Date and location
from January 14, 2026 until January 16, 2026
Orpheus Instituut, Korte Meer 12, 9000 Ghent
Electronic Luthérie
Eventfrom January 14, 2026 until January 16, 2026Instruments, users and creators
Register now and participate in the discourse around the creative interaction with hardware tools, such as standalone electronic instruments, modular synthesisers, interfaces, noise machines and gizmos, vintage test equipment and other non-standard and experimental devices. It also includes dedicated software applications, for example, those hosted on embedded DSPs, iPads, phones, etc.
Register nowElectronic Luthérie: instruments, users and creators is a three-day international event organised by the Orpheus Instituut (Ghent), in collaboration with Catalyst Institute for Arts and Technology (Berlin), and taking place at Orpheus Instituut.
The event aims to generate a critical discourse around the creative interaction with hardware tools, such as standalone electronic instruments, modular synthesisers, interfaces, noise machines and gizmos, vintage test equipment and other non-standard and experimental devices. It also includes dedicated software applications, for example, those hosted on embedded DSPs, iPads, phones, etc.
In addition, we wonder how such instruments may bear the stamp of their creators, i.e., how explicitly the intentions and aesthetics of designers may be reflected in their instruments, and in turn, suggest potential musical purposes.
Topic
The last decade has witnessed a resurgence of the adoption of modular synthesisers, and boutique hardware. Interest in obsolete technologies, test equipment, tape machines, and vintage electronic music studios is also increasing. Taken together, along with new dedicated software tools, these have transformed the palette available to contemporary musicians on stage and in the studio.
We ask,
- How do such tools influence artistic practice?
- What are the consequences of unusual, unique, and obsolete synthesis technologies for individual creative practices, including composition, improvisation, installation, and other performative practices?
- How are contemporary composition and improvisation strategies impacted by such tools?
- What specific potentials do such resources bring to the table, and what creative possibilities do they afford that may supplant or supplement those available via more traditional routes?
- Are there specific agencies and autonomies that appear to emerge from creative interaction with such tools, or the nature of the tools themselves, and how might these influence artistic practices and outcomes?
- How do instrument designers, hardware hackers, app builders, and electronic luthiers understand the specific creative potentials afforded by their work, and how far are these reflected in that work?
Registration
The call to submit applications is closed.
It's possible to register via this link: https://airtable.com/appJNI0XeMEgRZHTk/shrm1SKOLJ1dV7BIE
Registration deadline: 8 December 2025.
Programme committee:
Richard Scott (Catalyst Institute for Arts and Technology, Berlin), Juan Parra Cancino (Orpheus Instituut, Ghent), Andrea Parkins (Catalyst), Chonglian Yu (Orpheus Instituut).
DAY 1 Wednesday January 14
12:30 - 13:30 Registration
13:30 - 14:00 Start – Welcome
14:00 - 15:00 Introductory talk: Richard Scott
15:00 - 15:30 Coffee break
15:30 - 17:00 Session I: Future Archeologies I
- Ezra Teboul: Gordon Mumma’s Mesa
- Rodrigo Cadiz: COMDASUAR Revisited
- Simon Blackmore: UPIC Ludique
17:00 - 19:00 Dinner break (own arrangements)
19:00 - 21:30 Session II: Soloists
- Federico Visi: The Sophtar as boundary object
- Juice Cui: The Head as Circuit
- Chonglian Yu: Human Receiver
- MV Carbon: Psychophonic Instruments
DAY 2 Thursday January 15
09:30 - 11:00 Session III: Future Archeologies II
- Yannis Patoukas: Studios Improvised
- Enrique Tomás: The Design Patterns of Tian Jinqin
- Helena Linder: Sirenology: Acoustic Synthesis
11:00 - 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 - 13:00 Session IV: Composing the instrument
- Eric Mersh: Little things
- Patricia Alessandrini: Parlour Sounds
- Nicolas Collins: The Development of the !trumpet
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch (in-house)
14:00 - 15:00 Framing talk: Andrea Parkins
15:00 - 15:30 Coffee break
15:30 - 17:00 Session V: Building the Performance Practice
- Kaixiang Zhang: Electronic music performance through the lens of ritual and collective agency
- Yonwoo Ha: Carefully Improvised Techno
- Palle Dahlstedt: To become a “musikant” on electronics
17:00 - 17:30 Coffee break
17:30 - 19:00 Session VI: Performative Lutherie
- Fabio Machiavelli: Machines Inside Me
- Peter Jamee: The Sonic Imprint of the Builder
- Sean Williams: Synthesizer as assemblage and process
19:00 - 21:00 Dinner in house
DAY 3 Friday January 16
09:30 - 11:00 Session VI: Performing the Composition
- Dirk Stomberg: the Fryprone
- Martina Bertoni: Composing the Unstable Self
- Philippe Druez: The Iridescent Sound Object
11:00 - 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 - 12:30 Wrapping talk: Juan Parra Cancino
12:30 - 13:00 Closing remarks/Wrapping session
13:00 - 14:00 Farewell lunch (in-house)
Practical
Participation fee: €60 (The fee includes dinner and 2 lunches)
The event takes place in Ghent: Korte Meer 12, 9000 Ghent (Belgium)
International event organised by Catalyst Institute for Arts and Technology, Berlin, and Orpheus Instituut, Ghent.
