OpenLoops.06
On receipts, connection, collaborative performances, and cute Internet
#sweatystates
ICYMI, there’s been a crazy heat wave sweeping Europe and it has for all intents and purposes pretty much reduced my brain to mush. In the midst of the great melt of 2026, I somehow managed to debut RECEIPTS, an offshoot of the Glitch Armour project at Sonar+D last week/weekend. This meant a lot of talking, dialoguing, explaining, and debating with attendees around the rights we sign away and the legal agreements we enter into when we use the apps and services that have become primordial to our everyday existence.
It was actually the first time in a long time that the festival really separated the +D part of Sonar from the rest of the festival, and as someone who has attended the festival for many years, I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it. But in fact the Llotja del Mar location provided a really beautiful backdrop for the many projects, performances and talks on offer. Especially in our case, with the beautiful red walls we had in the dedicated projects space. The traditional setup of +D at the traditional Fira location would have put us in a more corporate type of grey space, so we felt pretty lucky for the pop of color we got. Set and setting really do have the power to change the whole mood of an installation project.
But more on RECEIPTS in it’s own dedicated post! Soon!
#sharedstates
One last thing that I wanted to mention that I noticed at the festival and have been seeing more and more lately in performances and shows across the board, whether that’s a music show, dj set, theatre piece, heck I even noticed it at the Opera back in February: performers and audience sharing space. What I mean by that is that the barrier between stage and crowd is disintegrating. I absolutely love it, I have to admit. I can’t say that I’m surprised either. It seems like we’ve been having a perpetual conversation around screen addiction, isolation and disconnection for years. It makes absolute sense to me that both performer and audience would want seek out a shared moment, a real, IRL ephemeral experience and more generally to just be part of something bigger than themselves.
At +D, I saw this with the collaborative performance by artists Fitness and Riusforza, who would at times come right up to you, stare you down, run off as if hunting each other, then suddenly break into silly dancing, or offer you a hug. It was just so unique. Because both artists were running and rolling all over the place, everyone in the audience would equally scatter, and then return and then move around the space in rhythm with the artists. There’s just something about never knowing where the next element of the show will appear from. More of this please.
#loosethreads
I fell down a bit of a cute internet rabbit hole this last little while, which hasn’t happened to me in a really long time. Here are some of the finds that won me over me this week and last:
a game
This game is so beautiful it was me wanting to work with WebGL again. I was absolutely floored but how smooth it runs, even on my macbook air! I also just love the hand drawn aesthetic.
a project
A Rothko for the weather near you. I’ve been collecting clever projects like this lately, to remind myself of the simple, fun and playful ideas that can be brought to life with code. It’s why I fell in love with programming in the first place!
a catalogue
The film studies girlie that still lives inside of me absolutely squealed when I found this encyclopedia of acclaimed films that you can explore frame by frame, in random order. The movie buff in me sees and salutes the movie buff in you.
a quote
Toni Morrison on impossible circumstances. A beautiful reminder.
Really looks amazing.