We’re back with a fresh selection of artists and collaborators for Open Culture Tech: our ongoing project where artists and technologists team up to prototype new tools, formats, and concepts for live performance.

 

Open Culture Tech is where we test things out. Every artist works with a tech partner to prototype a live concept and an open-source tool: something that can be used, shared and remixed by others. Each of these projects will be documented and added to our open toolkit. 

 

The idea is simple: put creators from different worlds in the same room, give them time, space, and support to experiment, and see what happens when no one’s chasing a finished product  just new questions, new connections, and new ways of performing.

 

Each artist works with a tech partner to develop a new live concept, along with an open-source tool or system that feeds into our shared toolkit. The result? Performances that think like research, and technologies that grow out of real-world artistic practice, not the other way around.

 

Let’s dive in:

 

Might Delete Later x Wij Doen Dingen

turning voicemails into music, and music into installation

 

Might Delete Later has been transforming anonymous voicemails into emotional bangers since day one together with her bandmates Gino and Bastiaan. Now, she’s taking the concept on the road.

 

Together with creative agency Wij Doen Dingen, she’s building a mobile setup that captures, translates and performs voice messages in real-time. Think: a voicemail booth meets an interactive stage piece, touring festivals and public spaces across Europe. Intimate stories, shared in public. They will use generative AI to create an audiovisual setup that blends the voicemails with the live performance.

 

Mihir Raina x AIxDesign

oral histories + AI = a new kind of workflow

 

Composer and educator Mihir Raina makes music from cultural memory: field recordings, archival samples and oral traditions. Now, he’s teaming up with AI x Design to research how AI can help shape a musical process rooted in personal and ancestral history.

 

They’re prototyping a hybrid setup in which they blend DAWs, AI tools and storytelling frameworks to turn fragmented memories into evolving electronic compositions. By doing so they want to see the impact of non-western datasets on a generative AI framework and build a solid base for Mihir to continue his artistic work on.

 

RBDJAN x Wesley Hartogs + Cablai + VJBikkel

rap as literature — performed live like a book

 

Rapper, storyteller and THC member RBDJAN is building a new kind of live show. A book you can walk into. A rap show that reads itself.

 

Together with Wesley Hartogs, Cablai and VJ Bikkel, he’s creating a performance that redefines the storytelling of RBDJAN’s extensive career and turning it into an audiovisual spectacle that can be used to tour the clubs. Typography, drawings and photos respond to his voice, flow and emotion. A show that lives between page and stage.

 

Jeroen Ermens x Bureau Moeilijke Dingen

live improv with an AI co-player

 

Jeroen Ermens has a personal style in playing the keys. Blending raw Hammond vibes with future synths and jazz energy. For Open Culture Tech, he’s inviting a new band member on stage to be able to have a musical sparring partner that is tailored to his own needs. 

 

In collaboration with Bureau Moeilijke Dingen, Jeroen is building a real-time improvisation tool that listens and responds to his playing. Not just loops or pre-sets but a responsive system that can groove, surprise, and push back.

 

Mathilde Nobel x Chagall

no booth, no buttons — just body and sound

 

Mathilde Nobel has always blurred the lines between music, visuals, and movement. For this project, she’s going one step further. No controllers, no gear, just the performer as the interface.

 

Together with Chagall she’s building a setup where body movement directly shapes sound and visuals in real-time. Using body controllers and Touch Designer, they’ll create a fluid system where the performance grows out of breath, gesture, and presence.

 

Rafaele Andrade x Superposition

your heartbeat is part of the show

 

Rafaele Andrade builds her own instruments like the Knurl, a hybrid cello/electronics rig. She’s also deeply interested in what connects performers and audiences.

 

With design studio Superposition, she’s exploring how biofeedback like heart rate, breathing and brainwaves can become part of the concert. The idea: a live show where the audience’s involuntary responses shape sound and light. A kind of emotional feedback loop between stage and floor.

 

We will soon publish more details on the individual artists and their workflows as well as on their live dates.