NO FILTER

This workshop is a real-time laboratory for improvisation and spontaneous composition. Instead of treating improvisation as something temporary, we use it to create material that can become part of your artistic practice, both in live performance and in the studio. Many of us learn to censor ourselves while we create—trying to make things easier to digest, adding too many effects, or focusing on making things perfect. This workshop questions that. We will create and observe what happens before that filter takes over, and work with what actually appears in our most “transparent” state.

We will

• create short improvisations using instruments, objects, or any sound source you happen to have with you
• practice real-time listening, reaction, and improvisation
• work with repetition, interruption, silence, and noise
• turn improvisations into temporary compositions

There is also a political layer—not about delivering a message, but about refusing to reduce expression to something easily consumable. Instead, we allow complexity, intensity, and contradiction to exist in the work. Improvisation becomes a way to express and release what builds up in everyday life. Let’s see what happens in this shared time and create spontaneous compositions from it.

During the session, I will record what we create. At the end, we will build a collective track in Ableton Live, using recordings from the session. No technical background is required. The workshop is open to anyone.

What to bring (recommended)

• Something to create sound with (instrument, objects, voice, etc.)
• Laptop with Ableton Live or another DAW (optional)
• Headphones (if you have them) 

Duration: 6 hours – 2 days / 3 hours per day

Kasho Chualan is a Kurdish-Canadian pianist, composer, and multidisciplinary artist based in Vienna. 

Her work spans sound, performance art, installations, and socially engaged art in public spaces. Focused on experimentation, Kasho explores extended techniques, piano preparations, and alternative sound creation through manipulation of instruments. Her approach blends electroacoustic, free improv, punk, contemporary classical, and avant-garde styles. Kasho’s practice challenges traditional boundaries, examining themes of freedom, human behaviour, and expression through sound and movement.