Our series of online workshops are available to watch immediately with unlimited access for 30 days.

Future Labs is our innovative workshop programme that provides training and technical support to anyone who wishes to experiment with new and emerging technologies to broaden and enhance their artistic practice. During the pandemic, we began to build a resource of online workshops that artists can access in their own time.

These workshops cover various areas of artistic practice: sound art; 3D drawing and sculpting; electronics; social media & online audience engagement.

Each workshop is accessible via Vimeo’s OnDemand service and cost £10 for unlimited access within a 30 day period. The cost of each workshop will directly support our organisation and the development of future workshops.

All videos are included as part of our yearly membership with unlimited viewing.

Watch the first two videos for free now:

Getting Yourself Online with Alison Pascoe

Online Music Performance using Sonobus with Adam Pultz-Melbye

Field Recording: Theory and Practice with Aidan Deery

  • The workshop is part of the Digital Arts Studios' Future Labs programme and will provide a thorough background into field recording looking at its history and theory. It's a great workshop for anyone wanting to learn about sound recording or for those who would like to learn more about equipment and technique.

    Aidan will teach you about listening, recording tips and techniques and talk about the types of microphones and recorders available. The workshop encourages you to make your own field recordings and you will be taught how to edit and compose with them along with ideas for further uses.

    Aidan Deery is a Belfast based composer and sound artist. Making use of field recordings, Aidan’s work ranges from fixed medium compositions to pieces for instrument and live electronics. His work has been showcased throughout Europe, North America and South America. Aidan also collaborates with Matilde Meireles to form the field recording duo bunú.

Blender: Use Grease Pencil to transform your illustrations with Will Scobie

  • Blender is a free and extensive open source 3D creation suite supporting modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, even video editing and game creation. In this particular workshop, Will Scobie will introduce how to translate your sketches and drawings digitally into a 3D environment using Blender’s Grease Pencil. You will be able to re-create your 2D drawings digitally, allowing you to showcase them with new perspectives and bring life to them.

    Blender can be downloaded at: blender.org

    Will Scobie is an artist and Illustrator from Brighton, UK. Exploring line through playful and intriguing perspectives, he has recently been developing his unique illustration style into digital drawings, exploring how his drawings can evolve through 3D animation and VR.

Podcast Masterclass with Matthew Thompson

  • Matthew Thompson is the host behind the successful Best Of Belfast podcast which celebrates Northern Ireland and the incredible people in it.

    He began the podcast on his own without any knowledge, learning how to record, edit and publish his episodes along the way. It now boasts over 200 episodes with 10,000 monthly listeners. His guests include the likes of Oliver Jeffers, Zoe Salmon, Gary Lightbody and Mary Peters to name only a few.

    In this Podcast Masterclass, he will show you how to get started, covering everything from the various types of equipment to use, how to decide on your topics of conversation, to top-tips and where to publish your podcasts. He will reveal the mistakes he made over the last three years to help you avoid the same pitfalls, so you can get quickly set-up and publishing your own podcast series. He will also cover how to grow your audience and monetise the podcast. A brilliant workshop for anyone wanting to start podcasting.

    bestofbelfast.org

Creating interactive installations and performances using Max/MSP with Richard Davis

  • Learn how to get started creating basic interactive artworks using Max/MSP & Arduino!

    In this workshop you will be introduced to the programming environment Max/MSP and the Arduino Uno microcontroller. Max/MSP is a visual programming environment used for real-time audio and video synthesis, processing and interaction. Although the software is highly versatile and multi-faceted, this workshop will focus on how it can be used to create interactive installations and performances.

    You will be introduced to creating basic interactions using various sensor inputs via the Arduino board such as buttons, infra-red distance sensors and light dependent resistors, and how these can trigger audio, video and LEDs. The aim is to show you what kinds of interactions are possible to get you thinking conceptually about what artworks, installations and performances you might create using this technology.

    No prior knowledge is required and it is a useful introduction for beginners looking to experiment with technologies, or more advanced users wishing to learn about sensor interactions. If you do not own the required equipment, the video can serve as an introduction to what is possible and provide information of what you might want to purchase and from where.

    Richard Davis is an artist, animator and musician based in Belfast. He creates installations, sculptures and instruments that use various interactive technologies to rethink how we can physically engage with music. He is currently completing a PhD at Queen’s University focusing on the performance of voice using movement and interactive technologies such as motion and muscle sensors.

    Max/MSP can be found at: cycling74.com

    Arduino can be found at: arduino.cc

Getting Yourself Online with Alison Pascoe

  • Alison Pascoe is a self taught macramé artist and lifelong creative who has been building her own creative business making and selling macramé. She also designs individual pieces for commission and delivers workshops teaching participants the art of macramé. Building the business up herself, she has learnt to navigate and master how to best get her creative art and business online using websites and social media.

    This workshop is designed to offer guidance on getting your creative practice online. Alison will help you consider your brand values, your creative product & content, how to find your audiences, and finally, (something important yet overlooked) how to set yourself boundaries when it comes to social media and working online.

    The aim is to get you thinking strategically about your online presence in a way that suits you and your unique creative practice. Alison will do this by parting her self-taught knowledge and experiences alongside what she has learnt from marketing experts.

Designing Locative Audio Experiences using ECHOES.xyz with John D'Arcy

  • John D'Arcy's workshop teaches you how to create locative audio experiences using the application Echoes. Locative audio is sound triggered by a listener's physical movement at specific locations. It allows artists, storytellers and musicians to design unique site-specific audio sound walks for listeners to access via the Echoes app when they reach specific GPS locations.

    During the workshop, participants will learn about the history of sound walks, their development with new technologies, and will then be shown how to create their own locative media using geo-location as media triggers.

    Start your creations using Echoes: echoes.xyz

    John D’Arcy’s work involves live performance and technology, voice-based intermedia artwork, and site-specific storytelling and song-making. John currently lectures in digital media at Queen’s University Belfast. John directs HIVE Choir, an experimental vocal ensemble with found texts and improvisation.

Live Streaming Workshop in Open Broadcast Software (OBS) with Laura O'Connor

  • Want to live stream your creative content but not quite sure where to start? In this workshop Laura O’Connor will show you how to create an initial set up, discuss what equipment and software you will need, and the pros and cons of the most popular streaming platforms.

    This workshop provides an overview of the history of streaming and explores how artists have used it creatively as part of their practice and audience engagement. Laura talks us through her personal experience using streaming as a performance artists. Laura finishes by demonstrating how to stream live to YouTube using green screen effects.

    Download OBS: https://obsproject.com

    Dr Laura O’Connor is a visual artist, researcher and festival co-ordinator based in Belfast. O’Connor’s work combines performance, sculpture, installation, video and digital media to look at the representation of “women” in the media and through cultural narratives.

Blender: Character Design, 3D Modelling & Animation with Dragos Musat

  • This workshop is aimed at anyone who wishes to incorporate 3D art into their workflows and is new to

    3D modelling or would like to learn the fundamentals of 3D modelling, sculpture and animation using Blender.

    Dragos will introduce you Blender and how to create characters using 3D modelling and sculpture. It will also introduce you to basic animation techniques within Blender to get your characters moving!

    You will learn:

    - How to create and control dynamic forms

    - How to best approach digital sculpting

    - How to incorporate lighting and render your model

    - How to create basic animations

    Dragos Musat is a visual artist, graphic designer and music enthusiast originally from southeastern Romania. As a visual artist, Dragos is always challenging the boundaries between traditional and digital mediums. His digital animations feature a playful fusion between anatomy and sacred geometry, where fractal imagery merges with the human form.

    Download Blender: https://www.blender.org

Online music performance using Sonobus with Adam Pultz-Melbye

  • Have you struggled with sharing decent quality audio over the internet for music performance, rehearsals or interviews? This workshop can help...

    Sonobus is an application for streaming and receiving high-quality, low latency peer-to-peer audio directly between users over the internet. Adam Pultz-Melbye is a musician who has found Sonobus to be a valuable resource during the pandemic, allowing him to perform with other musicians remotely and perform online concerts together.

    In this workshop, Adam will show you how to get started using the application as a way to share high quality audio online to rehearse and perform music with others, as well as offering a more creative use of the software.

    Sonobus can be downloaded at: sonobus.net

    Adam’s online performance using Sonobus mentioned in the workshop can be accessed at: youtu.be/fyhw3nIBmMc

    Adam Pultz-Melbye is an active solo artist whose fascination with resonance, acoustics and psychoacoustics has led to the development of new instrumental techniques and approaches to the double bass that causes the instrument to sing and vibrate in unexpected ways.

    He has written acoustic and electroacoustic music for smaller and larger ensembles as well as theatre, sound installations, dance and film and has created and exhibited sculpture. He has toured over most of Europe, US, Japan and Australia and appears on more than 40 albums.

    Image credit: Photomusix / Christina Marx.