectives of this Call for Projects

· To develop projects related to sound and all practices related with the intersection of sound and picture.

· To create a collaborative learning and production environment focused on developing audio/video projects.

· To enhance knowledge of new forms of sound expression, alternative systems of composition, new forms of interpretation-execution, and transmission systems.

· To focus attention on the work process, facilitating access to methodologies, documentation and the code of projects produced to enable the interchange of knowledge.

· To foster work based on the research, historiography and anthropology of sound and audiovisual media.

· To support projects focused on social interaction and a relationship with the surrounding environment.

· To promote and facilitate the use of free software tools for musical, sound and visual creation.

For Whom

Sound artists, composers, producers, software and hardware programmers and developers, historians, anthropologists and any other person interested in the objectives of this call for projects.

Characteristics of the Projects

Projects presented individually or by groups related with the following fields:

Sound art, live cinema, computer music, circuit bending, audio/video processing in real time, design of hardware-software applications specifically for audio/video, documentation and historical projects, and anthropological and sociological studies.

Characteristics of the Seminar-Workshop

The workshop aims to provide a platform for research, production and collective learning which offers maximum support to the development of the projects selected. The proposals will be developed in multidisciplinary work groups comprising their author(s) and interested collaborators, with conceptual and technical advice from the teachers.

Upon the announcement of the final selection of the projects submitted to this call, in the next stage, a new call will be announced for those people who want to participate as collaborators in the production process of the works.

During the workshop, various activities will be scheduled such as talks, presentations, seminars or specific mini-workshops.

Team work, collaborative methodology, generating discourse through the creative process and developing critical thought will be emphasized.

Work days will be adapted to the specific needs of the projects in conciliation with the activities organized for the seminar and Medialab-Prado norms for all matters related to the hours the centre is open.

The workshop will be held partly in English and partly in Spanish, without translation.

Number of Projects

No more than 10 individual or group projects will be selected.

Participation Rules

Proposals may be submitted individually or by groups. Each participant or team may submit a maximum of two projects.

The projects should be at a stage in their research/development that is advanced enough to reach the proposed result during the two week workshop.

Those projects that are selected must be open to the participation of other interested collaborators who can contribute to the development of the pieces during the workshop.

The list of selected projects will be announced on July 15, 2008 on the Medialab-Prado website and all applicants will also be informed of the announcement by email.

Entries Deadline: July 1, 2008 at 24h Madrid Local Time (GMT+1)

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