Alpaca 2025

Innocent

Alex McLean — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 07:34:08 +0000

innocent (which is his real name) is a live coder based in South Yorkshire. He brings a fusion of modern melodic synths with rhythmic dance beats, through live code in the Yorkshire-born FoxDot environment.

Performing at:

Club night

Saturday 13th Sept 2025
7:30pm-late

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Dave Griffiths

Alex McLean — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 06:38:24 +0000

Dave Griffiths is a founding director of Then Try This, an independent non-profit research organisation he runs with Amber Griffiths in Cornwall that hosts Alex McLean’s Alpaca project. He develops experimental open source technology based in textile cultures, weaves using ancient methods (tablet weaving), and occasionally works with Aphex Twin on strange music projects (Samplebrain and Midimutant). He also runs workshops for families exploring mine waste in Cornwall, searching for naturally grown semiconducting crystals they make into cardboard based noise circuits.

http://thentrythis.org

Workshop Leader

CADS theatre, Sheffield

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Paola Torres Núñez del Prado

Alex McLean — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 13:23:29 +0000

Paola Torres Núñez del Prado is an artist and researcher working at the intersection of code, “artificial intelligence”, and textile-based technologies. Her practice investigates alternative lineages of computation beyond dominant Western narratives, drawing inspiration from Andean khipus, algorithmic traditions in weaving, and ecological forms of communal intelligence. Her recent projects include Sentient Weaves, a series of interactive lichen-based textiles that respond to touch and moisture through sound, and experimental mobile applications that reinterpret the khipu as a decentralized, sonic coding system.
Through coding, sound, and material experimentation, her work asks how we might imagine other technological futures—ones grounded in relational ontologies, ecological entanglements, and cultural pluralism. At this gathering, Paola brings this perspective to creative coding, treating code not just as a tool but as a medium for weaving together human and non-human forms of expression.

https://www.singingtextiles.com

Heavy Lifting

Alex McLean — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 15:52:16 +0000

Heavy Lifting is the solo project of Lucy Cheesman, a sound artist, musician, producer and organiser whose work can be placed within a number of different fields, often blurring the boundary between the visual, the audible and the digital. Lucy is a founder member of SONA (a network supporting women in Sheffield through experimental sound and digital practices), Pattern Club, and the Yorkshire Sound Women Network. Along with her artistic practice she also makes music under the name Heavy Lifting, using software such as TidalCycles and FoxDot – open-sourced coding programs aimed at opening up the processes of experimental music production for the benefit of the wider public. Lucy has released albums with pan y rosas discos, Fractal Meat and Utility Tapes.

https://heavy-lifting.org

Performing at:

Concert

Friday 12th Sept 2025
7:30pm-10pm CADS, Sheffield

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Etta Sandry

Alex McLean — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 14:05:58 +0000

Etta Sandry is an artist, educator, and facilitator who works in the expanded material practices field between craft, contemporary art, and creative research. Through weaving and sampling she seeks to materialize the possibilities available in seemingly fixed systems. Etta completed an MFA in the Fibre & Material Practices program at Concordia University in Montreal and was the 2022 Experimental Weaver in Residence at the Unstable Design Lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder where she is now a PhD student in Creative Technology and Design.

Workshop Leader

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Tonje Kristensen Johnstone

Alex McLean — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 08:54:28 +0000

Tonje Kristensen Johnstone is a Senior Lecturer and PhD in Textile Design with over 15 years of experience teaching subjects such as textile print, surface pattern design, and design methods. Her never-ending passion lies in the field of surface patterns—an area that has continually shaped both her teaching and research.
In her PhD research, Kristensen Johnstone explored surface patterns, spatiality, and pattern relations within textile design. She investigated how surface patterns can function as spatial definers and what they signify within the broader context of pattern design. Her work challenges conventional understandings of what patterns are, how they are designed, and how they can be experienced.
Kristensen Johnstone’s research also contributes to the development of pattern theory and innovative design methods. She frequently involves textile and fashion design students in her research, using workshops not only as a teaching tool but also as a method for gaining deeper insight. This hands-on, collaborative approach is a cornerstone of her pedagogical practice.

Conference Speaker

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Alexandra Cárdenas and Gábor Ugray

Alex McLean — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 08:35:00 +0000

Conference Speaker

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Stephanie Pan

Alex McLean — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 08:33:40 +0000

Stephanie Pan is a composer, interdisciplinary maker, voice artist performer, and designer. Her work is a mutating combination of live music/sound art/(physical-)theater/(participatory-)performance art/textile art/installation. Central to her art practice is the notion of ‘analog digital’, approaching contemporary art from an analog, hands-on approach while reflecting and digesting digital technology and aesthetics within the realm of human imperfection and interpretation. Algorithmic Knitting Design brings together her deep love for handknitting and handicrafts, histories in clothing design and applied mathematics, and connection with new media artists in algorithmic design and thinking. Aesthetically her designs are inspired by digital aesthetics and minimalist fashion design, focusing on form, shape and drape, as opposed to traditional apparel shaping.

Conference Speaker

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Sol Sarratea

Alex McLean — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 08:33:21 +0000

Conference Speaker

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Kadi Pajupuu

Alex McLean — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 08:32:22 +0000

I was born in Tallinn in 1963. Graduated from Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) 1986, textile design. Worked in the textile factory after graduation for 6 years. Teaching at EKA 1990-2004. Work at Pallas University of Applied Sciences (Pallas UAS) since 2005, since 2020 as a professor. I started to take part in the exhibitions with tapestries in the 80ties. In 2004 I started to develop textile tools, in 2009 I got my first utility model Adjustable Weaving Reed (AdRe), followed by Adjustable Sliding Reed (RailReed). Since 2015 I have been participating in hackathons and with the help of teamwork and support from Pallas UAS have been able to develop the textile tools and methods further (MultiWeave, 2016). Besides teaching I do book designs and layout, build and develop textile tools in my company Kadipuu Ltd with visual artist Marilyn Piirsalu.

Conference Speaker

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