Isadora Workshop Resource Files
Before we begin:
WIFI: N/A
Pass: N/A
Once you’re online, please go to: miltonlim.com/isadora to get to this page!
THE WORKSHOP
An introduction to Isadora (Troikatronix) — a versatile node-based visual programming environment, media server, and audiovisual engine for use in creating interactive installations, performances, and video artworks. This workshop is open to artists and designers from any discipline; coding knowledge is not required. Beyond establishing the user interface and technical foundations, this workshop will focus on generating real-time audiovisual effects and basic interactive systems. Please bring a laptop computer if you have one.
THE PROGRAM
Isadora is an interactive media platform developed by composer and media-artist, Mark Coniglio, originally made for the performances of Troika Ranch, the multimedia dance company he co-founded with Dawn Stoppiello in 1994. This software is ideal for artists, designers, and performers who want to utilize sound, video, and various hardwares in their projects as it uses a visual ‘node-based’ programming environment rather than lines of code. Using Isadora, you can generate audiovisual effects in real-time, send to and receive information amongst applications and other tools, transform streams of video/audio/data, and create sophisticated interactive systems.
THINGS TO KNOW
Isadora has a plethora of tools built into the program: IzzyMap (projection mapping tool), a video playback engine, media organization tools, and real-time motion graphics generators for visual and lighting effects.
The basics of Isadora are made to be accessible with a easy-moderate learning curve. A good amount of Izzy users have successful art practices at this level.
In addition to the technical information, it’s important to note that digital dramaturgy of body, light, sound, and environment will significantly contribute to your artistic projects.
Should you wish to learn a coding language and/or get into the complicated back-end computer processing, Isadora can offer an even greater amount of flexibility and power.
Isadora is asset-based. Though not necessary, proficiency with image, video and sound editing software (digital audio workstations, photography, cinematography, 3D modelling, etc.) will be handy for creating media to be used within Isadora.
PLEASE DOWNLOAD BOTH THE SOFTWARE AND THE EXAMPLE FILES
Note about downloading Isadora: You can try ISADORA now by simply downloading the installer below.
If you have not yet purchased a license, you can do everything except save, which makes it perfect for this workshop!
System Requirements:
Macintosh
Isadora 3 is supported on macOS 10.14 (Mojave) through macOS 13 (Ventura) with a 64-bit Intel or Apple silicon (ARM/M1) processor.
Older requirements:
MacOS 10.10 or greater *
2GB RAM mininum, 4GB or greater recommended
2.0 GHz i5 Processor minimum
Windows
64-bit version of Windows 10 through 11 with an Intel or AMD processor.
2GB RAM mininum, 4GB or greater recommended
2.0 GHz i5 Processor minimum
Apple's QuickTime 7.6 or greater **
** QuickTime has been deprecated by Apple. We are working to remove all dependencies on QuickTime from Isadora, but it is quite a large task. The non-QuickTime release should have been released Autumn 2018; if you need QuickTime for Windows, you can get it here from Apple on this page: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL837
WORKSHOP GOALS AND OUTCOMES
The goal of this workshop is to grant you the ability to create digital media artworks by introducing you to the basic setup and functionality of Isadora. You will complete this workshop with foundational knowledge on how to navigate the software, play within it, and create your own basic interactive structures. On the second day, we will walk through several implementations of full shows using Isadora.
CREATOR OF ISADORA
Recognized as a pioneering force in the integration of dance and media, composer/media artist Mark Coniglio creates large-scale performance works that integrate music, dance, theater and interactive media. A native of Nebraska, Mark received his degree in music composition in 1989 from California Institute of the Arts where he studied with electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick. From that early time, Coniglio’s artistic practice has included the creation of custom interactive systems that allow performers to manipulate video, sound, and light in real-time. His first technological breakthrough came in 1989 when he created MidiDancer, a wireless system that allowed a performer to interactively control music. His passion for giving control to the performer led him to create the award-winning software Isadora®, a flexible graphic programming environment that provides interactive control over digital media. Mark’s writings about new media in performance have appeared in numerous books and journals, including “New Visions In Performance”, “La Scena Digitale: Nuovi Media Per La Danza” and Movement Research Journal. He relocated from New York to Berlin, Germany in 2008.
WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR
Milton Lim (he/him) is a digital media artist, game designer, and performance creator based in Vancouver, Canada: the traditional, unceded, and occupied territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
His research-based practice entwines publicly available data, interactive digital media, and gameful performance to create speculative visions and candid articulations of social capital. This line of inquiry aims to reconsider our repertoires of knowledge aggregation and political intervention in the contemporary context of big data and algorithmic culture. Often cheeky and audience/participant driven, his work challenges standard performance traditions including duration, linearity, and repeatability. Milton holds a BFA (Hons.) in theatre performance and psychology from Simon Fraser University.
He has created works for and performed in various international festivals and venues including PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (Vancouver), CanAsian Dance Festival (Toronto), Carrefour international de théâtre festival (Quebec City), IMPACT Festival (Kitchener), Seattle International Dance Festival, Risk/Reward Festival (Portland), Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires, artsdepot (London), Battersea Arts Centre (London), New Theatre Royal (Portsmouth), Strike a Light Festival (Gloucester), Hong Kong Arts Festival, soft/WALL/studs (Singapore), and Darwin Festival.
Performance credits include The Arts Club’s The Great Leap, Gateway Theatre’s King of the Yees at Canada's National Arts Centre, and Theatre Conspiracy’s award-winning immersive show: Foreign Radical at CanadaHub (Edinburgh Fringe). Milton's media artworks have been presented at the Vancouver Art Gallery, San Francisco State University, F-O-R-M, VIVO Media Arts Centre, and The New Gallery. In 2016, he was awarded the Ray Michal Prize for Outstanding Body of Work at the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards.
He is a co-artistic director of Hong Kong Exile, an artistic associate with Theatre Conspiracy, a co-founder and key archivist with the videocan national archive, an infrequent Sessional Instructor with Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts, one of the co-creators behind culturecapital: the performing arts economy trading card game, and a founding member of Synectic Assembly—an Artificial Intelligence focused art collective.
// Upcoming: Milton is part of an 18-month Artistic Leadership Residency with the National Theatre School (Canada); his work on the asses.masses video game performance recently received the prestigious National Creation Fund premiered in Buenos Aires in February 2023; along with Patrick Blenkarn, he will be doing a self-directed residency in South America (February-April 2023) as well as continuing work with Darren O’Donnell, Alice Fleming, and a dedicated group of young people at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin over the next few years.
CONTACT
Feel free to get in touch with me if you have further questions
The Troikatronix website/forum connects you to a global community of helpful Isadora users
troikatronix.com Isadora website
troikatronix.com/support/kb/video-tutorials/ Isadora software manuals and video tutorials
troikatronix.com/support/kb/ Isadora knowledge base