Olivia Jack is a programmer and artist who works frequently with open-source software, cartography, live coding, and experimental interfaces. She is the developer of various browser-based creative tools including Hydra (live-coded video synthesizer), PIXELSYNTH, Pixeljam (collaborative code editor) and LiveLab (peer-to-peer media router). Her live visual sets explore algorithmic representations of unpredictable and chaotic systems, and writing software as a messy and ephemeral process. During the NEXT Festival 2020, A4 brought a two-day online workshop of Live Coding Visuals with Hydra led by Olivia Jack. It was an introduction to live coding using the web-based video synthesizer Hydra. Inspired by analog modular synthesis, Hydra allows multiple visual sources (oscillators, cameras, application windows, remote video streams) to be transformed, modulated, and composited via combining sequences of functions. The workshop was an introduction to creative coding and creating live visuals using this flexible system.

Photo Courtesy of the organisation