WORM is a

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

based

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

and a multi-media alternative

cultural centre A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Asia * Cen ...

focused on

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

new media art New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of new media, electronic media technology, technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video g ...

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

and

underground art Underground art is any form of art that operates outside of conventional norms in the art world, part of underground culture. This can include essentially any genre of art that is not popular in the art world, including visionary art and street a ...

, primarily

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

and

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s. WORM is funded by the

Triodos Bank Triodos Bank N.V. is an ethical bank based in the Netherlands with branches in Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain. It was founded in 1980. Triodos Bank finances companies which it believes add cultural value and benefit to both people a ...

and part of the culture nota 2009-2012 from the Dutch government. The foundation has received the Pendrecht Culture Prize and its venue is part of the Rotterdam culture plan. WORM organises festivals and concerts, movie nights, runs an independent record label, a radio station. Part of the organisation is also a media lab, a

hackerspace A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" (501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology, sc ...

, and a music studio. The media lab and music studio both run free

artist in residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

programmes for artists and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

ians. Experimental musician

Lukas Simonis Lukas Simonis is a Dutch guitarist, mainly active in experimental music and sound art. Besides his career as a musician he's also involved with the Rotterdam-based avant garde venue WORM. and runs the music lab of the venue. Simonis published a b ...

is the programmer of the artist in residence programme for the music studio. The studio has a collection of

experimental musical instrument An experimental musical instrument (or custom-made instrument) is a musical instrument that modifies or extends an existing instrument or class of instruments, or defines or creates a new class of instrument. Some are created through simple modif ...

s built by

Yuri Landman Yuri Landman (born 1 February 1973) is a Dutch inventor of musical instruments and musician who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a number of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japan ...

. Artists that have been in residence at WORM were

Tujiko Noriko is a Japanese musician, actor and director, from Osaka. She has released music on the Austrian label Mego and the German label Tomlab, among others. Much of her music is composed on a laptop and consists of layered samples, electronic beats, ...

, Toktek,

Machinefabriek Machinefabriek is the musical nom de plume of musician/sound artist and graphic designer Rutger Zuydervelt from the Netherlands. Biography Rutger Zuydervelt was born on 28 July 1978 in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. He started working as Machinefabriek ...

, Jørgen Teller, One Man Nation,

Blevin Blectum Blevin Blectum (born Bevin Kelley) is an American electronic musician and multimedia composer. She is celebrated as an "icon of deviant and cerebral electronic music". Early life and education She was born Bevin Kelley in 1971. Her younger brot ...

Kevin Blechdom Kevin Blechdom (born Kristin Grace Erickson; 1978 in Florida) is an American experimental electronic musician and performance artist. She is based in Santa Cruz, California. Early life and education Kristin Grace Erickson was born in 1978 in Fl ...

, Joe Howe,

Eugene Chadbourne Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic. Life and career Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...

, Lucas Crane, Jim Xentos, Knull, Ben Butler and Mousepad,

Colin Black Colin Black is an Australian experimental music composer, sonic media arts practitioner, radio artist and researcher. Black has been awarded the 2015 New York Festivals International Gold Trophy Winner for Sound Art and the 2003 Prix Italia Award ...

, Harry Taylor (Action Beat), Stignoise, Hovatron, Martijn Comes, Danielle Lemaire and others. Besides the venue and studio the foundation also has a shop with

left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

music,

art house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

movies and books about subjects related to the cultural focus of the organisation. WORM developed the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine. The organisation co-operates closely with

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

, Poetry International, Incubate, State-X New Forms, Museumnacht.Kultprom
/ref> WORM was based at the Achterhaven till 2010. In 2011 it moved to the centre of Rotterdam and is currently located in the building formerly used as the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Dutch Photo Museum) at the Witte de Withstraat.

Comparable Dutch avant garde centres

Het Apollohuis ''Het Apollohuis'' ( en, The Apollo House) was a space for experimental music and visual arts, "focused in particular on...sound art, new music, performance art and the new media," founded in Eindhoven, Netherlands, by Remko Scha and Paul Panhuysen ...

Extrapool Extrapool is a Nijmegen based non-profit foundation and an artist-run initiativehttp://www.bataforum.nl/alternatievestadsgids?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&sobi2Id=9 focused on experimental music, movies, avant-garde art and underground art. Extrapool wa ...

OT301 OT301 is a self-managed social centre in a legalized squat in the Dutch city of Amsterdam, located on Overtoom 301. History The former Dutch film academy was squatted in 1999 by a group of artists. After being a breeding ground for a number of ...

STEIM STEIM (STudio for Electro Instrumental Music) was a center for research and development of new musical instruments in the electronic performing arts, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Beginning in the 1970's, STEIM became known as a pioneering cen ...

V2 Institute for the Unstable Media V2_, Lab for the Unstable Media, founded in 1981, is an interdisciplinary center for art and media technology in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.Stephen Wilson, ''Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology'', MIT Press, 2002, p. 8 ...

References

External links

Official website of WORM
{{Authority control Music venues in the Netherlands Culture in Rotterdam New media art