Events
A creative cartography of Ireland’s art and technology landscape November 2nd - 5th 2023
Taking inspiration from our name, the first edition of Beta Festival is an opportunity to map new ways of bringing Ireland’s vibrant creative and research communities together to explore the relationship between art and technology.
The three day festival programme will feature performances, discussions, workshops, and panels that critically engage with a wide range of themes related to digital culture and expression including artificial intelligence and creativity, networked infrastructure, data rights, open-source culture and sustainability, and much more.
The full discussions programme will be available next week.
Taking inspiration from our name, the first edition of Beta Festival is an opportunity to map new ways of bringing Ireland’s vibrant creative and research communities together to explore the relationship between art and technology.
The three day festival programme will feature performances, discussions, workshops, and panels that critically engage with a wide range of themes related to digital culture and expression including artificial intelligence and creativity, networked infrastructure, data rights, open-source culture and sustainability, and much more.
The full discussions programme will be available next week.
︎The Bank
︎2nd November _ 8.30pm
Prompt Battle
Sebastian Schmieg, Bernadette Geiger, and the Prompt Battle Team Do you have what it takes to be a prompt engineer?
Prompt Battle is a live game show format where people compete against each other using text-to-image software. Show off your prompt skills and maybe the audience will choose you as the winner who elicited the most surprising, disturbing or beautiful images from the latent space of DALL·E. Do you have what it takes to become a prompt engineer?
The original Prompt Battle was developed at HTW Dresden by Sebastian Schmieg, Florian A. Schmidt, Bernadette Geiger, Robert Hellwig, Emily Krause, Levi Stein, Lina Schwarzenberg and Ella Zickerick.
Book Here
︎3rd November _ 7pm
Gash Collective x Beta
Rising Damp, Doubt, ANIMWAL ft. aux pheonix, polypGash Collective are proud to present a night of Irish experimental dance music supported by Roe & Co.
Gash x Beta Festival is set to showcase Ireland's most innovative artists featuring an immersive ambient DJ set from polyp, two debut live sets from ANIMWAL and Doubt, and a headline solo performance from Rising Damp.
polyp (they/them) is a clump of cells grown in Dublin and made in Vietnam. Their taste varies between ambient and noisy, silly and sincere. They are vice chairperson of BPM energy, a brand new FLINTA-centered club night manufacturing countercultural cultural production.
ANIMWAL is a Polish music producer and DJ based in Cork. ANIMWAL reimagines her productions in an Ableton driven live performance with live vocals, midi controllers and synthesisers. She explores a broad range of musical genres from slow atmospheric beats with field recorded samples to up-tempo electronic dance music and everything in between.
Normally seen fuelling dance floor euphoria behind the decks, Doubt will be showcasing his own productions live for the first time at Betafest. Drawing on his past work as well as new material the performance will be a sonic expression of subjective dilemmas, feelings and frustrations he holds towards Ireland - channeling experience through immersive sound design, sampling and his staple percussion focused style of club music
Rising Damp (solo set) is an experimental artist whose music fuses the energy of EBM and punk. Known for her unconventional performances, she's no stranger to underground shows in tunnels, underpasses, and social centres. Her songwriting delves into subjects as diverse as brutalist architecture, cannibalism, intimate encounters with a motorbike, and thought-provoking themes of corporate metaphor and innovation.
Book Here
︎Project Arts Centre
︎3rd & 4th November
_ 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm
DWELLING
Peter Power & Leon ButlerDwelling is the premiere of a new work by artists Peter Power & Leon Butler at Project Arts Centre presented by Sparsile Collective and Once Off Productions. In association with Beta Festival, Cork Midsummer Festival and Carlow Arts Festival.
“I am here, I am gone. I am here again.”
Dwelling explores the outskirts of cultural isolation, the dispersal of self across the multimedial universe and digital death, transformation and rebirth.
In a chaotic climate of dissolution, how can we grieve things that are still leaving?
Taking place in the fragments of a home with dance performances by Robyn Byrne and Rosie Stebbing, we bear witness to a life lived in and across the boundaries of the digital divide. Dwelling offers an opportunity to avatar our individual experiences of disconnection and loss through the poetic portal of the everyday.
Project Arts Centre Fri 3rd & Sat 4th November
2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm
Duration: Approx 40mins and audience members are invited to interact with the installation at the end of the performance.
Book through projectartscentre.ie
Book Here
︎ iD8 Studio at The Digital Hub
︎4th November _ 12-5pm
ALT.CTRL. GameCraft
Vicky & Michael Twomey, GameCraftEver thought game controllers were too boring? Buttons too predictable or where you expect them to be? Here’s your chance to build your own take on what a controller should be. Build an alternative controller for a game you love or make a game harder with hard to master controls! Write your own game and build a controller to match!
This workshop will help you build a custom game controller with some basic crafting and a tiny dash of electronics.
Making materials will be provided, you will need to bring your own computer (and a game).
No experience required! Just your imagination!
Big thanks to DIGIT Game Studio for supporting the event.
https://gamecraft.it / https://twitter.com/globalgamecraft / info@gamecraft.it
Book Here
OPEN EAR
One of Ireland's primary festivals for the platforming of experimental music, Open Ear, for their Betafest showcase, will present new work from 3 artists with radically different approaches to experimental music, teasing out commonalities in their varying methodologies. Supported by Roe & Co.
Book Here
︎ Digital Depot at The Digital Hub.
︎4th November _ 1-3pm
Introduction to Creating Interactive Visuals with p5.js
Kieran NolanAn introductory workshop to creating interactive graphics in the open source creative coding application p5.js.
This workshop is an introduction to creating interactive graphics and animations in the browser-based creative coding application p5.js. During this lab session participants will learn how to create dynamic visuals using the p5.js command line interface, working with custom shapes, colours, text, imported data and algorithms while adding interactivity and movement to their onscreen canvas.
Book Here
︎ iD8 Studio at The Digital Hub
︎5th November _ 12-3pm
Tog Repair Cafe
Tog HackerspaceSave your things from the landfill and your wallet from having to replace them. Bring them to our repair café and learn how to fix them together with our volunteers. We have tools, materials, space to work on your item, and repair experts who will help you with your repair.
A repair cafe is a community gathering place where people can bring their broken items, such as appliances, clothing, bicycles, or electronics, to be repaired by skilled volunteers for free. The idea behind repair cafes is to promote sustainability and reduce waste by encouraging people to repair and reuse their belongings instead of throwing them away.
At a repair cafe, visitors can learn how to repair their items themselves or watch and learn from the volunteers. Repair cafes also offer a social atmosphere where people can connect with others who share their interest in repairing, reducing waste, and promoting sustainability.
Our passionate team of skilled volunteers will be on hand to help you fix everything from electronics and appliances to furniture and clothing, all while sharing valuable repair skills and promoting a sustainable lifestyle.
If we can’t fix your items, we will do our best to make suggestions on where to get spare parts or the best recycling options for you to continue your journey of repair.
FREE ENTRY / WALK-IN
︎ Learning Studio, The Digital Depot
︎5th November _ 2-5pm
Beta Fest x Concept NULL - Meet Up_02: Untitled_Unfinished
Concept NULLConcept Null’s second new media art meet up will take place as part of this year's Beta Festival.
Untitled_Unfinished will provide a space for artists to showcase moments from their past projects where they have encountered setbacks or have fallen into stagnation, giving these abandoned projects a platform to be revisited and revalued.
At this event, speakers will take the stage to introduce and present their unfinished or untitled projects. They will delve into the core concepts and technologies employed, share the challenges they’ve confronted during development, and illuminate the unique aspects that continue to resonate with them. The project can be at any stage - whether it’s some buggy piece of code, a chaotic mood board, or a fully developed project which encountered unforeseen problems.
Concept Null is a collective of new-media artists dedicated to fostering connections among individuals with an interest in the intersection of art and technology in Ireland. They currently run the new media art newsletter and organise meetups where artists and makers can talk about their practice and work with others in the community.
Book Here
TERRAIN: A creative cartography of Ireland’s art and technology landscape
Taking inspiration from our name, the first edition of Beta Festival is an opportunity to map new ways of bringing Ireland’s vibrant creative and research communities together to explore the relationship between art and technology.
The three day festival programme will feature performances, discussions, workshops, and panels that critically engage with a wide range of themes related to digital culture and expression including artificial intelligence and creativity, networked infrastructure, data rights, open-source culture and sustainability, and much more.
The full discussions programme is available through the conference page of our website.
︎The Bank
︎4th November _ 5:30pm
Live Performance: 暴洪野火机构 (The Office Agency of Flash Flood and Wildfire)
bela and KloxiiFocusing on the production and dissemination of musical scores that respond to the anxieties of climate collapse and mass disintegration, the duo explores how the news and social media cycles of crises affect our emotional and psychological response. Artists bela and Kloxii will create a special live performance as part of the Beta x transmediale residency supported by the Arts Council.
︎Digital Lounge, Digital Depot
︎5th November _ 1pm - 5pm
IMVA (Irish Museum of Virtual Art) Showcase
IMVAIMVA (Irish Museum of Virtual Art), the virtual art community, empowers Irish artists, both at home and abroad, by offering them a platform to globally exhibit their work and providing a valuable resource for their professional growth. Within this innovative digital space, artists can delve into the intersection of art and technology, gaining profound insights into how technology is reshaping the art world. IMVA serves as a dynamic hub where artists can showcase their work and enhance their understanding of contemporary art, thus staying at the forefront of creative exploration. Furthermore, we collaborate with embassies around the world to showcase and promote the work of Irish artists.
︎Learning Studio, Digital Depot
︎3rd November _ 2pm - 5pm
Art and Digital Culture - A Crit with John Gerrard
John GerrardNCAD and CFA in partnership with BETA Festival Dublin offers an opportunity for young and emerging artists
Do you create art work exploring aspects of digital culture or technology? Do you have a project which is complete (or nearing completion) for which you would like feedback? Would you like to share your views of current work by other artists in a 'crit'?
Artist John Gerrard will lead a closed crit for 5-6 emerging artists as part of the 2023 BETA Festival Dublin in partnership with the Creative Futures Academy / NCAD.
The event is open to emerging artists exploring any aspect of digital culture and/or technology including algorithmic art, facial recognition technologies, deep learning and generative AI, video games, social media, screen culture, VR, 'deep fakes', online social lives and relationships, etc. Projects which address the values of BETA Festival Dublin (see here) are strongly encouraged.
Participants in the crit will make short presentations about a current or recent project, and engage in a discussion with the other participants led by John Gerrard.
The crit will take place in the Digital Hub, Dublin 8 from 2-5pm on Friday 3rd November. This opportunity is open to emergent artists (final year BA students, postgraduate students and new practitioners within 5 years of finishing study).
︎iD8 Studio
︎3rd November _ 10am - 5pm
SHOW / CASE
Taking inspiration from the format of academic poster sessions, this hands-on, interactive exhibition of cutting-edge researchers’ work urges researchers and participants alike to move their ideas off the page and into tangible forms. Curated to showcase how theory meets practice, and designed to appeal to all senses and a range of tastes, visitors are invited to move through a series of interactive displays, while a rotating line up of our presenters take to the main dais/stage to both show – and make the case – for their research/projects to the assembled audience of attendees and peers.
Ticketholders, participants and attendees of Beta Festival are invited to drop in to iD8 Studio on Friday, with walk-ins also welcome on the day.
We are delighted to feature the project ‘Lost in the Retroverse’, a virtual reality experience created and mediated by graduates of the MSc in Interactive Digital Media at Trinity College Dublin, Márcia Marques, Rosie Connolly, Vasiliki Karathanasi, Audrey Nicole K, and Brad Lee. Sarah Halpin from Irish National Opera will present the app Isolde, their new street art performance software ecosystem revolutionsing presentation, sustainability and access for the performing arts. Maynooth Robotics Department will be bringing their robot dog, with Shauna Recto, Liam Glennon, and David Soyele running demonstrations throughout the day. Professor Gareth Young from the School of Computer Science will be running a VR Music Video demonstration, while Accenture’s Human Sciences Studio will present their KerTrust interactive piece, facilitated by Bremeline Muthurajah, Patrick Feeney, Isabel Thomas and Charlotte O’Neill.
︎ Carpark, Digital Hub
︎4th November _ 5.30pm, 6pm, 6.30pm, 7pm, 7.30pm
Children in the Universe
Crash Ensemble
Crash Ensemble present the world premiere of Laura Sheeran’s film Children in the Universe.
Set to the music of Children in the Universe composed by Sam Perkin during his time as composer in residence with the ensemble, the film will be screened outdoors at the Digital Hub Campus on Roe Lane.
You can tune into the audio for the film through the Isolde App.