DMLab London & DMLab x Crux Festival

We’re very happy to announce two new DMLab London sessions in March and April:

DMLab London – Live performance and accessible instruments

Tuesday 26th March 2024

6pm – 8.30pm

Graeae Theatre Company, Bradbury Studios, 138 Kingsland Rd, London E2 8DY

Free Entry – tickets here

DMLab is a space for Disabled and non-disabled musicians, technologists, and makers to exchange practices and explore new accessible instruments.

Returning to Graeae Theatre, we’re delighted to welcome three guest presenters who will be sharing their practice and artistic work using accessible instruments: Deaf musician, Geo Aghinea will perform a short live set and share more about their live performance set up; design researcher, musician, and poet Eevee will present some of their innovations in accessible music technology; and Dr Asha Ward will share some of her research and work in creating bespoke hardware instruments designed for participatory and innovative music experiences.

The event will also include opportunities for networking and music making and testing a selection of instruments from Drake Music’s Accessible Musical Instrument Collection.

While this will be an in-person event, there will also be the opportunity to view the presentations online. Register for an online ticket to receive the Zoom link.

Access:

The venue is accessible, there will be a quiet space available, and we will have live captions and BSL interpreters at the session. Please let us know of any specific access requirements when registering for the event.

Photo by Jordan Dean

Geo Aghinea (they/them) – https://geoaghinea.com

A London-based Deaf musician, Geo Aghinea innovatively blends synthetic sounds with ethereal vocals, influenced by their experience with hearing aids. Their avant-garde EP, ‘I’ll Hand You A Hand,’ showcases their unique approach to creating multi-emotional soundscapes. Geo’s pioneering work in sound and music earned them a 2023 Oram Award, highlighting their contributions to the field. Geo will perform a short set and share a bit of background about their use of music technology for their live performances.

Asha Ward (she/her) – https://staff.aub.ac.uk/en/profile/asha-ward

Asha Ward is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Arts University Bournemouth, specialising in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with a focus on music technology. She has pioneered the development of alternate controllers for active music making, designing bespoke hardware for sound control tailored to diverse users. Her work, significant for creating participatory and innovative music experiences, is part of a broader research initiative at the Innovation Studio exploring the applications of creative technology.

Eevee (they/them) – https://eeveezayas.com/

A transdisciplinary design researcher, poet and musician, Eevee is a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London. Working in the Augmented Instruments Laboratory they are currently undertaking research concerned with challenging normative assumptions in the design of musical apparatuses through dialogue and transferability.

Click this link to get your free tickets here!

DMLab at Crux Festival

Sunday 14th April, 4.15pm

Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA, England

DMLab are partnering with AV arts organisation Crux Festival to bring a special one hour DMLab ‘taster session’, welcoming Drake Music Collective Emergent Artist Elizabeth J. Birch who will perform a live set. This will be followed by a panel discussion exploring access in music and accessible music technology with artists John Kelly and Andre Louis joining Elizabeth for the discussion.

Rich Mix is an accessible venue, click this link for more details.

For tickets and more information on Crux Festival, please click this link.

DMLab London is supported by the City Bridge Trust and with public funding from Arts Council England.