TEKHNÉ - Sound, Technology and Innovative Usership

ongoing

This project is situated in the field of the sonic arts. It focusses on technology as a means of access and diversity, rather than as an instrument of control. Technology, if understood critically and used creatively, can be a tool for emancipation. Creative experimentation can demystify preconceptions and lead to a more autonomous mindset towards the tools around us. History has shown that moments of technological shifts have offered a possibility for social shift. Taking this as inspiration, the project will explore the possibilities of innovative uses of technology to create spaces of inclusion for artists and their public, and will generate tools for curators to accommodate such innovation. By putting our focus on the position of the user of technology, rather than its developer, we hope to forefront technology’s participative potential. The consortium of six organisations will propose activities for artists and their audiences. A combination of research, experimentation, creation, education, and dissemination activities will be offered in the form of residencies, commissions, workshops, performances, exhibitions, talks and publications and radio broadcasts. More than 200 artists and a wider public of several tens of thousands will benefit from these activities. A secondary audience including curators and theorists will profit from the research, reflection, archive and publications. Through an extensive radio network activated by the consortium, a diverse public from in and beyond the EU will be able to participate in the project’s results. The project will seek a balance between theoretical reflection and practical implementation, providing new experiences to people who seek to interact in autonomous ways with different types of technology. It aims to support a more inclusive field, and to use sound and music as a vehicle to promote new perceptions to the innovative usership of technology.