Antonio Forastiero [IT] /// Layer

Layer is an audiovisual work that explores the concept of space. Different spatial dimensions alternate in an orderly and sometimes overlapping and chaotic dialogue, giving rise to complex spatial dimensions. Within apparently static surfaces, dynamic and articulated dimensions are hidden, underlined by particular multidimensional sound interweaving.

Antonio Forastiero, born in 1986, is an Italian electroacoustic composer and sound designer. Graduated from the Conservatory of Potenza in electronic music and composition, he obtained a master's degree in sound and entertainment engineering from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He attended masterclasses in electroacoustic composition and integrated audiovisual composition. He bases his compositional works on the elaboration of his electronically processed naturals, exploring their multiple tonal potential. His research activity focuses on the relationship between sound and space for the development of particular immersive perceptive experiences.

Tasos Asonitis [GR] /// Exhibits

"Exhibits" introduces us to a fictional gallery where products of human intellect meet their xenomorphic counterparts, created by AI. The shape of the forms is turned into sound; a dialogue unfolds, where the two worlds collide while sinking deeper and deeper into a vortex of bilateral exchange and hybridization. The human versus the algorithmic, the familiar versus the xenomorphic until "versus" makes no sense anymore, and dichotomies melt into a space of infinite possibilities and identities.

Tasos Asonitis is a sonic and audiovisual artist whose activities encompass various facets of digital arts. His primary interest is on fictional virtual environments that can be described by the creative entanglement of computer generated music and 3D graphics. Asonitis' artistic output however is not limited to the audiovisual domain, and includes multi-channel fixed media pieces, sonic installations and compositions for moving image. He is part of the UnSupervised artists collective, a practice-led research group that merges AI and music. His works have been exhibited at the People’s History Museum (Manchester, UK), Athens Digital Arts Festival, Science and Industry Museum (Manchester, UK), METS Fest (Cuneo, Italy) and presented in renowned conferences like ICMC (International Computer Music Conference - 2023), AIMC (International Conference on AI and Musical Creativity - 2023) and xCoAx (9th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics and X - 2021). Recipient of the EPSRC doctoral scholarship, he is currently a PhD candidate on Electroacoustic Composition at NOVARS Research Center, at the University of Manchester.

Rebeca Žukovits [EE] /// UPĖ
supported by Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre

The audiovisual poem ‘’Upė’’ is an introspective and emotional insight into the breakdown of a dynamic and the shift of perspective. It is about letting go and healing, but also about being frozen in a moment and the poeticisation of a personal narrative. One of the most important starting points of ‘’Upė’’ is a sutartinė called ‘’Duno upė’’. The singing of sutartinės is an important part of the Lithuanian polyphonic folk song tradition, which was traditionally sung by women. The dissonant intervals created in the music sung in different canons were believed to have a healing effect - communal healing amongst women, which in its meditativeness has manifested itself in ‘’Upė’’ as an uninterrupted flow and chain of breath. ‘’Upė’’ is a moment stretched out in time that has outstayed its welcome, a flash of thought to which the pain and loneliness that ignited it desperately clung to.