Schedule

Fridays, March 7, 21, 28, and April 4
1pm - 3pm EST (NY time) // 10am - 12pm PST (LA time)
Virtual

Description

Open to artists of all disciplines and levels of experience, this course offers an exploration of open source art practice through collective archives, free-to-use OS tools, and decentralized platforms, to create and publish collaborative sound and audiovisual works onchain.

Led by interdisciplinary artist Lani Trock, participants will build a collective audiovisual archive, and then work with open source software like Vimix, a live video mixing environment, and platforms like Nina, a music publishing protocol and Zora, a multimedia publishing protocol, to release audiovisual projects on the blockchain. These platforms are examples of onchain publishing, where digital works are recorded directly onto blockchain networks, which allows artists to embed collaborative splits and manage revenue sharing, providing cooperative ownership, verifiable provenance, and non-extractive alternative funding models.

Through a combination of lectures and weekly assignments, participants will create sound collages and audiovisual artifacts while exploring how decentralized tools can change the way we work together. In our second week, sound artist Maral will lead a session on their sampling techniques. In the following week, Lani will offer an introduction to Vimix, an open-source live video mixing tool. Both sessions will incorporate artifacts from the class’s shared audiovisual archive created during week one. The homework from each class will involve publishing our creations to decentralized platforms.

We will also engage in group discussions on topics such as open source art practice, deep listening, collaborative ownership, retroactive funding models, and how decentralized platforms can support artists' work in both digital and physical spaces.

Participants will publish their work on Nina and Zora, culminating in a final showcase. We’ll also look at the ethics and possibilities for honoring the sources of sampling through onchain splits, and compare these approaches with traditional art and music industry models.

A breakdown of what the course will cover:

✣ Onchain publishing with Nina and Zora: learn to publish music and audiovisual works with collaborative splits and transparent ownership
✣ Audiovisual field recording with phones, open source art and the public domain.
✣ Sampling workshop: we’ll make sound collages using shared recordings from course archive
✣ Audiovisual improvisation with Lani: experiments with live video mixing and Vimix: we’ll make improvised audiovisual works using artifacts in the course archive; discuss influences like Pauline Oliveros.
✣ Decentralized collaboration: discuss cooperative ownership, retroactive funding, and ethical models for working together.
✣ Deep listening and improvisation: explore new modes for a mindful approach to art making.
✣ Final presentation: present works published to Nina and Zora.

Please note: ticket registration closes 30 minutes prior to event start time.
Syllabus
Week 1: OPEN SOURCE ART & ONCHAIN PUBLISHING.

✣ Introduction to open source art and onchain publishing
✣ Intro to Nina and Zora as decentralized, open source publishing tools
✣ Discuss applications of onchain publishing for artists, and retroactive public goods funding; splits as expressions of appreciation, and steady streams of value.
✣ Understanding the distinction between a protocol, a protoform, and a platform.
✣ Explore the balance between digital and physical selves, deep listening & improvisation.
✣ We will set up accounts and familiarize ourselves with Nina and Zora and talk about wallet security.
✣ Lani will demo her field recording techniques, for both sound and video, using iphones, to construct our class archive of field recordings and experimental soundscapes, which will become the source material for the following week’s assignments.

<< SPRING BREAK >>

Week 2: SAMPLING TECHNIQUES & NINA.

✣ Introduction to sampling from a shared archive as a collaborative practice and publishing sound works to Nina.
✣ Discuss the potential and role of onchain publishing in distributing and archiving collectively sourced and collaboratively created works.
✣ Historical examples of sampling culture: Crass, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Christian Marclay and Pierre Schaeffer
✣ Sound artist Maral will guide participants through their sampling and sound collage process, incorporating an artifact uploaded to the class archive in Week 1.

Week 3: AUDIOVISUAL IMPROVISATION WITH VIMIX & ZORA.

✣ Introduction to live video mixing with Vimix and audiovisual publishing on Zora
✣ Discuss ideas of open source art, copyright, and public domain- as well as deep listening and improvisational composition.
✣ Viewing of works by artists such as Ryoji Ikeda, Barbara Hammer, Laurie Anderson, Maya Deren, Meredith Monk, and Pauline Oliveros & Ione.

Week 4: COMMUNITY SHOWCASE, FINAL PRESENTATION.

✣ Presentation of published works on Nina and Zora
✣ Discussion on retroactive funding models and cooperative structures in publishing
✣ Reflection on the potential of decentralized tools to enable sustainable creative practices, and open space to discuss their experience with the course.

Hardware & Software Requirements

✣ DAW of your choice
✣ Computer with the latest Zoom update
✣ Headphones or studio monitors
✣ Vimix: https://www.vmix.com/software/download.aspx
✣ A second screen (optional but recommended)

Please email us at hi@soundial.org with any questions about the equipment list.

Instructor Bio

Lani Trock (b. 1984) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice centers in harmonious world-building. To awaken the collective imagination and actualize a new operating system for society, she works with organic sculptural materials to cultivate gentle environments, inviting visitors to contemplate how they would imagine the world at peace. Engaging with art as a spiritual practice, honoring the studio & gallery as spaces of devotion, she builds ephemeral altars and invites collaborators to activate them in joyful co-creation.

Through site-specific, immersive installations, she facilitates group expressions of improvisational sound and movement. Her participatory artworks integrate the biomimetic intelligence of natural ecosystems with the collectivist principles underlying open-source software, imagining a symbiotic society rooted in an ethos of care.

Trock was born and raised in Hawai’i and holds a BA in Philosophy from UC Santa Cruz. She has exhibited at OCHI Projects, Praz-Delavallade, Jeffrey Deitch with Nicodim, and LA Municipal Art Gallery. Her work has been published in Autre Magazine, Murder Magazine, and Plant Magick (Taschen). In 2021, she had a solo exhibition at Hansell Gallery during her residency at The Philosophical Research Society and participated in the Kernel Fellowship. She lives in Los Angeles.

https://lani.earth
@lanitrock
Contact
hi(at)soundial.org
Website: soundial.org
Instagram: @sound.ial
Cancellation Policy

Ticket holders have the option to cancel their reservations and receive a full refund if they do so at least 48 hours before the event starts. However, please note that any cancellation requests made within 48 hours of the event start time or after the event has already begun will not be honored.

If you're unable to attend but have a friend who'd love to take your spot, you can transfer your reservation to them before the class begins.

To request a cancellation, please send an email to hi(at)soundial.org with the subject line "Cancellation Request." In the email, include the following info:

• Your full name
• Date and time of the scheduled event

For eligible cancellation requests, we will initiate a refund to the original payment method used during registration. Please allow a processing time of 5-10 days for the refund to be processed.

Soundial reserves the right to cancel or reschedule events if necessary. Despite our best efforts, unforeseen circumstances such as technical issues or unavailability of instructors may arise, requiring adjustments to the event schedule. We will make every effort to notify you promptly and provide alternative options or refunds as needed.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in these situations!