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Open Culture Tech is an initiative by Thunderboom Records and the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision that makes immersive technology more accessible to artists through residencies, open-source tools, and educational showcases. As part of OCT 2.0, AIxDESIGN partnered to host a series of workshops exploring how AI shows up in music production—both its creative potential and challenges around agency, equity, and sustainability.
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In September 2025, we hosted audiovisual artist Nicole Chufi for a hands-on workshop exploring "speculative sound worlds" at The Sphere, NDSM, in Amsterdam. You can read the full workshop description here.
Nicole, who works at the intersection of sound, visuals, technology, and storytelling, brought a unique approach: reverse engineering the approach to sound by incorporating conceptual visual queues for sonification, while treating AI tools as an "alien collaborator", generating unique samples that can help create an alternative sample library.
The session drew a diverse group—from spoken word artists with little music production experience to amateur DJs and interaction designers.
Nicole's methodology centers on conceptual sonification—defining the emotional and narrative framework before touching any tools.
For demonstration, she shared her project "Serei@" (Portuguese for both "siren" and "mermaid"), exploring feminine intuition and transformation through an underwater sound world. Her process involved establishing four elements: Place, Color/Texture, Character, and Movement/Time.
Built on random inputs, the workshop participants chose a conceptual world to collaboratively compose a cyberspace pirate world with blue/striped textures, hysterical/drunk movement, and pirate characters, providing the conceptual foundation for our sound co-creation.
