Experimental performance with guitars and technologies

PERMANENT SEMINAR ON CREATION, PERFORMANCE AND ARTISTIC RESEARCH

20.02.2026 | 11 am – 4 pm | DeCA UA | CIME Studio | DeCA Auditorium

Free entrance and in person.

Experimental performance with guitars and technologies

The seminar will be presented by the GELA Collective (Latin American Experimental Guitars), affiliated with the Laboratory for Performance with Interactive Systems (LaPIS) of the School of Music at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. In this edition, the collective comprises Sérgio Freire, faculty member at the UFMG School of Music; Eduardo Campolina, also from the UFMG School of Music; and Renato Rosa, faculty member at IFMG, PhD candidate in the Graduate Programme in Music at UFMG, and currently undertaking a doctoral research residency at DeCA, University of Aveiro.

Lecture

11 am | CIME Studio (DeCA)

This lecture aims to present the foundations of the conceptual framework underlying the creative processes developed by the GELA Collective, as well as to describe the artistic research currently in progress. It will address the historical context, key concepts, and development processes of the GuiaRT guitar as an Interactive Musical System. From this perspective, a reflection is proposed on the role of the performer, considering the distribution of creativity between subjects and machines, introducing the notions of Distributed Creativity and agency between human and non-human actors. Finally, the collective’s working and creative model will be presented, grounded in the concept of Experimental Performance.

Concert

4 pm | DeCA Auditorium

To whom (or to what) can creative agency in technologically mediated artistic artefacts be attributed? This question has guided our understanding of creation as a distributed phenomenon, observable through social, material, and temporal markers. In this concert, the interaction between human subjects and machines is oriented towards an experimental guitar performance. Among the technologies explored, the GuiaRT stands out: an augmented guitar conceived as an acoustic-digital interface that challenges the creative and performative possibilities of contemporary guitar practice. Its setup is constructed modularly, enabling extensive interconnection with both software and hardware, including other augmented instruments, and provides three complementary functionalities: the “augmentation” of the instrument, real-time audio processing, and musical interactivity. The latter functionality, in particular, dissolves the traditional division of musical labour (composition, performance, and reception), implying that the design, preparation, and presentation of performances are distributed not only among all participants but also recognize the agency of machines within the creative process.

Programme

3 estudos (2024) 

Eduardo Campolina 

for guitar and tape

Música para 24 cordas 

Sérgio Freire 

version for GuiaRT (2019)

(original for guitar quartet, 2010)

Redemoinho (2023) 

Renato Rosa, Sérgio Freire 

for GuiaRT and 6-channel sound diffusion

Una Mediocracia cheia de dedos (2023) 

Sebastián Barroso, Eduardo Campolina 

Visual Art: Cristóbal Farmache

Video: Marina Marcon 

for guitar, electronics, and video

Guitar: Renato Rosa

Quatro Fantasias Farmache (2024) 

Renato Rosa, Sebastián Barroso, Sérgio Freire e Eduardo Campolina 

for augmented guitars, IMU sensors, 6-channel sound diffusion, and visuals

Sérgio Freire | Associate Professor at the School of Music, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG, Brazil), where he teaches composition, orchestration, and sonology. Since 1998, he has coordinated the Laboratory of Performance with Interactive Systems (LaPIS). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music (composition) from UFMG, a Master’s degree in Sonology (1993) from the Institute of Sonology, The Hague, Netherlands, and a PhD in Communication and Semiotics (2004) from PUC-SP, Brazil. During his doctoral studies, he was a visiting student at the Elektronisches Studio of the Musik Akademie, Basel, Switzerland. He coordinated the Graduate Program in Music at UFMG from 2009 to 2015. In the first semester of 2020, he was a visiting researcher at CIRMMT, McGill University, Canada. His main academic and artistic interests focus on different forms of interaction between acoustic music practices and new technological media. His musical works have been performed and awarded in Brazil and abroad, and his scholarly articles are regularly presented at major conferences dedicated to music and technology.

Eduardo Campolina | Associate Professor at the School of Music, Federal University of Minas Gerais, in the area of Composition within the Department of General Music Theory since 1990. He holds a PhD from the School of Fine Arts, UFMG (2013), a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Education, UFMG (2002), a Diplôme d’Études Approfondies (1986), a Maîtrise (1985), and a Licence (1984) in Music from Université de Paris VIII, and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1978). He has experience in the Arts, with an emphasis on Music, focusing mainly on composition, composition with electronics (mixed music), Baroque counterpoint, guitar (technique and performance), music and visual arts, and musical perception. Since 2019, his primary research focus has been in the area of Experimental Performance.

Renato Rosa | Faculty member in the Arts/Music area at the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Minas Gerais (IFMG) and a PhD candidate in the Graduate Program in Music at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). He holds a Master’s degree in Arts from the Graduate Program in Arts at the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), with research focused on Practices and Processes in the Arts, supported by a CAPES scholarship (2013–2015). He also holds a Bachelor’s and Teaching degree in Music, specialising in guitar, from UFU (2006–2011). He is a member of the research group VIOrizontes (Artistic Guitar Research). He is undertaking a sandwich PhD at the Doctoral Program in Artistic Creation, Department of Communication and Arts, University of Aveiro, Portugal. His research interests include collaborative creative processes in technology-mediated art, as well as artistic projects involving the guitar in diverse contexts.