Cross Pollination

Hello everyone, as promised here is episode two of our short season 5 featuring Myra-Ida van der Veen & Marije Baalman. We talk about extending the body, experimenting with interactions, the connections between medical research and art, and more. Myra-Ida is working in the field of multimedia performance, electroacoustic instrument building and vocal practice. She is focused on the interactions between the body and the different senses, sound, physical computing and building acoustic-electronic instruments. She experiments and composes experiences where performance, live electronics, singing, poetry, visual-stages and smells come together.  In her recent works she explores how multidisciplinary processes can be a way of community care. She seeks to understand how live performances and the shared experience of undergoing a creative process as a collective can bring people together. Marije Baalman is an artist and researcher/developer working in the field of interactive sound and light art, based in Amsterdam. She makes music and music-theatre performances, worked with dancers and has made several installations. Topics that she addresses with her work are the nature of interaction between and entanglement of humans and technology, the influence of algorithms on society and the human experience, and environmental change. In her artistic work she is interested in the realtime components of the work, composing processes, behaviours and interaction modalities. This means that the sonic or visual output depends on realtime interactions of the systems she builds with the performer, the audience, or the environment. To realise her works she mostly uses open source technology (software and hardware) and she is an active contributor to the open source community.  Listen on to hear more about ethical questions of data collection, how you can try and experience what it’s like for someone with tinnitus, and if sometimes a big red button is simply enough! Myra-Ida van der Veen - https://idamyraida.myportfolio.com/ Marije Baalman - https://www.marijebaalman.eu/ Transition music from Eyes Wide Shut by Chetana Pai for Container Mag ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. ⁠https://instrumentinventors.org/⁠

Hello everyone, after a long break we are back with a new episode featuring Gabey Tjon a Tham & Jeanine Verloop. We talk about alternate realities, what really is technology, new ways to blow glass, and more. Gabey Tjon a Tham researches the complex systems that occur both in nature and in our digital world and how they affect each other through ever evolving processes. These principles are explored through audiovisual installations that are balancing between virtual and analog realities. By acquiring cross-disciplinary knowledge in the natural sciences and computer science she finds connections between the natural and artificial in our anthropocentric environment. Her artistic practice revolves around the question: How natural is nature in our current time? In her current practice she is focusing on working from location-specific experiences to reflect directly on environments where agents function with their own time cycles and behaviour, influencing a living system in becoming. Jeanine Verloop is a Dutch, Rotterdam based visual artist, that creates multimedia and kinetic sculptures and currently works predominantly with Borosilicate glass. In her work Jeanine explores how technology expands, shapes, and limits imagination. By challenging the conventional perception of machines as powerful and indestructible, she seeks to embrace vulnerability, malfunction, and destruction. During exhibitions her glass machines seem to malfunction of self-destruct. She sees this as a deconstructive performance where the machine takes on the role of the performer, and she the assistant. In her recent works, Jeanine is incorporating various sensors, inviting the audience to engage and immerse themselves in a parallel reality where technology has taken an alternative path. At iii Jeanine was working on a new installation with the name Chime that utilises the fragile and flexible nature of glass and resonance to generate movement.  Listen on to hear more about how mechanical cameras perceive our world, why a pottery wheel can help you with precise glass work, and how sometimes beauty over function can be interesting. Gabey Tjon a Tham - https://www.gabeytjonatham.com/ Jeanine Verloop - https://jannetjejeanine.nl/nl/ Transition Music - Airboene Landscapes by Gabey Tjon a Tham ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. ⁠https://instrumentinventors.org/⁠ If you like this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe so you can keep up with new episodes. :)

I know it’s been just a week since our last episode, but as a little gift to you for the holidays, we are already back! My guests today are Ahnjili ZhuParris, who runs Generative AI workshops at iii, and Jan Zuiderveld, the winner of the iii residency award 2023. We talk about Artificial Intelligence, whether cities will become less relevant, predictive policing, and more. Ahnjili is a machine learning engineer, Ph.D. candidate, artist, and science communicator currently working at an AI startup that specializes in developing deep learning models for facial augmentation. Ahnjili’s academic research centers around the development of biomarkers for monitoring mental and physical well-being using smartphones and wearables, with a particular focus on their application in clinical trials. Ahnjili's artistic research and science communication efforts are dedicated to raising awareness about A.I. and algorithmic violence, which encompasses the violence that may arise from or be justified by automated decision-making systems. Through her work, Ahnjili aims to educate the public and promote discussions about the ethical implications of these technologies in our society. Jan Zuiderveld is an artist and technologist with a rich academic background, including degrees in Physics, Electrical Engineering, Neuropsychology, Artificial Intelligence and ArtScience. Having led a machine learning team specializing in advanced speech-to-intent systems and hands-on experience as both a researcher and an engineer in the field of generative AI, he brings a multifaceted perspective to his work. In his artistic endeavors, Jan explores the intersection of technology and life, creating interactive installations that invite reflection on the essence of being. His projects, ranging from a collaborative photocopier to a coffee machine with an existential crisis, aim to endow objects with a spark of life, challenging our perceptions of existence. Jan's approach is characterized by a playful engagement with artificial intelligence, seeking to emulate the behaviors of living beings in a way that resonates with and surprises both himself and his audience, blurring the lines between the animate and the inanimate Listen on to hear more about fashion police drones, what a coffee machine thinks about consciousness, and what it means to be alive! You won’t regret it. :) Ahnjili Zhuparris - https://www.artificialnouveau.com/  Jan Zuiderveld - https://warana.xyz/ , https://www.instagram.com/_warana/ ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/ If you like this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe so you can keep up with new episodes. :)

Hello friends! After a long break, it’s finally time to get started with season 4 of Cross Pollination. My guests today were Stephanie Castonguay & Mariska de Groot and it was a really fun conversation! Stephanie came to iii from October to November 2023 as part of the residency exchange program with Perte de Signal in Montreal and Mariska has been an iii member since 2013. Intrigued by the phenomena and history of optical sound, Mariska de Groot (1982, NL) makes and performs comprehensive analog light-to-sound instruments and installations which explore this principle in new ways. Her work often has a reference to media inventions from the past, with which she aims to excite a multi-sensorial and phenomenological experiences in light, sound, movement, and space. Mariska obtained her BA in graphic design in Arnhem (2000-2005) and received her master's diploma at the ArtScience interfaculty in 2012. She has now presented her work at several national and international events Fueled by an insatiable curiosity for experimentation, Stephanie’s artistic journey explores sound matter through installation, performance, experimental electronic instrument making, and composition. Rooted in materiality and process, she transforms discarded machines into vessels of resonance, glitches, and latent sonorities. By translating the nuances of the sensory world, her work seeks to unveil the hidden facets of our subtle environment, bridging the realms of perception and the imperceptible. During her residency, Stephanie worked on “liminal.synthesis” which delves into the materiality of light and sound, refining energy transduction to convert light into audible phenomena.  We talk about DIY culture, the fear of failure, reimagining objects, connecting light and sound, and more. Listen on to hear more about failure as a choice, new ways to use your grandmother’s lace or crochet, and what objects they want to reimagine next! Stephanie Castonguay - https://www.stephaniecastonguay.com/ Mariska de Groot - https://www.mariskadegroot.com/ ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/ If you like this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe so you can keep up with new episodes. :) The transition music in this episode is by Stephanie Castonguay and the title of this version is “Philter”. In its original version, the sound piece is separated into 4 soundtracks. During the exhibition, each soundtrack was translated into light waves (in the glass/light installation presented at Flipchart). Visitors wore headphones connected to a circuit with an amplified solar sensor which translated light into sound. In this way, you could recreate your own soundtrack by moving the sensors near the lights.

Happy summer everyone, we are back with a new episode! My guests today are Dave Murray-Rust, Myriam Bleau, and Nien-Tzu Weng who are all currently working on and finishing up residencies at iii. Dave, in his creative practice, engages with interactions between people and technology through installations and performance. His pieces layer together physical phenomena and animate electronics to create experiences, exploring questions of agency, voice, interface and correspondence. He is an Associate Professor at TU Delft working in human-algorithm interaction - exploring the messy terrain between people, data and things through a combination of making and thinking.  Myriam is interested in the performative, both as a codified cultural manifestation, and as an embodied reenactment of symbolic systems through human and non-human agencies, including machine learning. Her hybrid practice explores porous spaces between the physical and the virtual world, between the natural and the synthetic. She is is a composer, digital artist and performer based in Montréal. Nien-Tzu is curious about the relationship between movement and new media practices, and plays with the balance between reality and fantasy. She uses light and multimedia in order to play with perspective, perceiving performance as a process of transmitting dialogues between inner and outer space, where presence and image builds multiple, overlapping conceptions of time. She is a Taiwanese-Canadian interdisciplinary dance artist and lighting designer based in Montreal. We talk about their current projects and some previous ones, machine learning, agency, interfaces, using sound and light in different ways, and the pervasiveness of technology. Listen on to hear more about what it’s like to have a speaker in your mouth, whether it’s fair to say the machines really understand or learn, and if machine learning really feels like an optimisation not. This was a great conversation and we found so many overlaps between all of their work which allowed room for a lot of reflection. If any of the themes mentioned above spark your interest, make sure you give this episode a listen. :) Dave Murray-Rust - http://dave.murray-rust.org/ Myriam Bleau - http://www.myriambleau.com/ Nien-Tzu Weng - https://www.nientzuweng.com/ ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/

It seems like spring has finally returned and so have we, with a new episode! Today's guests are Naomi Rincón Gallardo and Vica Pacheco who are both currently working at iii on projects that they will present at Proximity Music in the Hague from the 7th to the 9th of April. Naomi, in her practice, tries to articulate an embodied theory intertwined with nature and matter: a theory that can be danced, smelled, and touched. She builds exuberant, crafty, and low cost elaborate handmade paraphernalia and attires.In her aspiration to interanimate a queer reasoning with a decolonial imperative, she finds a zone of contact that attempts to recover the pulse of life in its multiplicity, ambiguity, and unpredictability Vica's practice is rooted in experimental music and composition, but she also has a practice in ceramics and 3d animation. Her work is above all eclectic and energetic, inspired by mythological crossbreeding, prehispanic technologies, and syncretism, she likes to arrange the most heterogeneous or hazardous elements between them, to produce sound performances and installations. We talk about Oaxaca in Mexico where Vica is from and where Naomi spends a lot of her time, the influence their roots and heritage have had on their work, their shared desire to interact with pre-colonial ideas and artifacts, looking at things through a queer lens, and their desire to help improve the current situation for women in Mexico. This conversation was extremely insightful and if you are interested in building worlds or wonder how archeologists try and figure out how ancient objects were used, then make sure to give this a listen. :) Naomi Rincón Gallardo - https://instrumentinventors.org/artist/naomi-rincon-gallardo/ Vica Pacheco - https://www.instagram.com/la_vica_/ Proximity Music :07/04 - 09/04 - https://instrumentinventors.org/agenda/proximity-music-visceral-acts ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/

Happy New Year everyone! We are back with a new season of CrossPollination with many new iii residents. Today's guests are Amos Peled and Karel van Laere, both of who are working on projects they will present at Proximity Music in the Hague this April. Amos is an artist who works with experimental music, audio-visual installations, and performance art. During his residency at iii Amos is working on "Phantom Limb" which is a project exploring the enigmatic and poetic relationship between a human being and the black box that is their interior through the use of a medical ultrasound machine. Karel van Laere’s work is best described as a combination between performance and video art and a recurring theme in his work is the antagonism between the human body and technological systems. He has been exploring the inside of the body and the artistic possibilities of laparoscopic instruments in a series of new works among which is the performance Reach. We talk mostly about the interior of the body and the tools that are able to reach in and help you explore it, as this is what they are both fascinated by. If you listen through the episode you will find out what inner part of the body they find most aesthetic, how they got into medical equipment in the first place, why you can’t look directly at blood under a tube light for a long time, and so much more. I learnt a lot while recording this interview and I now hope to discover a new relationship with the inside of my own body. You should listen too and see what it makes you think of! :) Amos Peled - https://www.amospeled.net/ , https://www.instagram.com/as12fg45/ Karel van Laere - https://karelvanlaere.com/ , https://www.instagram.com/karel_van_laere/ Proximity Music: 07/04 - 09/04 - https://instrumentinventors.org/agenda/proximity-music-visceral-acts ------------------------------- iii is an artist-run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology, and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection, and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/

It's finally time for the last episode of the season and today my guests are Jeroen Alexander Meijer, who won the iii residency award and is currently doing a residency here, and Edwin van der Heide who will be mentoring Jeroen through this residency. Jeroen works with light and sound to develop interactive experiences that help us become aware of the mysterious properties of our attention. During his residency, he will be continuing to work with Ouroboros, an immersive instrument he has developed. Edwin is an artist, composer, and researcher in the field of sound, space, and interaction. Apart from mentoring Jeroen, he is currently working on creating a video version of one of his previous works, The Speed of Sound, and experimenting with ideas for new works. We talk mostly about the idea of attention and the ways in which we can engage with, give away, and pay attention to.. our attention! If you listen through the episode you will also find out more about both of their current projects, works that they think play with your attention in interesting ways, and what the media art scene was like in the Netherlands in the late 80s. I had a lot of fun recording this one and also now have a lot to think about so I would definitely recommend giving it a listen. :) Jeroen Alexander Meijer - https://jeroenalexandermeijer.com/ , https://www.instagram.com/jronalxndrmjer/ Edwin van der Heide - https://www.evdh.net/ Flipchart#6: Meta-Motion - 26/11/2022 from 18:30 on, https://instrumentinventors.org/agenda/flipchart-6-meta-motion ------------------------------- iii is an artist-run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology, and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection, and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/

For the second episode of the season my guests are Judy Dunaway, who is currently doing a residency at iii, and Rafaele Andrade, an iii workspace member. Rafaele is currently in Iceland doing a different residency and joined the conversation online. Judy has worked with using balloons as sound conduits in various settings for many years and is presenting versions of some of her works here at iii. She is also investigating the biodegradability of latex balloons and seeing what research has been done in this space. Rafaele is currently working on multiple projects, many of which are connected to the instrument she developed herself called 'Knurl'.  Among other things, we talk about creating new instruments, how long it takes latex to decompose, and harvesting the sound energy of a musical concert to use as a renewable energy source. Both Rafaele and Judy have developed their own Instruments, and are interested in the sustainable production of said instruments, which made this quite an insightful episode and definitely worth a listen, so check it out. :) Judy Dunaway - http://www.judydunaway.com/ Rafaele Andrade - https://www.rafaele-andrade.com/ , https://www.instagram.com/rafaele.m.andrade/ Flipchart#5: Put a Spell on Me - 22/10/2022 from 18:30 on, https://instrumentinventors.org/agenda/flipchart-5-put-a-spell-on-me/ ------------------------------- iii is an artist-run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology, and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection, and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/ 

We are back with a new season of CrossPollination and for episode 1 I am in conversation with the lovely Alexis Bellavance and Kunrad who are currently part of the new residency exchange program run by iii and perte de signal in Montreal. Kunrad is currently finishing his residency in Montreal and joined via zoom while Alexis who is doing his residency in the Hague joined me in the studio. In his residency project, Kunrad developed an artwork that involved 4 performers playing the metal frame of a burned-down building like an instrument with the help of hammers attached to strings. Alexis on the other hand has been taking a raft with an electric motor through the canals of Hague and listening to and documenting the sounds of the city, the canals, and more. This documentation will be used in his final installation which you can see at the iii workspace on Sunday the 25th of September.  Listen to hear us talk about both their passion for bridges and the sounds they make, giving a voice to architectural structures while wondering what it is the structures may want to say, floating restaurants with swimming waiters, and all the fun things that come with getting to do a residency in a new place. It's a good one. :) Alexis Bellavance - https://www.alexisbellavance.com/ , https://www.instagram.com/alxbellavance/ Kunrad - http://www.kunrad.net/ , https://www.instagram.com/studio.kunrad/  Matters of Being #8: Approaching Distances - 25/09/2022 from 14:30 - 17:30, https://instrumentinventors.org/agenda/matters-of-being-8-approaching-distances/ ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/

For the last episode of the first season of CrossPollination we had a slightly different setup. I was in conversation again with two artists, Sofie Kramer and Mári Mako, but they actually worked together on one project during their residency at iii - a new pole-dancing instrument and performance, exploring technical innovation and sensory experience through the means of sound and movement. Since we were only focusing on one project this time we got a chance to dive deep into how this instrument came about and what it really is like. We talk about the struggles and joys of new forms of collaboration, what it takes to create and operate a new instrument, their inspirations and previous projects, and as a bonus, we get to listen to some of the sounds their pole dancing instrument creates so we can try to imagine what the show might be like. Curious about how you could use sound to 'bend' a sturdy pole? Listen to this episode to find out more! Sofie Kramer - https://sofiekramer.nl/, https://www.instagram.com/_sofiekramer_/ Mári Mako - https://marimako.com/, https://www.instagram.com/mari_mako_/ ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/

In the second episode of CrossPollination, I had the pleasure of speaking with Nina van Hartskamp and Evelina Domnitch about their work and what drives them to create. Both of them have been creating works that bring together science and art, and help people engage with and perceive the world around them in new ways. While talking about Nina's project 'World's Within' that she is building upon while at iii and a selection of Evelina's projects that she has been working on with Dmitry Gelfand, we had a really fun and insightful conversation about bacteria, blackholes, and the value of the art, demonstration, and natural world around us. Curious? Listen to find out more about their projects, inspiration, and how to use Petri dishes to see what else lives in your bedroom with you. Nina van Hartskamp - https://ninavanhartskamp.com/ Evelina Domnitch - http://portablepalace.com/ ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/

In this first episode of CrossPollination, I spoke to Kexin Hao and Hugo Morales Murguia about the work they've been doing during their residencies at iii. Both of them have been creating around the ideas of human labour, movement and music but in very different ways. With her project 'Future Dance of Nostalgia', Kexin deals with the human body as an archive and translating labour into dance, and with his project 'Automatic Modes of Human Labour' Hugo explores using machines as instruments and performers as operators as a way to reflect on labour as an aesthetic action. Curious? Listen to find out more about their projects, inspiration, and ideas of labour, and rebellion in this podcast.  Kexin Hao - https://www.instagram.com/kexin_hao/ , https://howkexin.com/ Hugo Morales Murguia - https://hugomorales.org/ ------------------------------- iii is an artist run, community platform supporting new interdisciplinary practices linking performance, technology and the human senses. Arising from the ArtScience tradition of The Hague, iii strives to balance technological innovation, theoretical reflection and human experience. iii contributes to international developments in the field of Art, Science & Technology, functioning both as a cultural incubator supporting research and creation, and as an agency connecting creators to a broad audience via a wide (inter)national partner network. https://instrumentinventors.org/