Live Cinema Creation with Retro-Digital Tools by Karla Kracht

Who is the workshop aimed at?

This workshop is for anyone curious about mixing digital and analog tools to tell a visual story through live-cinema creation. We welcome both beginners and experienced practitioners—artists, filmmakers, performers, designers, educators, technologists, and the simply curious. No prior experience required.

The Workshop

This course offers a first approach to the digital and analog techniques that open the creative universe of live video. We understand “live video” as a truly living event; to get our hands dirty, we’ll focus on analog practices—small sculptures, live drawing, and objects. The aim is to spark creativity and step away from the comfort of the technology we’re used to. There is no need to be a professional visual artist or have extensive experience with the plastic arts—no drawing or painting skills required. You’re invited to engage with the tools at your own pace and in the way that feels natural to you.
We will explore the idea of “live” and apply it to video. The goal is to start with an initial concept and carry it through to a finished piece for the cinema, in the form of a video performance.

Our approach unfolds across three dimensions:

• The Micro: miniature film sets where performers manipulate and capture images.
• The Real: the human-scale layer—the performers onstage, the cameras, and the visible act of filming and transforming the micro world.
• The Macro: the projection layer—the live camera feed on screen, where miniature models appear giant compared to real-life objects.

We’ll move hand in hand through processes, concepts, and techniques to get there.
Relying on experimentation, we’ll delve into the many possibilities that live video creation offers. We will hybridize the digital world with physicality, with the camera as the protagonist of this intersection. The workshop is primarily hands-on and will culminate in the creation of a collective video performance.

What Will We Do?

We’ll begin by thinking about what we want to tell, how we can tell it, and with which resources? We’ll build small film sets and record them live, working with cameras and a video projector. Through progressive exercises, we’ll move from simple trials to live-cinema techniques, including in-camera editing and real-time composition.
Throughout, we will use Isadora as our digital stage—connecting phones or cameras, mixing live feeds, layering effects, and mapping projections—to bridge physical objects with digital imagery. Depending on time and the group’s interests, we may also take a first look at basic light and motion control—simple DMX workflows for lamps or small motors, and ways to interface Arduino with Isadora for triggers and sensors. This would be an introductory, hands-on overview rather than a deep dive, aimed at showing how to link physical elements to your live-video setup.
The path of the workshop: introduction, basic camera techniques, camera exercises, story construction, set building, creating the performance, cinema setup, tests and rehearsals, and a final public presentation on the big screen.

Karla Kracht

has been creating “Live Cinema” since 2008, exploring the possibilities at the intersection of visual arts, comics, animation, and object theater. She creates cinematic stage works and Object-Video Installations that tour around the world.
Karla Kracht’s universe is instantly recognizable: peculiar, comic-like beings inhabit her drawings, animations, videos, and sculptures, inviting us on a journey into an uncertain, speculative future. These figures are the protagonists of her installations and performances, which blend disciplines, technologies, and narrative styles.
Her work has been presented and awarded in numerous art spaces and festivals, including the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile; the Official Selection of Charleville’s Festival des Théâtres de Marionnettes; Georgetown Festival, Malaysia; Reims Scènes d’Europe; Taipei Digital Art Center; Animateka, Ljubljana; Azkuna Zentroa; Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Montreal; Tabakalera, San Sebastian; and Figurentheaterfestival Erlangen, among many others.

https://karlakracht.com/
https://www.instagram.com/karlakr8/
https://www.facebook.com/karlakracht
https://vimeo.com/karla

Workshop History (selection)

• Colorado State University. Fort Collins, USA
• Hangar/ PAAC Barcelona, Spain
• Teatro Pradillo. Madrid
• Athens Digital Arts Festival. Greece
• Zumzeig Cinema. Barcelona. Spain
• Gefährliche Arbeit. Berlin. Germany
• CEF Audiovisual School. Palma de Mallorca. Spain
• Instant42. Changhua. Taiwan
• Unima Spain. Asturias. Spain
• La Mutant. Valencia. Spain
• Gimcheon International Festival. Korea
• National University for the Arts Singapore
• Cyprus International Film Days. Limassol, Cyprus