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What does it mean to build a world from sound, feeling, and embodiment?
• Fall dates coming soon!
• Online!
• Five-weeks, time based in CET
• Small class of participants
• Certificate of Completion
Artist / Student (Full Time)
€225* (Reg. €245)
Freelancer
€245* (Reg. €265)
Professional
€275* (Reg. €295)
Generous Supporter Ticket
€295* (Reg. €305)
*Early enrollments (by 28. Sept.) keep our courses sustainable and help us plan ahead. Thank you for supporting!
course
description
This class invites you to create from a place beyond sight—using sound, sensation, movement, and memory to build a performance and, ultimately, a world. Over five sessions, you’ll move from sound-based drawing to performance, and finally to installation, crafting an immersive, multi-sensory art experience rooted in personal interpretation and imagination.
In a world dominated by images and screens, we’ll explore how sound, silence, and sensation can guide inspiration and artistic creation. We begin by watching a 1920's silent film, using it as a springboard to compose an original score made entirely from household or studio objects and noises not a regular instrument and you do not have to know anything about music. From there, we’ll translate that score into a list of sounds and words. These sounds and words then evolve into a performance—this could be a solo act or a group collaboration.
Your performance becomes the foundation for a character, and from that character, you will build a world or a home for them. That world might take the form of an installation, a painting, a sound piece, a meal, a walk through the woods—anything that uses your full sensory range and creative impulses. The focus throughout is on stepping away from the visual dominance of online and image-based culture. Instead, you'll experience a more embodied, multi-sensory approach to making art—one rooted in listening, feeling, tasting, touching, and imagining.
course
outline
Week 1: Drawing from Sound + Silent Film as Score
Part 1: Sound Drawing Warm-Up We begin by loosening up through fast, intuitive drawing exercises guided by sound. Using a range of music and noise, participants will respond visually in real time—translating rhythm, tone, and texture into marks on paper.
Part 2: Watch & Listen We then watch a silent film several times. The assignment is to begin imagining a score—a soundscape built from everyday noise or studio materials—that reflects how the film feels to you.
Week 2: Presenting Scores + Creating Sound Stories
Each participant presents their score for the film. We compare and contrast: What types of sounds were used? What objects or methods created those sounds? How do the scores differ in tone, pacing, or emotional impact? Next, we break down the scores into short, descriptive phrases (e.g., “loud pig noises,” “tin can echo,” “soft breath”). Everyone writes their own interpretation of the score using these words, turning sound into a narrative. Each person reads aloud their "sound story," which becomes the foundation for their performance.
Week 3: Performances in Unlikely Places
Using the sound story as a script or guide, each participant (or group) creates a performance. These performances must exist in a place—but that place can be unconventional: a bakery, post office, alleyway, forest clearing, kitchen. It doesn't need to feel like a traditional stage. We’ll watch each performance, either live or through video. Afterward, we’ll discuss: Who is the character? Where is the world they exist in? How does this relate to the original silent film and score?
extending the world as an ongoing invention and arrangement of seeing. The workshop emphasizes that technology is not just an instrument but an extension of social relations, making space for personal experiences to be expressed. Finally, we will examine how perception in these environments is embodied, making space not an abstract grid but something lived and experienced through the body.
Week 4: Building Worlds
From Character to Installation Now, we transform the performance into an environment. Using any medium—painting, sound, sculpture, food, text, or nature—you'll begin to create a home, habitat, or world for the character you embodied in your performance. You’ll be guided by sensory memory: What smells, tastes, textures, and moods define this space? How can your chosen art form evoke that? This is a studio day focused on process, experimentation, and building.
Week 5: Final Presentations
Worlds Revealed Each participant presents their finished installation, performance documentation, or sensory artwork. This can be a live installation, a filmed walk-through, or a hybrid format depending on context and medium. We’ll close with discussion and reflection: What shifted when you stopped creating from what you see? How did your senses lead you to unexpected places? What does it mean to build a world from sound, feeling, and embodiment?
who is this
class for?
This class is for artists, designers, creative makers and really anyone interested in breaking away from the idea of only using images to be inspired and create. No prior experience is necessary,
about online classes
Classes are 'live' meaning that you can directly interact with the instructor as well as with the other participants from around the world. Classes will also be recorded for playback in case you are unable to attend for any reason. For specific questions, please email us and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
about
scholarships
We are offering a limited number of reduced fee scholarships for this online class for those facing financial hardships. These allow participants to pay a reduced fee and are reserved for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ who otherwise would be unable to attend. To be considered for one of these scholarships, please use this form.
To apply for a reduced fee scholarship, you must fill in the form no later than two weeks before the course begins. We will not accept any class sign-ups or scholarship applications after this date, as our regular sign-ups will determine the amount of scholarships we can accommodate. We will notify you only shortly thereafter if your application has been approved.
We are a small organisation with no outside funding and like many, we are also in survival mode. We depend on tuition fees for reimbursing class instructers, space fees, and operational costs. We ask you to consider this when applying for a reduced fee scholarship. <3
meet the
instructor
Abigail Portner
Visual Artist, Production Designer
Abigail Portner is a visual artist and production designer based in the US . She creates large scale interactive installations, videos and sculptures. Most of her work involves playful stop motions, printed patterns and illustrations. Abby has spent a lot of her career on the road as a touring lighting and production designer for bands like John Cale and Animal Collective, Her personal work reflects this experience and is often very light driven.