MA Symposium 2024

Friday 17 & Saturday 18 May

Art/In.formation: artistic research in film and sonic art at the edges of contemporary practice. 

Featuring two days of artist talks, dialogues, presentations and demonstrations of artistic research in progress, Catalyst's MA Symposium presents postgraduate students from Catalyst and other MA programmes in Berlin plus special guests Satch Hoyt, Aimée Portioli (Grand River), and Kris Limbach.

Shaped by the work in progress, the MA Symposium celebrates the process of innovation in a variety of creative disciplines and interdisciplines. Presentations this year explore diverse topics such as ecological engagement through moving images and the transformative power of sound. They will shed light on themes ranging from war-related trauma to memory transformation and self-exploration through film, music, sound, photography, performance, installation, electroacoustic improvisation, gesture mapping technology and more.

We invite you to come together as a community of artists to share, discuss and connect, knowing that this will inspire and nurture creative work.

Original artwork by Marcus Oliveira

Tickets & details

Entry is free, but ticketed. Tickets available on RA and Eventbrite.

When: Friday 17–Saturday 18 May, 12:00 – 18:00

Where: Catalyst, Funkhaus, Nalepastraße 18, 12459 Berlin

Scroll down for details on our programme of featured presentations.

Full timetable to be announced.

Francisco Javier Henriquez Morel

Keynote & panels

Keynote speaker: Satch Hoyt

Friday 17, 17:00, Co Lab 3

Satch Hoyt, born in London of British and African-Jamaican ancestry, is currently living and working in Berlin, Germany. He makes sculptures and installations accompanied with sound, as well as paintings and drawings.

There is a dichotomy in the genres that define two sides of the same coin: a dual and complementary reflection on the African Diaspora and its multi-fold consequences. The sculptural trope in Hoyt’s work addresses the facts on the ground, so to speak, of black experience, while the drawings tap into a spirit of fantasy, refuge, and transcendence - they are vehicles for an imaginative journey beyond the obduracy and oppressiveness of history. 

With regards to his musical accomplishments Satch Hoyt has composed a number of songs with Grace Jones; noteworthy, is 7 Day Weekend which is on the triple platinum soundtrack album of the Eddie Murphy movie Boomerang. Hoyt played flute on Louise Bourgeois’ OTTE, and is flautist - percussionist in Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber since 2001.

Hoyt has sung and played on numerous recordings and has recently recorded a new album in Berlin, Battlefields Of Peace, under the pseudonym Pharaoh Dreams which includes guest musicians Julia Kent (Anthony and the Johnsons), Cass Lewis (Skunk Anansie), Earl Harvin (Me’shell Ndegocello) and Dave Smoota Smith (TV On The Radio). The album is co-written and co-produced with Dirk Leyers.

Photo by Dale Grant.

Satch Hoyt portrait 2023 by Dale Grant

More about Satch Hoyt
Closing panel: Can artistic research define the undefinable  

Aimée Portioli (Grand River), Kris Limbach, Satch Hoyt. Moderated by Emma Lo

Saturday 18, 17:00, Theatre

As a field that is constantly inventing and reinventing itself, artistic research is an ongoing negotiation of practices, techniques, methods and discovery. Join us for an artist-centred, practice-focused conversation, where we highlight the panelists' artistic research methodologies, processes, and social resonances, and invite an open discussion that makes room for plural voices. 

Panel: artistic practice within performance

Evgenia Papazisi, Maja Posavec (Poma), Maria Paula Mondragón. Moderated by Ricardo Tovar Mateus.

Friday 17, 14:45, Theatre

This panel aims to dig deeper into the specifics of artistic practice as a performer. Discover what lies beneath the surface of performance artistry as practitioners share insights, experiences, and methodologies that shape their expressive journey on stage. 

Panel: artistic practice within installations

Charlie Black, Marta Torres, Yuxin Mei. Moderated by Juli Saragosa

Saturday 18, 14:30, Theatre

We look at the unique perspective of installation artists as they unveil the intricacies of their creative process. From the inception of ideas to the realisation of interactive environments, we discuss the process behind decision-making and practice of spatial storytelling. 

Programme

Friday 17 May

12:00 Doors open 

Presentations

12:30 - 12:45 Welcome and introduction from Renée Coulombe, acting Programme Lead Creative Production (Music) MA

12:45 - 13:15 Carri, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Berlin's influence on the creative processes of migrant artists

13:15 - 13:45 Evgenia Papazisi, Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst, Hard Shell

13:45 - 14:00 Break

14:00 - 14:45 POMA, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Leaving a lover (performance)

14:45 - 15:15 Panel: Artistic practice within performance, Evgenia Papazisi, Maja Posavec (Poma), moderated by Ricardo Tovar Mateus

15:15 - 16:00 Break

16:00 - 16:30 Lara Khattar, Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst, Long American Film (screening + interview)

16:30 - 17:00 Jonas Kern, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Other Voices 

17:15 - 18:00 Keynote speaker: Satch Hoyt 

Installations

12:00 - 19:00 

Connor Oman, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Co_evolve

Charlie Black, Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst, The Amoeba´s Offering

Jonas Kern, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Other Voices 

Karo Pelc, Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst, Land Mother

Yuxin Mei, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, The mirror with a soul

Saturday 18 May 

12:00 Doors open

Presentations

12:30 - 12:45 Welcome and introduction from Renée Coulombe, acting Programme Lead Creative Production (Music) MA

12:45 - 13:15 Maria Paula Mondragón, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, The sound of memory

13:15 - 13:45 Joshua Mellard, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Systems aesthetics in electronic music: a manifesto 

14:00 - 14:30 Featured Shorts, with introduction from Jon-Carlos Evans, Programme Lead Creative Production (Film) MA

14:30 - 15:00 Panel: Artistic practice within installations, Charlie Black, Marta Torres, Yuxin Mei

15:45 - 16:15 Marta Torres, New Media Design MA, University of Europe for Applied Sciences, This isn't me, this is a representation of me

16:15 - 16:30 Connor Oman, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Co_evolve

16:45 - 17:30 Closing panel: Can artistic research define the undefinable? Aimée Portioli (Grand River), Kris Limbach, Satch Hoyt. Moderated by Emma Lo

Installations

12:00 - 19:00 

Connor Oman, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Co_evolve

Charlie Black, Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst, The Amoeba´s Offering

Jonas Kern, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, Other Voices 

Karo Pelc, Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst, Land Mother

Yuxin Mei, Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst, The mirror with a soul

Presenters

Aimée Portioli

Guest panellist, closing panel

Saturday 18, 17:00, Theatre

Aimée Portioli, also known as Grand River, is a Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer based in Berlin, known for her experimental electronic music. Drawing inspiration from minimalism and ambient genres, her compositions are characterized by rich emotional depth and intricate rhythms, employing contemporary production techniques.

Under the moniker Grand River, Portioli released her debut EP "Crescente" in 2017, recognised by XLR8R as one of the year's standout releases. Subsequent albums like "Pineapple" (2018) and "Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes" (2020) received critical acclaim from outlets like The Quietus, Resident Advisor, and The Verge, earning spots on best-of lists.

Portioli's work extends beyond albums, encompassing sound art installations and collaborations involving 4D spatial sound. She has performed at renowned venues and festivals worldwide, often partnering with visual artist Marco Ciceri for special A/V performances.

Since 2016, she has overseen One Instrument, a label challenging artists to craft music using only one instrument. Portioli holds a bachelor's degree in Linguistics and Communication from Milan, focusing her thesis on the psychological aspects of music's communicative function in media. Today, her artistic journey continues to explore music's transcendent communication beyond language.

GRAND RIVER - Ph. Maria Louceiro

More about Aimée Portioli (Grand River)
Carri

Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst 

Berlin's influence on the creative processes of migrant artists (Hybrid presentation with Q&A)

Berlin has attracted musicians from different disciplines and parts of the world for decades. But what makes Berlin so attractive for artists? My project seeks to understand Berlin's magnetism for so many artists residing in this city. In particular, I focus on understanding how this city affects the creative processes of migrant artists and how these processes intervene in the artists' perception of identity. Through interviews with migrant artists, understanding the history of this city, and making an autoethnography of where I am the subject of study, I intend to know how the experience of living in Berlin shapes my artistic direction. On the other hand, I question how this experience transformed my identity in a city that opened the door to explore different places previously hidden from me.  

/// About Carri 

Sebastián Carrizosa, aka Carri, personal and professional explorations draw on a wide range
of influences. His endeavours range
from the school of jazz music, through the raw sounds of noise and
punk rock, to the polyrhythmic sounds native to the Caribbean and West Africa, through to the manifestation of common meeting points via the sophistication of pop. Sebastián has often experienced a creative torrent that has empowered
him in creating a furious, wild and profound collection of songs throughout his career.
In other moments, according to the broader creative environment,
this strength has been adequately adapted dependent upon the creative
direction and roles as defined by colleagues. 

Carri, MA Symposium 2024

More about Carri
Charlie Black

Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst

The Amoeba´s Offering (Installation)

Nature is regarded as beautiful. Its image is often serene, a romantic imagination of an untouched landscape. However, how often are we able to see these kinds of landscapes? Do they still exist? The project investigates the extent to which moving images can successfully engage with and promote ecological thought, both within the subject and throughout the production process. It focuses on the ecosystem of moving images, using varying methods to record footage with both digital and analogue techniques. 

In collaboration with Creative Production (Film) MA student, Isabel Villalonga Ortiz, The Amoeba´s Offering is a video installation which transports you into the watery depths of Berlin, away from its external screams and into its consciousness. We find an ancient amoeba who’s eager to tell their story of the land, reconstructing the discarded fragments of memories into a new kingdom. The Amoeba is ready to show you, but will you listen?

/// About Charlie Black 

With a background in animation, Charlie expands her visual language through the use of a camera. Her practice focuses on the ecology of lived spaces, documenting the complex relationships between humans and the rest of nature that manifest in our daily lives. She uses both research and imagination to create sensorial depictions of the landscape, working with both analogue and digital materials. To her, the medium is as important as the subject, and she embraces the uncontrollable life of the image itself to create experimental moving collages. 

/// About Isabel Villalonga Ortiz

Isabel is a visual artist from Valencia, Spain. After graduating with a double degree in Fine Arts and Fashion Design and Management in Madrid, she decided to move to Berlin to widen her studies with a master's degree in filmmaking at Catalyst. Her practice spans several disciplines, focusing on ecology and postnatural narratives, she considers film and video art as a convergence of artistic forms. Isabel is currently working on a series of video sculptures that aim to explore perspectives from creatures of the world. She aims to explore the complex relationship between humans and nature, creating surreal and dreamlike worlds with which to tell stories that have yet to be heard, encouraging empathy and a hopeful understanding of the future.

Charlie Black, MA Symposium 2024

More about Charlie Black
Connor Oman 

Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst

Co_evolve (Spoken presentation with Q&A and installation)

Co_evolve explores the intersection of art, technology, and societal ethics, highlighting issues such as widespread data collection by companies and governments. This project delves into data privacy concerns in today's digital age using advanced technology to track microorganisms in real-time and sonify their data using complex sound design. It challenges traditional artistic boundaries by offering a multisensory experience that critiques the effects of data on privacy. Utilising tools like Yolov8 Object Detection and TouchDesigner, combined with soundscapes created in Ableton Live, the project uses biological specimens as symbols for how our data is being unknowingly collected and the complexities of human-technology interactions. Co_evolve is more than an artistic endeavour; it is a comprehensive exploration designed to engage and provoke thought among audiences through various formats. It emphasises the critical role of art in discussing and reflecting on current ethical issues, showcasing a unique fusion of technical prowess and philosophical depth.

/// About Connor Oman 

Connor Oman, known in the art and music spheres as Oman Sounds, is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on the intersection between science, technology and experimental design. With a foundation in advanced sound design techniques and visual experimentation, he combines these elements to articulate the themes of his research. Residing in Berlin, Germany, Connor immerses himself in the vibrant artistic community, collaborating with diverse artists and participating in various events. This engagement not only broadens his horizons but also deepens his contribution to the creative world, making him a distinctive new voice in the interdisciplinary art landscape.

Connor Oman (Oman Sounds), MA Symposium 2024

More about Connor Oman
Emma Lo

Moderator, closing panel

Saturday 18, 17:00, Theatre

Emma Lo (she/her) is a writer, researcher, and artist based in Berlin. She is currently a doctoral researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin, as part of the project “Acoustic Disruptions” in affiliation with the Intervening Arts Research Center (SFB1512), and her practice focuses on the intersections of sound, technology, and diaspora. She is a co-initiator of Spätifunk, a project with/about Berliner Spätis, and has ongoing collaborations with Mutating Kinship Lab, soy&synth, and Asian Feminist Studio for Art and Research (AFSAR).  

Emma Lo, moderator MA Symposium 2024

More about Emma Lo
Evgenia Papazisi

Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst

Hard Shell (Spoken presentation with Q&A)

Artistic research on how the patriarchal system and the socially promoted gender norms influence heterosexual romantic relationships. This research aims to explore how the socialisation of men and women and specifically the development of patriarchal masculinity affects heterosexual relationships. It will explore how this type of a performative identity affects the characters involved and their relationship. This study aims to shed light on how the development within a relationship is not independent of the patriarchal system in which people are socialised. Its main objectives are the exploration of cases of gendered expectations and subtle forms of abuse within heterosexual relationships and the development of a fictional narrative that can represent the effects of the patriarchal system within a romantic relationship.

/// About Evgenia Papazisi

Evgenia Papazisi is a filmmaker and actress from Athens, Greece. She is currently doing her master’s degree in creative film production at Catalyst - Institute for Creative Arts and Technology. Her bachelor’s degree was in English and Drama and she graduated from Queen Mary University of London where she mainly focused on stage directing and performance art. She is interested in exploring the concepts of human connection, community and romance within the socio-political context of the patriarchal and capitalist western societies through the mediums of film and performance art. Her practice aims to examine the various influences of the individualism that is enforced by this system on the human experience.

More about Evgenia Papazisi
Jonas Kern 

Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst

Other Voices (Spoken presentation with Q&A and installation)

This research project explores the boundaries of the auditorily familiar to find insights into the unfamiliar and presents its findings in an immersive auditive field. Sound explorations and fictitious narratives of encounters with the unfamiliar form the basis of several experimental modules, ranging from spectromorphology to speech analysis, spatial audio distribution methods and avant-garde vocal techniques. To expand upon the concept of immersion, the researcher enters the field of immersion on a meta-level, exploring possibilities of relating to fictitious characters by becoming one of the characters himself and sharing sensory experiences with fictitious characters created by him. The final format is to be a spatial audio play. It follows 10 protagonists, portrayed by 10 speakers in a room, encountering the unfamiliar in various fictitious worlds, which question the linearity of time and space, playing with the physical and thematic separation between them through music, vocal sound design, and soundscaping.

/// About Jonas Kern 

Multimedia artist Jonas Kern has published work in the form of soundtracks, audio-visual live events, installations, and pure audio albums. Some of the films he scored have been screened at various international film and short-film festivals, while his installation and live art is based in Berlin. Through the electro-acoustic amalgamation of organic and synthesised sound sources, Kern creates audio narratives that feature elements from natural soundscapes, animals, and insects, as well as avant-garde vocal techniques, acoustic instruments from all around the world, and synthesised sound. His works attempt to inspire an audience to explore their innate sensorial talents.

Jonas Kern, MA Symposium 2024

More about Jonas Kern
Joshua Mellard

Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst

Systems aesthetics in electronic music: a manifesto (Spoken presentation with Q&A)

This project serves as an initial investigation into the impact of applying the concept of systems aesthetics to the composition of electronic music. So far, this process has involved a practical exploration into how aspects of systems theory can help us to better understand and develop compositional techniques and technologies. The final focus of this project lies more in the philosophical effects of situating electronic music composition within a modernised conception of systems aesthetics. Using my own relationship with the theory surrounding systems aesthetics and its connection to my compositional practice, I will present a manifesto outlining the results I have found and explain why I think this consciousness around the concept of systems in the composition of electronic music may be useful to other artists and other disciplines. 

/// About Joshua Mellard

Josh Em (Joshua Mellard) is an electronic musician from West Yorkshire (UK), currently based in Berlin (DE). His focus currently lies in the production of his own musical work, and with both live electronic and DJ performances. Josh is particularly interested in playing with musical structure, using concepts involved in his masters degree research into systems theory and systems aesthetics to develop this. He is passionate about understanding music in terms of its connections, be they aesthetic or contextual, rather than through often arbitrary distinctions.

Joshua Mellard, MA Symposium 2024

More about Joshua Mellard
Karo Pelc

Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst

Land other (Installation)

Land Mother is a photographic projection capturing the intimate bond immigrants share with their homeland. Centring on queer and female perspectives, this project explores the transformation of memory through embodiment. Exploring how sound, textures, and smells bring back unexpected memories. Inspired by the concept of the "motherland," Land Mother draws parallels between our relationship with our homeland and motherhood. Our relationships with our mothers can be complex and uneasy. Land Mother produces the former sentiment analogous to the volatile connection to our homeland, a figment marred by both love and pain.

By allowing participants to select the memories they embody, Land Mother ensures their voices remain at the heart of the project.

/// About Karo Pelc

Karo Pelc is a film director with a background in painting and photography. She earned her BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, where she received two FASA awards for video art. Her photography has been published in PhMuseum (Milan) and The Void (Montreal). With valuable experience in both the art and production departments of film, Karo is currently completing her MA in Creative Production (Film) at Catalyst, Berlin, while working on her debut narrative short film. She is also exploring writing and directing films on immigration through the female gaze.

Karolina Pelc, MA Symposium 2024

More about Karo Pelc
Kris Limbach

Guest panellist, closing panel

Saturday 18, 17:00, Theatre

Kris Limbach is an audiovisual artist, filmmaker and curator residing in Berlin. Thinking of audiovisual art as coming from experimental sound, he is also heavily involved in film projects, constantly exploring formats and aesthetics of cinema. In his sound art work he uses film-editing techniques, prepared drums, tape manipulation, no input mixing and a vast amount of raw and processed field recordings.

He has released on labels such as Richard Garet’s Contour Editions, Staaltape, Modisti, Framework Radio, Agxivatein and collaborated with artists like John Bock, Pierce Warnecke, Hopek Quirin, Jochen Arbeit, Rinus van Alebeek, Rieko Okuda, Juan Antonio Nieto aka Pangea, Lisa Müller-Trede and more. His experimental feature films “Music for Dysfunctional Airports” and “The Lost Color” were shown internationally at film and media art festivals alike. In his film works he wanders between highly abstract live film and video manipulation, and feature-like experimental cinema.

His long term work in set-recording, composition and scoring, especially for performance artist and filmmaker John Bock, influenced his unique process oriented approach to filmmaking. He curates, together with Pierce Warnecke and Seiji Morimoto, the emitter micro label and emitter micro festival, a biennial experimental sound Festival in Berlin. He curates evenings of experimental music and performance in various places, ranging from an emitter night at the Kontakte19 festival at Akademie der Künste to the experimental streaming series T.A.T.V. at Ausland Berlin. He is frequently collaborating with the artist collective Aktuelle Architektur der Kultur (AADK).

Kris was the keynote speaker at the 2023 MA Symposium.

Kris Limbach, Catalyst Symposium

More about Kris Limbach
Lara Khattar

Creative Production (Film) MA, Catalyst

Long American Film (Screening & interview)

This project is an adaptation of the play Film Ameriki Tawil by Ziad Al Rahbani, a Lebanese director and composer. The title of the play translates to Long American Film. It tells the story of several patients in a mental hospital in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war in the late 1970s, all of whom were admitted to the hospital due to traumatic experiences caused by the war.

The adaptation took the form of a mashup short film, combining elements of the mentioned play and the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975). The mashup short film depicts a shared narrative of a group of individuals who endured war-related trauma. The remarkable aspect was the uncanny parallels that emerged between the two pieces.

/// About Lara Khattar

Lara is a film editor from Lebanon, currently based in Berlin. She holds a diploma focused on Film Editing from Roma Film Academy, and she is pursuing her MA in Creative Production (Film) at Catalyst. Over the past few years, she has collaborated with renowned film directors in Lebanon and also gained experience in television. She is now looking to transition her career more towards cinema. Currently, she is working on a project exploring the universal human experience of war trauma, leveraging her multicultural background and professional expertise to create an impactful narrative.

Lara Khattar, MA Symposium 2024

More about Lara Khattar
Maria Paula Mondragón

Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst

The Sound of Memory (Spoken presentation with Q&A)

The project explores the way to build collective memory practices through an artistic approach. This under the crescent wave of musicians approaching new genres and raising the popularity of a national identity that processes collective pain through culture. I’m analysing a key moment for artists from Colombia’s capital and our responsibility of building a discourse that’s self reflected about the ghosts of our shared experiences.

/// About Maria Paula Mondragón

Berlin-based Colombian artist exploring the electronic music world beyond her long journey in live performances with Bogotan band, Babelgam and as live sound engineer for other acts. Inspired by the musical diversity of both cities that fuel this project (Bogotá and Berlin), María’s solo project Gugol Maps is a result of the investigation within the sound of memory. This process seeks to understand the core of being a Colombian during post-conflict times from a musical and sonic perspective.

Maria Paula Mondragón, MA Symposium 2024

More about Maria Paula Mondragón
Marta Torres

New Media Design MA, University of Europe for Applied Sciences

This isn't Me, This is a Representation of Me (Spoken presentation with Q&A)

People; including queer trans, non binary, female-presenting and colonised bodies have been mainly viewed through the male, colonialist heteronormative gaze. Being able to take pictures for themselves, having this autonomy to see their process of exploration, mutation, shape shifting, to keep an image of themselves, or to share to the world how they feel comfortable is emotional, personal and raw. It becomes a small ritual for a person taking their picture in the moment, it can be spontaneous or very curated. I will argue that this relatively new process of representation isn’t superficial. It can be a way of self expression, nostalgia, and a way for the queer community to share themselves, explore their visual identity and ultimately explore the bodies they inhabit. My research is about this self exploration through photography and this place to find themselves and present themselves in a more accurate way.

/// About Marta Torres

Marta Torres was born, raised and lived most of her life in the very small and very conservative country of El Salvador. With a bachelors in Interior Architecture, specialising in furniture, art direction and social design she moves around mediums to express her style, voice and what she believes in. She’s been active in the El Salvador's social issues scene including the lack of LGBTQ+ rights, feminicides, censorship and moved to Berlin to further expand artist work including currently in her last year of pursuing an M.A. in New Media Design.

Marta Torres, MA Symposium 2024

More about Marta Torres
POMA

Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst

Leaving a Lover (Performance)

This musical theatrical performance-in-making has a fairytale as the main inspiration for the content. By investigating fairytale changes through history and following archetypal messages in research, POMA, as a performer, pays attention to those moments in the story when emotions were not told or expressed. The idea is that music allows the character to reflect on what happened. Imagining a character who is going through breaking up a relationship and asks Autumn for help in letting go, the performer on stage is an older woman who embodies all women in us: the one who needs help, the one who can provide advice, and the one who is telling the story. Through seven songs and performative intermission, we follow non-linear storytelling built upon archetype reading, fear of letting go  and associative series.

/// About POMA

Through the author's alias POMA, Maja Posavec combines her musical and theatrical practice, creating projects as an experimental approach to personal storytelling in theatre. “Leaving a Lover” is a continuation of her exploration in this field. Maja Posavec, awarded Croatian actress and musician with over fifteen years of experience in theatre productions and versatile music collaborations. After ten years in institutional theatre, she is pursuing her freelance acting career and developing her theatre projects, alongside music productions and education in Berlin.

POMA - Maja Posavec, MA Symposium 2024

More about POMA
Ricardo Tovar Mateus

Panel moderator, Artistic practice within performance

Friday 17 , 14:45, Theatre

Ricardo Tovar Mateus is a Colombian interdisciplinary artist, composer, and performer based in Berlin. His practice emphasises collaboration, integrating classical and experimental music with visual and spatial innovations. Ricardo holds an MA in Composition from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and a Doctorate in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. His doctoral research focused on multimedia installations, particularly on the use of multi-projection video and multi-channel sound to explore the transformative effects of art on public perception. With a global perspective and expertise in various musical aesthetics, Ricardo's notable projects have been showcased at prestigious venues such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Museo Nacional de Bogotá, and Harvest Works in New York. His work has earned him numerous accolades, including a first prize in composition at the ISA and a composition stipend from the Federal Chancellery of Austria.

As MATEUS, Ricardo integrates electronic, classical, and cinematic soundtracks, often reflecting his Latin heritage. His performances span DJ sets to ensemble arrangements, and his work has been showcased at venues like the “Planetario de Bogotá”, and “Porgy and Bess” in Vienna.

MA Symposium 2024, Ricardo Tovar Mateus

More about Ricardo Tovar Mateus
Shivani Hassard

Interview host with Lara Khattar

Friday 17 , 16:00, Co Lab 3

Shivani Hassard is a filmmaker and researcher from the UK. She works across narrative, documentary, artist’s moving image and her work as a cinematographer has been shown at international film festivals and in gallery spaces, such as London Film Festival and Frieze's no.9 Cork Street. She also works as a lecturer in Film Production MA and BA at Catalyst and hosts screenings, discussions and practical workshops for film education.

Shivani Hassard

Yuxin Mei (Temple Rat)

Creative Production (Music) MA, Catalyst

The Mirror With a Soul (Installation)

In the rapidly expanding field of performance music and sound installations, gesture mapping technology is emerging as a significant innovation. In the past, mechanical audio output was primarily generated through the physical interaction of instruments with the human body. However, contemporary music studios have evolved into multi-device environments equipped with specialised musical equipment to fulfil various tasks, including sound synthesis, recording, and mixing. Modern electronic music performers must closely manage a myriad of pre-recorded instruments, software, and rhythms, which limits their ability to utilise more traditional human-computer interaction methods. In contrast, gesture mapping technology utilises cameras and algorithms to capture gestures, enabling interaction between the human body and computerised instruments. The goal of this research project is to design a "soulful mirror" capable of capturing users' movements and transforming them into sound. This novel sound device allows participants to engage in sound interaction with their own bodies, thus sparking reflection on the relationship between humans, nature and the ecological environment.

/// About Yuxin Mei

Temple Rat aka Mei YuXin is an instrumentalist, composer, producer and DJ from Shanghai, China. Her music is a remarkable marriage of two practices; a folk music tradition that spans four millennia, and up-to-the-minute electronic production. Having been a student of the Erhu, a bowed chordophone with staggering flexibility and possibilities for extended technique, she works with an organic approach using self-built sound design tools and field recordings, resulting in a completely DIY and time-transcending sound that is rooted in the colours and tradition of her roots.

Yuxin Mei, MA Symposium 2024

More about Yuxin Mei

Artistic research at Catalyst 

At Catalyst, our master’s programmes in music and film are explicitly structured around a practice-based artistic research framework. But what does that really mean, and why is it important? How can research make our artistic work more developed, more powerful, more relevant and more alive? 

Find out more about our postgraduate programmes:

See the programmes from past symposiums: