Cybersonica 10

Cybersonica is an annual celebration of electronic music, sonic art and audiovisual experimentation.

Now in its eighth year, Cybersonica a key destination for anyone interested in the theory and practice of how new technologies are shaping and changing the way musicians, digital artists, audiovisualisers and creative software developers make and present their work. Our programming brings together a vibrant community of sonic and audiovisual innovation, nurtures new talent and showcases the freshest and latest work in the field.

Through a rolling schedule of collaborative events and projects Cybersonica supports, promotes and showcases the work of UK and international artists and creative practitioners we believe to be at the forefront of contemporary practice.

Our focus is on audiovisual work that explores exciting contemporary approaches to creative interactivity – moving beyond the screen, keyboard and mouse and into the physical world – though inventive, live performance and engaging, playful, artwork that combine elements of talented and creative use of tangible interface, movement and gesture, sound, proximity, elapsed time and links to the surrounding or networked environment.

Though always interested in vanguardist and catalytic use of technology and experimentation with tools that generate new developments in the field, Cybersonica’s central rationale is to work with artists and creatives who produce work with depth, meaning, feeling and humour and to support, promote and showcase the huge emotive potential of this exciting area of practice.

Cybersonica’s Approach

Cybersonica regularly reinvents itself – pulling focus, re-prioritising established programming strands and extending our range of activities. Although programming is rarely themed, key issues and developments do emerge each year – as ‘snapshots’ of trends within current work in the field. In recent years this approach has seen us shift away from the ‘predictable’ festival format of performance, exhibition and conference and move towards more process-led art projects and artist development programmes.

Through recent initiatives such as the AV Lab and Road Trip, Cybersonica is increasingly supporting audiovisual work that explores the creative potential of cross-disciplinary collaboration and the use of new technologies; creating supportive frameworks in which talented convergent artists/designers can share their work, collaborate with others, realise new technological ideas, be inspired and challenged; and enabling us to support, document and disseminate the creative processes that enables this all to happen.

While this approach may make the ‘festival’ seem a bit whimsical – the intent is to actually keep Cybersonica fresh and vital – by pursuing and presenting new interests, developments and evolutions, exploring new ways to collaborate and finding new ways to bring the work to diverse audiences. We believe this is an ongoing challenge and learning process which only helps us hone and develop Cybersonica’s standing within the electronic music and digital art communities.

Building the Future

Cybersonica works with established and emerging audiovisual and interactive artists and practitioners and is always keen to build on existing relationships and forge new ones. The energy, enthusiasm and goodwill of a vibrant roster of artists is the lifeblood of our programming.

Cybersonica is interested to develop our experience in working with artists through a process-led approach and in inviting them to make interventions into our programming – and that of our partners and collaborators. We believe this is a challenging but effective way to bring new and existing digital work to a wider audience than ever before and increase access to and knowledge of emerging convergent art forms.

By providing opportunities for artists to share their work with each other, a wider community of commercial and academic practitioners and the general public we are helping to build networks, relationships and opportunities that will shape our programming into the future.

The involvement of Cybersonica artists in a range of varied programmes helps us demonstrate that artistic explorations and technology use/abuse are not just exercises in fanciful thinking or resources only accessible to a select few – they are real, hands-on experiments and experiences that hint at a possible ‘future of interactive media’.