In the creatively-charged city of Barcelona, a burgeoning conference of artists and technologists takes place each year under the banner of Sonar +D.
Over three days, the concrete interior of Fira Montjuïc is turned into a multilevel, homemade wooden shed, hosting talks, showcases, hackathons and meet ups.
This year, San Francisco-based composer and performer Holly Herndon discussed how technology is breaking the rules of what is possible when creating and performing music.
Herndon sees her laptop as an instrument, something as personal as a handmade violin that can be used in endless ways to create sounds and songs.
Her music uses a mixture of personalized vocal recordings – mostly her own – to develop melodies that are both original and enticing.
Often she uses noises that highlight her politics and use of digital media: samples made from her online browsing habits, or collected from Skype conversations with political activists.
Her most recent record, Platform, has been described as a modern protest album that calls out for a digital bill of rights to protect our data and our online personality.
“We are emotionally invested in our avatars,” Herndon says, “my inbox is more personal and intimate than my apartment. When something becomes your home you need to protect it.”
Her philosophy towards music production is one of transparency, to break down the “perfect veneer” that so many mainstream songs display. She hopes this might inspire people to start making music of their own.
“Tease out new aesthetic by understanding how music gets created,” says Herndon.
“Develop something collaboratively, using technology to get many people involved in the art you want to make. Explode the idea of the lone artist working in a room.”
Her vision is to create music that has a “paradisiac” outlook, a beautiful future inspired by utopian science fiction books and films.
“The political left has always had a need for vision, an idea of an imagined reality where things are better. Music has a role in asking: What do we want the future to look like and how do we take baby steps to get there?”
Herndon wants to explore how this manifests itself in music.
After being asked why it is so important for us to be open about the way we do things, her response was clear: “I’m using pop music as a carrier signal.”
Later that day she performed live, taking many of these collaborative ideas about making music and displaying them in raw form.
A live chat window projected on the screen behind her on stage prompted members of the audience to text questions and messages, which she would address in real time.
When “What is the meaning of life?” was asked, she responded: “Each other.”
Similarly, a recent performance saw Herndon project the Facebook profiles of attendees who had publicly shown they were attending the event.
She started to pick out pictures of friends and family members in front of the audience, highlighting relationships and other personal details that slipped through the cracks of the privacy settings.
This showcased the dangers of displaying personal information online and how other people can use it in a way that is uncomfortable and alarming. It made for an evocative performance somewhere between music and making a political statement through technology.
As the conference at Sonar +D drew to a close, it was clear that even those at the forefront of technology are at the early stages of defining how the digital era is changing what it means to create art.
Not just from the perspective of music, but for all who have a vested interest in seeing the creative industries continue to thrive.