Workshop | Serge Lemouton et al.: Practical Documentation and Collaborative Preservation using Antony
2026-05-11 17:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | Hamburg University of Technology, Building H (H 0.02), Am Schwarzenberg-Campus 5, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
The goal of this hands-on workshop is to show, for the first time in an international context, the Antony system, now in its final state and fully functional.
The Antony platform provides a structured system for archiving, documenting, and accessing mixed music works materials to ensure long-term preservation and reuse. The Antony project addresses the difficulty of preserving artistic works that rely on evolving and often incompatible technologies. It highlights how the survival of these works depends on a small group of experts capable of updating and maintaining their digital components.
At the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to use the database to document, distribute and preserve their own creations.
Requirements
This workshop primarily addresses composers, computer music designers or performers, but it can also be of interest for media artists, musicologists, documentalists and music publishers.
The participants should come with the media related to an existing artistic project of their own that they wish to editorialize and preserve.
About the workshop facilitators
Serge Lemouton
Computer Music Designer – Institut de Recherche et Création Acoustique/Musique – Centre Georges Pompidou (IRCAM-CGP)
Since 1992, Serge Lemouton works as a computer music designer at IRCAM, collaborates with researchers to develop computer tools and has taken part in the production and public performances of numerous composers’ musical projects. He is currently working on score following systems, analysis of instrumental gesture and constraint programming for computer assisted composition. His current research work leads him to study the transmission and preservation of the computer music repertoire.

Jacques Warnier
Research Engineer, Ministry of Culture – Computer Music Realizer (RIM), Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP)
Since 2007, Jacques Warnier has supported the composition and new technologies class at CNSMDP, producing concerts and performing live electronics for mixed repertoire works. After earning the Saint-Etienne Master’s degree in Computer Music Design in 2015, he joined the Ministry of Culture as a research engineer in 2016.
His role combines musicianship and engineering to create the artistic and technical conditions required for performing 20th- and 21st-century music involving audio-digital technologies. His research focuses on making this repertoire accessible to students: curating works by instrument, acquiring scores and electronic parts, cataloging them in the Hector Berlioz media library, and preserving or reconstructing electronic components.
He is a member of the AFIM working group on “Collaborative Archiving and Creative Preservation” (since 2018), now “Antony,” and participates in the Humanum consortium for digital musicology (Musica2) since 2022.
Malena Fouillou
An acoustic engineer and computer music producer, Malena has had a wide-ranging career. After completing her higher education studies in acoustics, she joined Ircam in 2022 and graduated with a master’s degree in ATIAM (Acoustics, Signal Processing, Computer Science for Music). It was only natural that she joined the Next ensemble of the Paris Conservatory, in partnership with the Ensemble Intercontemporain. This training allowed her to study with distinguished RIMS professors such as Arshia Cont, Augustin Müller, and Andrew Gerszo, and to perform works by Marco Stroppa, Pierre Boulez, Martin Matalon, and others. Currently pursuing her PhD at Paris 8, her research focuses on qualitative and
quantitative descriptions of the spatiality of sound. She is part of a working group composed of Serge Lemouton (Ircam), Jacques Warnier (CNSMDP), Laurent Pottier (ECLLA-UJM) on the Antony project, a collaborative platform for the preservation and sharing of musical heritage using digital technologies.
Laurent Pottier
Professor of Musicology & Computer Music at Jean Monnet University (Saint-Etienne-France), ECLLA laboratory
Laurent Pottier is a professor of Musicology & Computer Music at UJM (Saint-Etienne University). He is the headmaster of the RIM (Réalisateur en Informatique Musicale / Computer Music Producer) professional Master and of the DIGICREA (Digital Creativity – Arts & Sciences) international EMJM Master. His research at the ECLLA laboratory, Saint-Etienne University involves music using electronic and digital technologies. He taught at Ircam (1992-1996), then
headed the research department at GMEM in Marseille (1997-2005). As a RIM, he has worked with many composers and in particular with J.-B. Barrière, J. Chowning, T. De Mey, A. Liberovicci, C. Maïda, A. Markeas, F. Martin, T. Murail, J.-C. Risset, F. Romitelli, K.T. Toeplitz.

Workshop | Weiyi Dai: From Objects to Soundscapes: Participatory Spatial Composition through Data-Driven Multimodal Systems
2026-05-12 10:30 - 13:00 | Hamburg University of Technology, Building H (H 0.02), Am Schwarzenberg-Campus 5, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
This workshop offers hands-on experience with Full House, a multimodal soundscape system designed specifically for participatory spatial composition. Through a real time data driven architecture, the system transforms the manipulation of physical objects into continuous spatial sound and visual processes.
Rather than teaching a fixed compositional style, the workshop focuses on methodological thinking: sound is understood as an ongoing systemic behavior shaped by data, space, and interaction, rather than a sequence of triggered musical events. It emphasizes the participatory creative cycle of experience–data–adjustment. Participants will learn how to integrate object based interaction, mapping strategies, and spatial audio technologies to construct intelligible, inclusive, and non repetitive soundscapes.
Requirements
Basic computer literacy. To fully experience and understand the structural logic of the Full House system, participants must bring their own laptop and headphones. Installation of TouchDesigner (TD) in advance is highly recommended; group on site installation will also be available.
About the workshop facilitator
Weiyi Dai is a composer, sound artist, and researcher working at the intersection of computer music, spatial audio, and multimodal interaction. He is an Associate Professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, School of Digital Media Art, where his work focuses on soundscape systems, participatory sound environments, and the translation of artistic practice into technological platforms. His recent Projects explore object‐based interaction, spatial sound rendering, and data‐driven Sound libraries for immersive environments, with applications in performance, installation, and education. His research has been presented in academic and artistic contexts related to computer music, sound art, and media technology.

[Off-ICMC] Workshop: Creating Sounds with Fruit and Vegetables
2026-05-12 11:00 - 11:45 | Harburg Info, Hölertwiete 6, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
Photo: feeljazz Festival Jakob Stolz

Come and let your creativity run free at our composition workshop. We’ve got plenty of small musical instruments and a loop station ready for you. Play a fruit and vegetable piano, record sounds and play them back, and discover how to create your own beats.
For adults, teens and children aged 6+
Registration required: here and here

The Off-ICMC
Music is what brings us together, even when everything else pulls us apart.
Music everywhere—it is part of our everyday lives. And yet, we’re hearing it performed live on analog instruments less and less. Instead, it often reaches us through speakers or headphones, as files, from the cloud. What does music mean to you? What does it sound like today? Where does it begin—and where does it end?
The ligeti center invites you to listen more closely and discover new sounds—to explore, experiment, and play. This year, ICMC HAMBURG 2026 revives an old tradition: the Off-ICMC, a free and accompanying festival curated for the general public and anyone curious about computer music.
All Off-ICMC events are free of charge.

[Off-ICMC] Workshop: Music without Touch – Build your own Theremin!
2026-05-12 11:00 - 13:00 | Hamburg University of Technology, WorkINGLab, Eißendorfer Straße 40, Building N, 2nd Floor, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
The Theremin | Photo: TUHH WorkINGLab

No keys, strings, or even physical contact—the theremin is one of the oldest electronic musical instruments and is played solely by movements in the air. In this workshop, you’ll have the opportunity to build your own theremin using electronic components. Afterward, you’ll add your personal touch by painting it.
Für children and teenagers from age 5 to 16
Registration required here

The Off-ICMC
Music is what brings us together, even when everything else pulls us apart.
Music everywhere—it is part of our everyday lives. And yet, we’re hearing it performed live on analog instruments less and less. Instead, it often reaches us through speakers or headphones, as files, from the cloud. What does music mean to you? What does it sound like today? Where does it begin—and where does it end?
The ligeti center invites you to listen more closely and discover new sounds—to explore, experiment, and play. This year, ICMC HAMBURG 2026 revives an old tradition: the Off-ICMC, a free and accompanying festival curated for the general public and anyone curious about computer music.
All Off-ICMC events are free of charge.

Workshop | Henry Windish et al.: Working with MËSH: Advanced Tools and Strategies for Networked Instruments in Music and Sound Art
2026-05-12 11:00 - 13:00 | Stellwerk Hamburg, Hannoversche Straße 85, Hamburg, 21079, Germany
This workshop introduces MESH, a portable, wireless system for distributed music performance and interactive installation. Designed as a flexible alternative to infrastructure-heavy networked ensembles, MESH enables performers to create spatially distributed musical systems using compact, self-contained nodes that communicate over a wireless network.
Participants will gain hands-on experience with the core concepts behind MESH, including distributed sound synthesis, Open Sound Control (OSC) based communication, and decentralized performance design. We will build and perform with a distributed system, gaining practical insight into the design and implementation of portable networked music environments. In addition to performance-oriented applications, the workshop will also introduce approaches for audience interaction using computer vision techniques. The workshop is suitable for musicians, composers, and researchers interested in electroacoustic performance, interactive systems, and networked music practices.
Requirements

No prior knowledge
No materials needed – we will provide materials

About the workshop facilitators
Henry Windish is a graduate student in the School of Music at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His work focuses on computer music systems, audio software development, and collaborative tools for performance and education. He contributes to the design and implementation of networked performance platforms and supports student projects involving SuperCollider, audio networking, computer vision, and interactive media. Henry has been with the MËSH project since it launched at Georgia Tech in 2024. Previously, he studied electrical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.
Tristan Peng (he/him) is a Music Technology PhD student at the Georgia Institute of Technology exploring interaction design, spatial audio, and sonification; previously studying at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) in the Department of Music as well as the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University. A creative technologist and musician, his work aims to democratize music through technology–creating accessible, artful, and interactive ways for people to experience sound. His current projects investigate how data can become a medium for participation and how immersive Audio spaces can evoke emotion and understanding in ways that traditional visualizations cannot.
Henrik von Coler is a musician and researcher, working at the intersection of art, science and technology. In 2024 he founded the Lab for Interaction and Immersion (L42i) at Georgia Tech’s School of Music. Before that he was the director of the Electronic Music Studio at TU Berlin and head of the Computer Music Team at the Audio Communication Group. In his research and creative work, Henrik has explored various aspects of electronic music and musical instruments. This includes interface design, algorithms for sound generation and experimental concepts for composition and performance. Most of his projects treat space as an integral part of music. In 2017 he founded the Electronic Orchestra Charlottenburg – an ensemble of up to 12 electronic musicians – to explore music interaction on immersive loudspeaker systems. He has since worked on ways to enhance how musicians and audiences experience spatial music and sound art.

[Off-ICMC] Workshop: Creating Sounds with Fruit and Vegetables
2026-05-12 14:00 - 14:45 | Harburg Info, Hölertwiete 6, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
Come and let your creativity run free at our composition workshop. We’ve got plenty of small musical instruments and a loop station ready for you. Play a fruit and vegetable piano, record sounds and play them back, and discover how to create your own beats.
For adults, teens and children aged 6+
Registration required: here and here

The Off-ICMC
Music is what brings us together, even when everything else pulls us apart.
Music everywhere—it is part of our everyday lives. And yet, we’re hearing it performed live on analog instruments less and less. Instead, it often reaches us through speakers or headphones, as files, from the cloud. What does music mean to you? What does it sound like today? Where does it begin—and where does it end?
The ligeti center invites you to listen more closely and discover new sounds—to explore, experiment, and play. This year, ICMC HAMBURG 2026 revives an old tradition: the Off-ICMC, a free and accompanying festival curated for the general public and anyone curious about computer music.
All Off-ICMC events are free of charge.

Workshop | Thomas Meckel et al.: SONA – Audio-VR
2026-05-12 16:00 - 18:00 | ligeti center, 9th floor, Veritaskai 1, Hamburg, 21079, Germany
Virtual Reality technologies remain largely inaccessible to blind and visually impaired People due to their strong reliance on visual interfaces. At the same time, blind people possess highly developed skills in spatial orientation and navigation through sound. SONA takes this contradiction as its starting point and investigates how VR can be reconceptualized as an inclusive medium by utilising spatial audio as a primary navigation and interaction tool.
Since 2023, SONA has developed Audio-VR works in close collaboration with blind and visually impaired communities in Cologne and North Rhine-Westphalia. This work has produced two formats: SONA – Seeing Sound, a large-scale performative VR installation in complete darkness, where visitors navigate a motion-captured space using spatial audio, sensory shoes, and voice commands, guided by a blind performer; and SONA – Diving in the Dark, a mobile Audio-VR game in which players explore a virtual underwater world — guided entirely by 3D sound — using a smartphone and Headphones with head-tracking as a display-free VR headset.
From a technical perspective, the workshop addresses spatial audio not as an immersive effect but as a functional interface for navigation and interaction. We will discuss the Audio-VR navigation tools developed within the project — including virtual echolocation, a virtual audio cane, and virtual wall membranes — and the design decisions behind them. The technical stack (Unity, Wwise/Audiokinetic, head-tracking via smartphone sensors, voice recognition and microphone input) will be presented alongside the iterative research process and our inclusive worldbuilding methods.
The workshop combines a presentation and discussion of the artistic and technical background with a hands-on opportunity to test SONA – Diving in the Dark.
More about SONA here.
SONA Film here.
Requirements
None
About the workshop facilitators
Thomas Meckel. Media artist, game designer, and musician. His interactive cinema performance Solaris has been presented internationally. Together with Tobias Thomas, he curates the concert series Round at the Cologne Philharmonic. He studied Media Arts at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Cultural Studies in Lüneburg, and Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen. Since 2023, he has been developing concepts for SONA and moderating its artistic realization.
Dennis Scheiba. Music informatician and Software developer from Cologne. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Master’s degree in Sound and Reality (Robert Schumann University of Music, Düsseldorf). A core developer of the music software SuperCollider, he has been a research and artistic assistant at the Robert
Schumann University of Music Düsseldorf since 2023, working in the field of artificial intelligence and Musical practice. At SONA, he contributes expertise in AI, sound, and interface development—particularly for the AI seagull character and custom text-to-speech systems.
Moritz Wesp. Game designer, trombonist, and media artist. As a trombonist, he performs internationally with ensembles such as Matthias Muches’ Bonecrusher and Mariá Portugal’s Erosão. He develops his own electronic instruments (including a virtual trombone) and programs interactive music games. Moritz studied at the Lucerne School of Music and at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.

Workshop | Dennis Scheiba & Julian Rohrhuber: User = Developer: How to contribute to SuperCollider development
2026-05-13 11:00 - 13:00 | ligeti center, 9th floor, Veritaskai 1, Hamburg, 21079, Germany
SuperCollider, being a free and open-source project, stands in contrast to non-open projects in that it doesn’t impose technical and legal barriers to users accessing and modifying its inner workings.
Rather than a strict separation, this allows for a gradient between user and developer. There are still, however, technical and social complexities involved in contributing to such a big project, which this workshop seeks to address.
It will guide through the landscape of the SuperCollider project, easy passages as well as dense forests, and show how to participate in development, at all levels, with or without coding.
With this workshop, we hope to invite participation and spread knowledge about the interesting experience of maintaining and extending a widely used computer music language.
Requirements
None
About the workshop facilitators
Dennis Scheiba is an artistic and research associate at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Dusseldorf. He works as a ¨composer, live coder, and audio-visual artist with a Special interest in multi-spatiality and streaming technologies. He has performed at MIT, Johns Hopkins University, ZKM, KUG, and IRCAM. Scheiba has a background in mathematics and machine learning and currently researches on audio-only VR environments, JIT-compilation in DSP environments, WebRTC streaming, and packaging of audioprojects. He has co-managed the two most recent Releases of SuperCollider, versions 3.14 and 3.15.
Julian Rohrhuber works in contemporary media theory that bridges philosophy, informatics, anthropology and art. As a professor at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf he has established the subject of epistemic media, which aims to ground research independent of the distinction between science and art. For the last two decades, he has been involved in the development of computer languages for experimental programming and music informatics, such as SuperCollider and TidalCycles. Publications are concerned with diverse topics like the history of programming and mathematics, patents and algorithms, art theory, philosophy of science, live coding, sonification, and realism in documentary film. Recent texts address philosophy of time, algorithmic causality, and the citizenship of abstract entities.

Workshop | Moritz Wesp, Eric Haupt and Victor Gelling: oscheat
2026-05-13 11:30 - 14:30 | ligeti center, Production Lab (10th floor), Veritaskai 1, Hamburg, 21079, Germany
oscheat is a work-in-progress multi-user interface based on OSC. Its purpose is to simplify and formalise shared, real-time control of musical parameters across an ensemble. Instead of separating instruments by performer, oscheat functions as a collective parameter space in which all participants can change each other’s instrument sound generation, spatialization, tonal systems or rhythmic structures.
For the workshop, a predefined set of addressable instruments has been prepared for each instance of oscheat. They are structured into three functional sections reflecting core Musical building blocks: synthesizers for melodic and harmonic material, sequencers for rhythmic organization, and samplers for vocal and sound-based material. Additional functionality includes real-time MIDI recording and looping, pitch mapping with support for alternative tunings, spatialization, and global macro controls for large-scale structural manipulation.
Following a short system introduction, participants engage in practical structured improvisation exercises exploring the capabilities of oscheat. In these scenarios, they explore how shared control affects thematic development, synchronicity, polyphony, and formal coherence in a networked music performance. The workshop examines how shared control reshapes authorship, musical responsibility, and aesthetic decision-making within an ensemble, and which new possible music making strategies are emerging from such a system.
Requirements
No prior knowledge required; useful but not required is having some experience with playing improvised music and with sound synthesis;
attendees can bring their own laptop to install a demo version of oscheat for local testing.
The demo version is available here.
About the workshop facilitators
Moritz Wesp lives in Cologne (GER) and plays trombone, virtual trombone and other instruments that he designs, programs and builds. As an improviser he is working with different ensembles like Mariá Portugal Erosao, Matthias Muche’s Bonecrusher or Simon Rummel. Besides this he composes music and is part of the Audio-VR project Sona.
More about Moritz here.
Eric Haupt is a guitarist and composer working in experimental music and punk. He completed his Bachelor of Music at the HfMT Cologne in 2018. He is a founding member of the ensembles Now My Life Is Sweet Like Cinnamon and Lawn Chair, as well as the initiator of the experimental game-show performance Sport1. His Music has been presented at festivals throughout Europe and collaborations include internationally renowned producers Olaf O.P.A.L. and Chris Coady. His punk compositions have been broadcast on international Radio stations such as BBC Radio 6 Music
Victor Gelling is an improviser and composer who uses stringed instruments including but not limited to upright bass, tenor banjo, Pedalsteel- and Nonpedalsteel-Guitars in addition to pedals, synthesizers and barely working self-coded computer programs to create sounds. Their work spans genres from jazz to noise to electric Cowboy songs to complex music, which culminates in their large ensemble works with Trash & Post-Chaotic Music, their alt-country/post-punk alias Slowklahoma, solo works or their playing in the Jorik Bergman Trio.
More about Victor here.
Together they are forming the ensemble Now My Life Is Sweet Like Cinnamon and are working together in the interdisciplinary Gameshow project Sport1.

Workshop | Dan Wilcox: Introduction to Zirkonium3: ZKM's Sound Spatialization Environment
2026-05-13 15:30 - 18:00 | ligeti center, Production Lab (10th floor), Veritaskai 1, Hamburg, 21079, Germany
Zirkonium is a free spatialized sound environment for the ZKM | Hertzlab, formerly ZKM | Institute for Music and Acoustics, which wraps various spatialization algorithms and abstracted speaker layouts with a path sequencing interface designed for composers in mind. The project was developed for the Sound Dome (Klangdom), a 43.4 speaker half dome in the ZKM Kubus studio however is applicable to almost any physical setup. Zirkonium has had three major versions since 2006 and this workshop introduces the current version, Zirkonium3, which utilizes libpd and Pure Data patches for its sound engine. The background and basic concepts will be introduced with the goal being for participants to stream live audio from Pd/Max/Ableton/etc projects into Zirkonium3 with live control. Requirement: MacOS 10.13+
Requirements
Participants should come with an Apple laptop running macOS 10.13+ and headphones.
Participants should have a basic computer music background and ideally with example audio of their own work to try. An understanding of Max / Pure Data is helpful for trying the example OSC external control patches.
About the workshop facilitator
Dan Wilcox is an artist, engineer, musician, performer who combines live musical performance techniques with experimental electronics and software for the Exploration of new expression, often through themes of science fiction, space travel, cyborgification, and far futurism. His father was an aerospace engineer, he grew up in the Rocket City, and has performed in Europe and around the US with his one-man band cyborg performance project,
robotcowboy.
Dan currently lives in Karlsruhe, Germany and is a parttime artist & researcher for the ZKM | Hertzlab. He has been the developer for the Zirkonium project since 2017.
More about Dan here.

Workshop | Rob Canning: Executable Scores: Embedded Cue Semantics and Animated SVG Notation with Oscilla
2026-05-14 10:30 - 12:30 | Hamburg University of Technology, Building H (H 0.02), Am Schwarzenberg-Campus 5, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
This workshop introduces Oscilla, a browser-based framework for animated, cue-driven graphic scores in which performance semantics are embedded directly into SVG notation. Rather than separating score, control system, and playback environment, Oscilla treats the score as a single executable surface—authored visually in Inkscape and enacted in real time via a lightweight browser runtime.
Participants will explore how temporal organization, gesture fields, navigation, OSC-driven control, and media cues can be authored directly into drawings using a compact microsyntax.
The session combines conceptual framing, live demonstration, and hands-on authoring of small examples.
Topics include: temporal articulation (pauses, speed shaping, countdowns), animated gestures (rotation, scaling, path-following), navigational structures (pages, sections, probabilistic traversal), OSC integration for hybrid acoustic-electronic performance, and tight network synchronisation for coordinating scores across multiple devices.
Because Oscilla blurs the line between interactive score and controller, it can also be used to build custom performance interfaces—opening possibilities for both notation-driven and control-surface-driven workflows.
Requirements

No specialist technical background required.
Participants should bring a laptop with:
Inkscape (free, available at https://inkscape.org)
Safari, Chrome, or Firefox for viewing scores
Headphones optional but useful for audio cue examples

Source code and binaries are available here.
About the workshop facilitator
Rob Canning (Dublin 1974) is an composer, improviser, and creative technologist whose work explores animated notation, improvisation, and the dynamics of networked musical systems. He holds a PhD in composition from Goldsmiths, University of London, where his research examined distributed authorship in computer-aided music. A long-time advocate of Free and Open Source Software, he develops Oscilla, an open-source platform for animated graphic notation and networked performance.

Installation | Leon Eckard: "Urban Metabolism: der Mond"
2026-05-14 11:00 - 18:00 | Hamburg University of Technology, Building N (Foyer), Eißendorfer Straße 40, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
TBA

Workshop | Robert Cole Rizzi: The Art of Listening – To Hamburg. A Participatory Soundwalk Workshop
2026-05-14 16:00 - 17:30 | Hamburg University of Technology, Building H (H 0.02), Am Schwarzenberg-Campus 5, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
How does the world sound when we truly listen? In this participatory workshop, participants explore their sonic environment through attentive listening, simple drawing, poetry, and playful composition — no musical experience required.
The workshop begins with a guided soundwalk, where participants listen closely to everyday sounds while also making small line drawings based on visual details in the environment, such as skylines, patterns, trees, or bushes. Back indoors, the listening experiences are transformed into short poetic texts, and the drawings are translated into music using mechanical music boxes.
The workshop offers an accessible and hands-on introduction to sound-based creativity, showing how artistic processes can emerge from listening, observation, and simple materials. Developed over more than ten years at the Danish National Academy of Music (SDMK), the format has been tested with a wide range of participants, from schoolchildren to professional artists.
About the workshop facilitator
Robert Cole Rizzi is an assistant professor at the Danish National Academy of Music (SDMK) in Esbjerg, where he teaches electronic music and sound art. His work focuses on making creative sound practice accessible to everyone, developing pedagogical methods that welcome participants without requiring musical or technical prerequisites.
As a practicing artist working with sound, visual art, and experimental music technology, Robert collaborates internationally with institutions such as the Prince Claus Conservatoire in the Netherlands, and the Technische- and Musikhochschule in Lübeck. His artistic research explores how nature’s movements and traces can become sources for audiovisual composition, using techniques from field recording to biodata sonification.
Robert has spent the past decade developing and refining the “Impression – Imprint – Expression” methodology presented in this workshop. It has been successfully implemented with primary school students, conservatory composition students, public library visitors, and museum participants across Denmark. His approach demonstrates that everyone can engage meaningfully with sound art when given accessible tools and encouragement to experiment.

Workshop | Shelly Knotts et al.: Sonification and the Space In-Between: Bridging Scientific Inquiry and Musical Practice
2026-05-15 17:00 - 19:00 | Lübeck University of Music: Holstentorhalle, Chorsaal, Wallstraße 2, Lübeck, 23554, Germany
Sonification has a long history within computer and electronic music, with composers—such as Clarence Barlow, Alvin Lucier and Laurie Spiegel—using data as a compositional tool. At the same time, sonification is an established tool in scientific inquiry, where it has been used for purposes ranging from the sonification of astronomical phenomena for public outreach, to the analysis and communication of long-term environmental data. This workshop explores the rich interdisciplinary space that lies between computer music composition and scientific inquiry, focusing on sonification as a shared methodology, bridging between disciplines, rather than a discipline-specific technique. Participants will be introduced to interdisciplinary working practices that support the identification of shared concerns and the development of common understanding when designing sonifications, as well as software tools and computational workflows that enable collaborative work. The workshop will be led by researchers working together as part of the interdisciplinary project Sonic Intangibles, and within their own domains of Sound Art, Live Coding, Mathematics and Computational Physics. By emphasising interoperability and participation, this workshop aims to explore how sonification can generate increased discourse between, and mutual benefit for, musical and scientific communities.
Requirements
The workshop is accessible to a broad audience in computer music, with the only pre-requisite being some familiarity with any programming language. Attendees will be asked to install a local version of Supercollider ahead of the workshop, and will need to bring a laptop and headphones for the final part of the workshop.
About the workshop facilitator
Shelly Knotts produces live-coded and network music performances and projects which explore aspects of code, data and collaboration in improvisation, and has performed and presented her work at numerous events worldwide. Based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, she performs internationally, collaborating with computers and other humans. She is currently a Post-doctoral Research Fellow on the Sonic Intangibles project at Northumbria University.
In 2021-23 she was an Artist-in-Residence on the Heritage Lottery funded Seascapes project, working with communities in Sunderland. In 2016-2021 she worked on research projects around the use of AI, data and networks in improvisation and composition and related social themes at Durham University (UK), Monash University (AUS), Newcastle University (UK) and McMaster University (CA). She completed a PhD in Live Computer Music at Durham University in 2018.
In 2017 she was a winner of BBC Radiophonic Workshop and PRSF ‘The Oram Awards’ for innovation in sound and music.
She has taught numerous creative coding workshops at conferences, festivals, universities and cultural institutions worldwide, and runs Creative Code Club — an informal and inclusive gathering of people interested in the practices and cultures of creative coding — at The NewBridge Project, an artist-led space in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Daniel Ratliff is an associate lecturer at Northumbria university (2020-present), specialising in interdisciplinary approaches to waves across physics and beyond. He works internationally to connect concepts across mathematics, oceanography, statistical physics and space science to advance our understanding of these topics and bridge the disciplinary gaps that often separate these fields.
He has delivered several public engagement events (including Newcastle’s Pint Of Science in 2023 and 2025 and public lectures at Newcastle’s Lit and Phil), has organised and delivered two 14-week research project for KS3 students at a local school via the ORBYTS initiative and both designed and delivered a number of targeted Researcher skills workshops for the PGR student cohorts at Northumbria University.

Lucy Whalley is an Associate Professor in Physics at Northumbria University whose work spans quantum chemistry, materials modelling and interdisciplinary scientific and creative practices. Her research is centred around the use of computational techniques and high performance computing to investigate the atomic-scale behaviour of materials, particularly in contexts relevant to renewable energy.
Lucy is co-lead of the Sonic Intangibles project which explores how interdisciplinary practice across computer music, ethnography and the physical Sciences can enable sonification as a tool for research and communication. She is also a member of SDF, an experimental electronic musiccollective whose work has been released through Lost Map Records and performed at venues including Iklektic (London) and Summerhall (Edinburgh).
Lucy is a Software Sustainability Institute Fellow and Associate Editor at the Journal of Open Source Software, reflecting her interest and advocacy for open and and sustainable software development. She currently teaches programming, quantum mechanics and computational Physics at university Level.

Workshop | Pierre Alexandre Tremblay et al.: Dialogues with Improvising Machines: an Embodied Cross-Testing Workshop on Musical Agents
2026-05-15 17:00 - 19:00 | Lübeck University of Music: Ehemalige Bundesbank, Schalterhalle, Holstentorplatz 2, Lübeck, 23552, Germany
This 2.5-hour workshop examines four musical agent systems through a structured process of presentation, performance, collective listening, and critical discussion. It addresses a central contemporary question in computer music: how the design of musical agents encodes particular modes of listening, interaction, and agency, and how these design choices shape musical practice.
The workshop adopts a commented comparative-phenomenological methodology. It showcases four musical agent systems selected from an open call, which are presented in turn, each offering a distinct approach to interactive and improvisational musical behavior. These systems have been developed using different programming languages, creative coding environments, and technical frameworks, reflecting the diversity of current practices in the field. Their comparison will therefore highlight not only aesthetic and compositional differences, but also the ways in which specific tools and technical architectures condition musical affordances.
For each system, the creator will quickly introduce its technical design, musical aims, and underlying assumptions. This will be followed by a short performance by the system’s author, two exploratory performances by other workshop participants, and a discussion with participants and attendees. The emphasis throughout will be on the system’s interactional qualities, its encoded listening strategies, and the forms of musical agency that emerge in performance.
The final part of the workshop will be devoted to a comparative discussion of the four systems, with the aim of articulating shared vocabulary, critical perspectives, and possible evaluation criteria for improvising and interactive musical agents. In doing so, the workshop seeks to contribute to ongoing discourse on the role of bias, intention, and technological mediation in musical system design. This closing conversation will reflect on the different forms of musical interaction that emerged, and consider how we might develop shared vocabulary, aims, and evaluation criteria for improvising and interactive musical agents.
The workshop is intended for composers, improvisers, performers, creative coders, and researchers interested in interactive systems, machine listening, and AI in music. It particularly welcomes participants who wish to think critically about what it means to compose with, perform with, or delegate agency to computer-based musical systems.
By creating a space for presentation, experimentation, and peer critique, the workshop aims to deepen discussion around the role of encoded listening in musical agent systems and the musical practices that emerge from it.
The workshop is led by Pierre Alexandre Tremblay (Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana), Nicola Leonard Hein (University of Music Lübeck), and Gilbert Nouno (Haute école de musique de Genève), whose artistic and research practices span composition, improvisation, creative coding, and interactive systems.
Requirements
Listen and Discuss.
About the workshop facilitators
Pierre Alexandre Tremblay is a composer and performer on bass guitar and electronic devices, in solo and Group settings, between electroacoustic music, contemporary jazz, mixed music and improvised music. He also worked in popular music and practices critical creative coding. His music is available on empreintes DIGITALes.
He studied composition with Michel Tétreault, Marcelle Deschênes, and Jonty Harrison; bass guitar with JeanGuy Larin, Sylvain Bolduc, and Michel Donato; Analysis with Michel Longtin, and Stéphane Roy; and studio technique with Francis Dhomont, Robert Normandeau, and Jean Piché.
Pierre Alexandre was Professor of Composition and Improvisation at the University of Huddersfield (England, UK) from 2005 to ’24, where he anchored the ERCsupported Fluid Corpus Manipulation project. In September 2024, he joined the team of the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana as a research professor in composition.
He likes spending time with his family, reading prose, and going on long walks.
Nicola Leonard Hein is a sound artist, guitarist, creative technologist, composer and researcher in music and philosophy. He is a professor of Sound Arts & Creative Music Technology at the music university of Lübeck.
His work is driven by the interaction of sound and space, light, movement, thought and the becoming of embodied and intermedial intelligence in aesthetic systems, community and technology. In his artistic work, he uses physical and electronic extension of the electric guitar, sound installations, cybernetic human-machine interaction with A.I. interactive music systems, Augmented Reality, telematic real-time art, ambisonic sound projection, instrument building, conceptual compositions, intermedia works (with video art, light, dance, literature) and much more.
His research revolves around questions of philosophy of music, epistemology, aesthetics, media theory, critical improvisation studies and cybernetics. It follows questions of the creation of identity and sense in interactions between humans and technology, and investigates the philosophical implications of musical and intermedial practices.
Gilbert Nouno composes, codes, improvises, and teaches at the Haute école de musique de Genève, where he leads the CIMME (Interdisciplinary Center for Experimental Music and Media). He likes to blend sound with image, and technology with the gestures of performance. Moving between tangible matter and dematerialized material, his hybrid works invite audiences to cross the ever-shifting boundary between human and machine. With artificial intelligence, he explores new playgrounds to expand improvisation, rethink performance, and imagine augmented artistic practices.
This approach is embodied in works such as SINE (2024), a performative multimedia piece in which gesture drives sound and video within an immersive, AI-based audiovisual environment. A laureate of the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto and the Académie de France à Rome Villa Medici, he has shared stages, studios, and creative adventures with composers Pierre Boulez, Jonathan Harvey, Olga Neuwirth, saxophonist Steve Coleman, flutist Magic Malik, choreographer Léo Lérus, scenographer Jean Kalman, and stage director Pierre Audi.

[Off-ICMC] Workshop: Solder your very own synthesizer. An Introduction to Electronics and Soldering
2026-05-16 11:00 - 16:00 | Hamburg University of Technology, WorkINGLab, Eißendorfer Straße 40, Building N, 2nd Floor, Hamburg, 21073, Germany
Photo: WorkINGLab TUHH

In this workshop, you’ll discover the basics of soldering and get hands-on experience soldering cables and various electronic components. It will leave you well-prepared for future soldering and repair projects. And the best part? By the end, you’ll have a fully operational synthesizer that you built yourself!
For adults and teens aged 15+
registration required here

The Off-ICMC
Music is what brings us together, even when everything else pulls us apart.
Music everywhere—it is part of our everyday lives. And yet, we’re hearing it performed live on analog instruments less and less. Instead, it often reaches us through speakers or headphones, as files, from the cloud. What does music mean to you? What does it sound like today? Where does it begin—and where does it end?
The ligeti center invites you to listen more closely and discover new sounds—to explore, experiment, and play. This year, ICMC HAMBURG 2026 revives an old tradition: the Off-ICMC, a free and accompanying festival curated for the general public and anyone curious about computer music.
All Off-ICMC events are free of charge.
