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On 7th March I’ll be delivering a short workshop at BOM on using ImageMagick for image manipulation.

Join us for local food and drinks from Southside and get hands-on making with a bunch of like-minded folks interested in art and tech. This new monthly event aims to inspire emerging creatives and offer peer-to-peer tech support in a friendly, collaborative environment. Each workshop is different, featuring a different guest speaker and activities.

ImageMagick is a suite of command-line utilities for manipulating images. Most of its capabilities can be found in programs with a graphical user interface (GUI) such as GIMP or Photoshop. ImageMagick differs in its ability to use algorithms and programming to quickly batch process a number of images, add effects, convert between common and uncommon file formats, apply filters, generative special effects, and more!

In this workshop Antonio Roberts will introduce you to the using the terminal to perform tasks usually carried out by GUI programs. By the end participants will have learnt:

• how to install ImageMagick
• How to convert between file formats
• How to view advanced metadata
• How to apply a variety of effects to images
• How to optimize files for print and internet
• How to create animated gifs with only a few keystrokes

The workshop is free to attend. To take part you should bring a Mac or Linux computer. ImageMagick does 100% work on Windows but the way the terminal/command line works is very different from Unix systems. For those without a Mac or Linux computer please contact louise@bom.org.uk. If you’re feeling brave you can install ImageMagick prior to the start of the workshop.

On 4th March Steve Davis - yes, the six-time Snooker world champion - will be doing a DJ set at Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath, Birmingham and I’ll be providing his visuals :-)

Steve Davis - the legendary sporting phenomenon from the 80s who took snooker to new heights and as presenter of The Interesting Alternative Show on Pheonix FM brought prog and jazz oddities to his cult audience, now turns his hands to the decks. As a hobby which he claims has spun out of control, his notorious 2016 Glastonbury set at the 500 capacity Stonebridge bar was mobbed by a curious turned shocked and enthralled crowd. With a packed out DJ diary since, Steve has continued to woo party goers from Bluedot to Bloc Festival. Drawing from an eclectic array of influences: Magma, Caravan, Oscar Perry, Soft Machine and Gong to name but a few - Steve spins together a unique set in his quest to deliver the music he loves to lovers of the party.

Support comes from Graham Dunning. Tickets are only £15.

On 12th February I’ll be on visuals duty for an Algorave taking place at Rough Trade in Nottingham as part of the Festival of Science and Curiosity

“The scene at an algorave is often what you’d expect from any good techno night - a dark room, engaging visuals, a decent, bass-heavy speaker set-up, and lots of people ready to dance… performers at algoraves respond to each other and the audience in real time, often projecting the lines of code onto the walls as they type. It’s coding as improvisation and experiment…” - The Wire magazine

Reaching over 40 cities over the past couple of years, Algorave is an “algorithmic rave”, where music and visuals come from code, constructed before your eyes. Originally coined in Nottingham, Algorave returns after 6 years, replenished and resplendent with a roster of exciting new algorithmic performances.

The event, running from 15:00 - 21:00, will feature Calum Gunn, ALGOBABEZ, Anny, Belisha Beacon, Heavy Lifting, Qirky and Littlelifeform, with myself and Rumble-San on visuals.

Tickets are only £5. Y’all can read an interview with anny if you need further convincing that Algoraves are awesome

After appearing first at Stryx in September 2016 the Short Circuit exhibition will be making its way to A plus A Gallery in Venice from 10th February - 9th March.

Short Circuit is an ambitious international touring group show devised by British independent curator, Aly Grimes, and consists of nine new media artists and collectives in an attempt to re-assess the archetypal framework of a travelling exhibition. It proposes a new experimental model of display realised in three different locations across Europe to include Birmingham, Venice and Copenhagen. The project’s structure aims to investigate new ways that exhibition spaces can present touring shows in the Digital Age and will manifest as a highly experimental research project susceptible to failure. It might glitch, trip, malfunction or ‘short circuit’.

This iteration will have updated versions of Unauthorised Copy and Exposed, both of which appeared the first exhibition.

Exhibiting artists include myself and Emily Mulenga, Juneau Projects, The Cool Couple, Kensuke Koike and Ryts Monet, Honey Biba Beckerlee, Johan Knattrup Jensen, and David Stjernholm.

On 3rd December I’ll be curating and performing at the Algorave at Vivid Projects.

An Algorave is a party where electronic music is generated live from algorithms. The word was coined around 2012, initially as a joke, but has since taken hold with Algoraves taking place in over 40 cities around the world.

At an Algorave the creation of algorithms are brought into the experience of the music itself. This is done using specially made “Live Coding” environments such as SuperCollider, TidalCycles, Gibber, ixi lang and Extempore. This processed opened up by projecting the code on screens around the venue, so audience members can see how the music they hear is being made. This is often complimented by algorithmically generated visuals projected alongside the code.

The Birmingham Algorave will feature a diverse range of artists from across the country performing noise, rave, electronic and glitch audio.

The event will feature Canute, Algobabez, and Charles Celeste Hutchins on audio and Coral Manton, Ryan Hughes, hellocatfood (y’know, me) on live visuals. This will be complimented with a video installation featuring work by Ryan Hughes, RITUALS, Chez.io, Sam Wray, Dario Villaneuva, Sarah Walden, cappel:nord, and catweasel.

Algorave Birmingham runs from 19:30 to 23:00 on Saturday 3rd December. Tickets are only £5 plus booking fee (more on the door). Get yours now!