Electronic Luthérie

Electronic 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).

Schedule

The full program will be announced mid-November 2025.

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.