Ivan Franco

Upgrade! Lisbon: Ivan Franco :: May 30, 2007 19:00 :: @ Lisboa20 Arte Contemporâneam, Rua Tenente Ferreira Durão 18B (Campo de Ourique).

Ivan Franco was born in Lisbon in 1974. In 1993 started studying engineering and in 1995 he joined the research group GASA, one of the most advanced in the fields of computing experiments and owner of the first Virtual Reality Lab in Portugal. During this time, Franco also developed an interest in music, having played in several rock bands.

Departing from these two interests (computers and music) he started exploring the possiblities of computer music. Frustrated by the lack of physical performativity in electronic music, he looked for ways of recovering both that physicality and the man-machine interaction. In 199 he started a Master program in Barcelona where he developed his own instruments, presented in some of the most important festivals of that city.
In this presentation Ivan Franco will show his work in the area of the man-machine interaction, with special attention to his artistic creations. He will also show his most recent musical instrument, the Airstick, precently presented at NIME (New Interfaces for Musica Expression).