S+T+ARTS 2025.
S+T+ARTS and Sónar: AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS
Media calendar.
June 4 Announcing Prize Winners 2025
June-July Announcing S+T+ARTS Day at Ars Electronica
Press Information May 28, 2025.
S+T+ARTS and Sónar: AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS - Presentation of the Artists
AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS is presenting the artists and performers in its programme at Sónar +D in Barcelona June 12 – 14, 2025. Building on the power in AI for unlocking musical creativity, the 2025 programme explores the intersection of AI and music through a critical and practical lens, with strong presence from DIY and hacker communities. The programme features forums, panels, talks and cross-disciplinary performances with artists, technologists, scientists, visionaries and thinkers from various fields. S+T+ARTS is a transdisciplinary initiative supported by the European Commission focused on supporting innovation by building bridges between science, technology and arts.
AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS is a programme of performances, talks, masterclasses and workshops showcasing artistic projects, creative proposals and research centred on the links between machine learning and musical creation. Initiated in 2024, the programme for this year’s edition of Sónar explores the intersection of AI and music through a critical and practice-based lens, with strong representation from DIY and hacker communities. The 2024 edition of AI & Music powered by S+T+ARTS at Sónar set a precedent for exploring the creative potentials of AI in music and the arts. Building on this foundation, the 2025 program aims to delve deeper into addressing biases in AI and expanding the boundaries of musical innovation. Download the press relase for a full presentation of artists and performers.
Press images.
Press release as PDF.
Download press images and credits below. Please note that the images are free to use strictly when writing about AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS at Sónar Festival 2025. Please credit images. Thanks!
Joanne Armitage at Mutek Nano, Buenos Aires. Photo by @malucampello - jarm
Jordi Pons. Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Maria Arnal. Photo: Edrien
Rebecca Fiebrink. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Lamtharn (Hanoi) Hantrakul known as ญาบอยฮานอย / yaboihano. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Marije Baalman. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
AudioStellar - FITS. Photo: Leandro Garber
R-010 & Venerandi, Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Credit: Sónar Festival 2024. AMBIENTE Sonar+D 2024,Project Area NereaColl 2024.
Project Area NereaColl 2024.Credit: Sónar Festival 2024.
Challenging Bias from Within
Rather than discussing AI bias in the abstract, the programme showcases how artists and researchers like Joanne Armitage, Rebecca Fiebrink and Hanoi Hantrakul, actively challenge bias from within – through inclusive practices, open tools, and situated perspectives.
Marije Baalman (NL) adopts a human-first approach to interaction design, challenging machine-centred paradigms whereas Joanne Armitage (UK) highlights gender bias in algorithmic music and live coding. Armitage’s session – part-lecture and part-workshop – draws on her experience as a live coder and improviser, as well as her research on the dynamics of power between work with emerging technologies and physical bodies.
For more than 15 years, Rebecca Fiebrink (UK), has focused on inclusive and accessible machine learning tools in creative contexts. Fiebrink shares her knowledge in the talk ‘Design your dream music AI tool’, opening the door to everyone interested in working with music and AI.
The opening day includes an open forum and further performances such as ‘Lemongrass & Bass: A Thai Recipe for AI Music’ by Bangkok artist and researcher Lamtharn (Hanoi) Hantrakul (TH), known as ญาบอยฮานอย / yaboihanoi, who explores cultural bias in AI through his work with sound and language
Another notable performer in the AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS programme is the acclaimed Catalan vocalist Maria Arnal who is presenting ‘Ama’. Arnal expands the definition of pop, influenced by her work with other disciplines and artforms. Following a years long commitment to incorporating AI into her musical practice, Arnal will reveal the result of this work in the live premiere of her new show ‘Ama’. Presented as part of AI & Music powered by S+TARTS, she’s joined by live shows from UK experimental producer and coder patten and Spanish duo R-010 & Venerandi (‘Phenomena’), each of whom take an innovative approach to integrating AI into their performances.
AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS has been curated by Antònia Folguera and Sónar by Day head booker Ikram Bouloum. Folguera works across the terrains of digital art and culture, communication and electronic music, and curates Sónar+D, Sónar’s multi-format ‘conference’ programme that explores the shared spaces between the creative industries, innovation and technology. Programme.
More Than Just Performances and Talks
As ever, AI & Music powered by S+T+ARTS goes beyond the stage, emphasising interactive and participative activities. At Project Area, the interactive exhibition space in the heart of Sónar by Day you’ll find renowned Parisian research community IRCAM Forum and leading developers Sonic Charge and Neutone as well as A.MusicBox*, an AI-powered music box that’s been assembled by a group of local developers, designers and technologists: Lúa Coderch, Julia Múgica, Lluís Nacenta, Iván Paz, and Huaqian Zhang.
The 12 participants for this year’s AI Performance Playground were selected in January via an open call - under the stewardship of Anna Xambó and Ben Cantil, they’ll spend three days between Sónar+D and La Salle URL’s IASLab thinking, creating and collaborating with AI in innovative new ways, before a final collaborative performance at Sónar+D on Saturday.
AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS Programme and Participants
Dates: June 12–14, 2025
Location: Sónar by Day and Sónar+D, Barcelona
Performances:
Friday, June 13
Maria Arnal presents ‘Ama’ (ES)
Performer: Maria Arnal
Saturday, June 14
R-010 & Venerandi present 'Phenomena' (ES)
Performer: R-010 & Venerandi
Talks and Forums:
Thursday, June 12
A Musical Understanding of AI as Resonance. (NL) Talk
Performer: Marije Baalman (NL)
Artistic Trends in Music AI. (ES) Talk
Performer: Jordi Pons (Stability AI) (ES)
Automating Bodies: Power, Music and AI. (UK)Talk
Performer: Joanne Armitage (UK)
Design your dream music AI tool. (UK) Talk
Performer: Rebecca Fiebrink (UK)
Lemongrass & Bass: A Thai Recipe for AI Music. (TH) Talk
Performer: ญาบอยฮานอย yaboihanoi (TH)
AudioStellar present “Territorios sonoros emergentes” (AR). Talk
Introducing AI & Music. Forum
An open forum with Frederic Font
(Phonos / UPF Music Technology Group / Freesound),
Joanne Armitage, Jordi Pons (Stability AI),
Magda Polo Pujadas
(Grup Ekho-Universitat de Barcelona),
Marije Baalman (iii),
Rebecca Fiebrink (University of the Arts London)
You’ll not find this group of people onstage together anywhere else. It’s a perfect cross-section of those working with AI and music that features artists, researchers, performers and academics (and some who enter in all four categories). After initial presentations (which might not be what you expect!), we’ll move onto a series of moderated conversations, covering everything from technical and creative processes to the ethical and political battles taking place in latent space. A session that offers a 360º vision of AI and music.
Marije Baalman will open the session with her theatrical performance ‘the machine is learning’, which documents the hidden labour involved in training a machine.
Exhibitions:
Saturday, June 14
AI Performance Playground live
Hacklab and performance
Performer: Various performers, facilitated by Anna Xambó and Ben Cantil (INT)
AI has been marketed as a tool for automating creativity or making music from text prompts - but what would happen if we went in the opposite direction? What would happen if we learnt to play AI like an instrument? Les Paul’s sound on sound and flanging, distortion pedals, the Moog ladder filter, the TR-808’s faulty transistors: instrument makers have always pushed technology outside its intended use and past the breaking point. How can we make AI musicianship more expressive - and how can we break it?
These are the questions that the participants of the second edition of the AI Performance Playground will attempt to answer, over the course of three days of intensive workshops split between Sónar+D and La-Salle URL’s IASLab. The 12 participants - selected via an open call held in January this year, will collaborate, experiment and create under the watchful eyes and gentle supervision of experimental music producer and researcher Anna Xambó, plus electronic musician and CTO of DataMind Audio, Ben Cantil. It all culminates with an explosive, unprecedented, and defiantly collaborative live showcase on Saturday at Sónar+D, where you’ll be able to witness the fruits of their labours.
About S+T+ARTS and Sónar
During the period of 2024-2026, Sónar will dedicate a central part of its programming to exploring innovations in this rapidly evolving sector, building on the blueprint from past editions of Ars Electronica and SónarCCCB, and creating a lasting snapshot of how AI is unlocking musical creativity across the arts, the music industry and beyond.
Sónar Festival 2023, Stage+D by MEDIAPRO, Playmodes, UPC-Telecos present Astres NereaColl
For editors:
About S+T+ARTS
S+T+ARTS is about thinking out of the box and building bridges between Science, Technology and Arts.
S+T+ARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances of science, technology, and the arts, that effectively implement a European approach to technological innovation centred on human needs and values.
Science, Technology and Arts form a nexus with an extraordinarily high potential for creative and reflective innovation. And such innovation is considered to be precisely what is called for to master the social, ecological and economic challenges that Europe is facing.
With disruptive methods of exploration and an accurate critical eye on the use of technology, artists decisively raise awareness of the societal challenges and global concerns we are tackling. The artistic practices are seen as innovative processes and have a wide-reaching potential to contribute to the development of new economic, social and business models. https://starts.eu
About Sónar Festival
Sónar is a pioneering festival that’s reflected the evolution and expansion of electronic music and digital culture since its first edition in 1994. Each year, Sónar converts Barcelona into a focal point for music lovers, artists and professionals from across the world, drawn to the multiple stages and venues of the Fira Barcelona by the festival’s innovative content, format, and celebratory atmosphere. True to its name, Sónar tracks and amplifies the present and future musical landscape, hosting the most influential artistic creations of the current moment and providing a platform for artists from around the world. In doing so, it serves as a proving ground for new and emerging trends at the intersection of performance, music, science, information technology and beyond. After three decades and over 100 editions worldwide, Sónar continues to re-define what a festival can be, removing barriers and forging connections between audiences, genres and creative disciplines. https://sonar.es/en
Media opportunities S+T+ARTS.
—13-14 June 2025 AI & Music Powered by S+T+ARTS at Sonar Festival.
— June 4, 2025 Announcement of the Prize Winners
— September 3 – 7, 2025 S+T+ARTS Day; Exhibition and talks at Ars Electronica Festival
Press Contact S+T+ARTS:
Sofia Bertilsson
sofia@artinsiderpr.com
Art Insider PR
pa@artinsiderpr.com
Institutions, partners and sponsors S+T+ARTS:
Current consortium: Ars Electronica (Coordinator, AT), HLRS High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (DE)INOVA+ (PT), La French Tech Grande Provence (FR), Media Solution Center Baden-Württemberg (DE), Salzburg Festival (AT), Sonar (ES), T6 Ecosystems (IT), TUD Dresden University of Technology (DE).
The project is funded by the European Union under the Grant Agreement No 101135691. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. The European Union cannot be held responsible for them.
