Technology and Art: How New Tools Shape Audiovisual Practices

Technology is often seen as a means to an end—a tool for creating, refining, distributing. But for me, technology is not just an extension of artistic practice; it is an integral part of the process itself.

The evolution of tools does not simply change how we create—it changes what we create. It reshapes our perception, our interaction with sound and image, our understanding of composition, performance, and presence.

I don’t see technology as a separate layer, something external to art. Instead, I see it as a dialogue—a shifting, evolving conversation between artist, machine, and environment.

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The Machine as a Creative Partner

I often wonder: At what point does the tool stop being passive?

Many of the technologies I use—modular synthesis, algorithmic composition, generative visuals—are not fixed systems. They respond, they evolve, they produce outcomes I could never fully predict.

• A synthesizer is not just an instrument—it is a collaborator, shaping sound in ways beyond direct human control.
• Live coding allows visuals to mutate in real-time, making the act of creation inseparable from performance.
• Artificial intelligence, procedural algorithms, and machine learning introduce a kind of “organic unpredictability” to digital work.

What interests me is not controlling the machine, but listening to it—responding to what it offers, shaping a conversation between artist and process.

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Sound and Image as Data

With digital tools, sound is no longer just vibration, and image is no longer just light. They are both data—fluid, interchangeable, transformable.

A sound wave can be translated into a visual waveform.
A moving image can be converted into raw numerical information, then restructured into sound.
Patterns in audio can be mapped to light frequencies, making sound visible and image audible.

This dissolves traditional boundaries between composition and programming, performance and system design. Instead of separate disciplines, these become different ways of interacting with the same underlying material.

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Real-Time Creation: From Fixed Works to Living Systems

One of the most profound shifts technology has introduced is the transition from static to generative works—pieces that are never identical twice, that evolve in response to their environment, that exist in flux rather than as fixed objects.

• A performance where sound is generated in real-time based on audience movement.
• A visual installation where colors shift depending on external data—weather, light, human presence.
• A system where music composes itself, guided by unpredictable algorithms rather than human input.

These methods challenge the idea that art should be predefined—instead, they introduce the idea that the role of the artist is to create conditions for emergence, to build systems that allow for continuous transformation.

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Physicality in the Digital Age

There is often a belief that digital tools remove physicality from art, replacing presence with abstraction. But I see it differently.

In live performance, technology becomes a tactile experience. I interact with sound not just through speakers, but through gestures, controllers, real-time modulation. The screen is not just an output—it is a living canvas, an instrument in itself.

Even in purely digital environments, I look for ways to preserve a sense of materiality:

• Textures that feel organic, unstable, imperfect.
• Sound that breathes, that resists total control.
• A balance between precise structures and unpredictable, evolving systems.

The question is not whether technology makes art “less human”—it is how we choose to engage with it.

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The Machine is Never Neutral

Every tool we use shapes not only the work but the way we think about the work.

A camera defines the frame before we even take the picture.
A DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) suggests a linear timeline before we start composing.
A software synthesizer offers default settings before we touch a single knob.

Recognizing this influence is important. It allows us to move beyond default assumptions—to explore technology not just as a means to an end, but as a creative force that can be questioned, disrupted, and redefined.

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Technology as an Invitation

For me, technology is not a set of constraints. It is an invitation.

An invitation to experiment.
To break patterns.
To listen more deeply.
To interact with sound and image in ways that were not possible before.

It is not about nostalgia for the past or blind enthusiasm for the future. It is about using what is available to create something meaningful in the present.