PixelVärk, Gothenburg, Sweden, modul8, workshop.

Opening Party, Gothenburg Film Festival from Startsladd on Vimeo.
They got the party started up in Gothenburg.

As promised here are some more precise details in regards to the modul8 workshops taking place in Gothenburg.

Who?

To start with there are two workshops. A basics workshop provided by the VJs who featured and published the video, Andreas Apelqvist and Dan Nordgren from the local VJ group Startsladd. This class is a prerequisite for the advanced class that I will host. Please do not let the advanced label scare you away. Take the basics class and you can enter the advanced class with head held high.

When?

The basics class is on Thursday, February 4th from 18h00 through 20h00.
The advanced class is on Saturday, February 6th from 14h00 through 18h00.

How?

Both workshops are free! But you will need to register for both because there is limited seating/computers available.
To register for the basics class access the related page and scroll to the bottom. For the advanced class access its page and do the same. The basics class will be done in Swedish or depending upon how many people who attend speak Swedish. The advanced class will be done in English because my Swedish is limited to saying hello.

Where?

The precise location is Södra Allégatan 1B. The google location is in the link. But you still need to register to know the exact room. Fun secret VJ society stuff.

I recall quite a few requests in the past from people in Coppenhagen about a modul8 workshop. Gothenburg is only about four lovely hours by train. May be well worth a free workshop no?

Modul8 Workshop: fair - NIU Barcelona. 30 and 31 January

Wednesday, and with the experiences of the workshop this past Saturday still fresh in my head some more announcements of upcoming workshops, in fact a whole series of them, this time hosted by a regular on the GarageCUBE forums, gNomalab.

The first of these will take place at NIU in Barcelona and will be conducted entirely in Spanish. I am not sure exactly what qualifies as 'intermediate' but you can get a taste of what may be in store for you by checking out the workshops page on the VJ Spain website that features several videos of what has transpired in past editions of their workshops.

Here is a quick listing of the other upcoming workshops hosted by gNomalab:

- Modul8 Workshop: Intermediate level - Artenet, Madrid. 9, 10, 11 February.
- Modul8 Workshop: Advanced level - Artenet, Madrid. March. (date tbc).
- Modul8 Workshop: Intermediate level - Artenet, Barcelona. from 19 to 23 April.

I will post reminders of these as their date approaches.


As for me, the upcoming workshop will be in Gothenburg, Sweden as part of the PixelVärk festival. This is actually the first Pixelvark is hosted in this city. Previous editions were hosted in Stockholm, home base of the Swedish VJ Union, who that put all their energy into this effort.

You can follow the links for further details.

The workshops are free but you will have to register as they have a room with several iMacs. Because of this seating is limited. There will be a basic workshop hosted by Andreas Apelqvist and Dan Nordgren from Startsladd, for those that have never had any previous experience. The advanced class will be my domain. the basic workshop should fulfill the requirements for it.

I will post more detailed information right on this page by the end of the week.

Retroscreened...

[ Monolit ] from Sonom on Vimeo

Currently in Vienna for the Sound:Frame festival. I am writing this post from the temporary lounge with free wifi located near the entrance to the exhibition hall in the majestic Kunsterhaus. A very robust and broad exhibit. I also took in a very interesting a/v performance that I will report on in the next post.

The video above was sent to Boris from Sonom. He provided a quick description for us: "made mostly with Modul8 generators, and later manipulated in Motion and Final Cut, and then retroscreened over fog semitransparent textiles."

A lot of interesting things to think about. Firstly the use of modul8 as a 'generative' program. When we think of generative we tend to think of complicated coding. Not often discussed is the ability in modul8 to create visuals without any media at all. I usually emphasize this very heavily in my workshops and look forward to providing some in depth tips on this in a future post. Secondly is how modul8 is being used as part of a work flow and lastly this completely new word for me 'retroscreened.' This relates to another future post I have in the pipe in regards to how the ease of use of modul8 allows for creatives to think out of the box and consequently come up with new words for things. We'll see if this one sticks.