Bringing International Networks and the Arts Together: Maria Isabel Gandia Carriedo on Building Connections at NPAPW25

Maria Isabel: Internet2 and GÉANT have done a great job organizing these events both in the United States and Europe, reaching people from different backgrounds and countries. I’m fortunate that my company, CSUC, believes in the benefits of attending and collaborating at NPAPWs. 

As a network engineer managing a REN, and as someone with an innate curiosity to learn about the different usages of the network, there are many reasons for me to return to the NPAPWs. 

Understanding what performing arts users need to succeed in their performances from the network’s perspective is of utmost importance. It helps me understand and facilitate their work, knowing what I need to keep in mind when making changes in the network or developing new projects that may potentially change the characteristics of the network. 

The workshops provide a sense of belonging to a community that brings together the artistic, social, and technological sides of the network. 

Knowing that I can somehow contribute, even through a small part of my work, to create visual, creative, and stunning distributed performances while working with extraordinary and professional people is amazing, and something I cannot describe with words. 

Finally, because NPAPWs are workshops, I’m able to learn through hands-on demonstrations about new tools and practices, including pros and cons.  

Maria Isabel: I think NPAPWs are excellent platforms to understand and learn. The hands-on experiences help build a connection to RENs and to the available tools that are suitable for networked performances, online music classes, rehearsals, and more. 

I also think these workshops are a good way to spread the word about the sometimes unknown capabilities of RENs. Our own regional REN in Catalonia, RedIRIS, which is connected to the Spanish NREN, RedIRIS, is called Anella Científica. That literally means “Scientific Ring.” Scientific projects have special requirements that make RENs relevant and push innovation and growth in the network. This beneficial connectivity also serves as a highway for artists and non-scientific users to make their ideas possible through remote synchronous collaborations. 

Attending helps you understand, from a technical point of view, that not all technicians deal with the same problems. 

For instance, a network engineer might prioritize having the best possible network, but through attending the workshops, I gained an understanding of the importance of other factors, such as having good lighting, good echo cancellation in the source, and the right cables in the right places. 

The opposite can happen, too. An audio/visual technician may not realize the importance of the network in these cases, and the NPAPW brings us all together to understand each other and discuss better ways to collaborate.

Maria Isabel: Attending these workshops is a huge opportunity for faculty to live unique experiences where they can learn, discover collaboration possibilities, find new ideas, and expand their professional network. 

They will also learn how networks and online tools can help them in their daily lives, including remote classes and rehearsals, how distributed performances are produced, and how different technicians address different problems.

Maria Isabel: If there is no collaboration between the artists and the technicians, any networked collaboration can lead to a potential disaster. 

Before organizing a course, class, or networked performance, everyone involved needs to be aligned. The IT staff needs to understand the requirements of the artists, and the artists and organisers need to understand the particularities of the network. 

Imagine the network is not able to deliver a certain capacity, or that there is a planned maintenance or an issue in the network while something important is about to be transmitted.

Maria Isabel: Well, I would say I’m the black sheep in a family of artists! My grandfather was a musician and a melodist, my mother was a musician, and my two daughters play the piano. I always joke with them, saying that, as an engineer, I just play a different keyboard. 

I started collaborating with artists with the “Òpera Oberta: The Liceu at the University” project. This project, initiated by the i2CAT Foundation and lasting over 10 years, consisted of a series of higher education courses featuring materials provided by the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona’s Opera House) and offered to universities worldwide, along with the broadcasting of live operas. 

As Liceu was connected to our network, I was in charge of making the network and the multicast technology work smoothly, at least from the source. Each opera was a different experience, with technicians from more than 50 universities connected through a parallel channel, sharing experiences, resolving incidents together, and constantly collaborating to make things happen. 

In parallel, and often thanks to the human connections made at the NPAPW, I started collaborating with musicians and artists from organizations connected to our network and internationally to produce networked performances.

Maria Isabel: There are many examples of wonderful collaborations whose seed was planted at the NPAPW11 that we co-hosted with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Some examples include distributed performances featuring my colleague, Renate Kreil, which led to the three “Near in the Distance” performances, in close collaboration with ACONet and Konic Thtr. 

Other collaborations that resulted from the workshop include working with Handmadedance, Konic Thtr, Studio Biscoe, The Royal College of Music, or IGLOR; visionaries and creators like Rupert Hubert, Ivani Santana, Jana Bitterova, Peter Cox, Aurelien Krieger, Claudio Allocchio, Ann Doyle, Domenico Vicinanza, or NRENs like ACONET, CESNET, GARR, JISC.  

I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to collaborate with them and many other talented artists and producers.

Maria Isabel: I have connected with artists, network engineers, and audiovisual engineers. There is a good mix of them at the workshops, and I think this is one of the workshop’s strengths. 

NPAPW is not just for artists or for technicians. The workshops are a way to meet people with different skills, to realise we need each other, and we can go further together. 

In addition to learning about the right tools, networks, and technical skills, I have come to understand the importance of being flexible and adapting to changing circumstances and unexpected events. 

I have also realized how things can happen miraculously when everyone works together to make them happen, and how crucial technical rehearsal is. Even though something that is apparently a problem from a technical point of view can be turned into a creative feature from the artist’s point of view.