Paris’ recent TouchDesigner Event is a window into the scene

What can the city of light be as a hub for TouchDesigner? Recently, a community gathering there offered a first look. The media art scene is defined by its communities — how they share practice and push one another further. So we invited Amir B Ash (OVVO Studio, MUTEK.AE) for insights into what The TouchDesigner Event Paris brought to tow and how you might apply it to communities where you live.

The Paris gathering was part of a three-event European tour organized by Derivative, covering London, Dublin, and Paris.

TouchDesigner Event London Summer 2025

TouchDesigner Event Dublin Summer 2025

TouchDesigner Event Paris Summer 2025

The Parisians also organized an afterparty. Here’s Amir with rough impressions of what this meant for the folks in Paris for those of us who couldn’t be there — particularly with the event in Tehran.

OVVO Studio has been part of Paris’s creative scene for almost two decades. The live art and technology studio was originally founded by Shandor Churry in 2006 with the aspirational idea that “everything is possible, even if everyone says otherwise.” Over the past year, I had the chance to join forces with Shandor along with Cyrille Macé to relaunch OVVO as a new collective, keeping the name, but injecting fresh energy, new collaborations, and a focus on linking communities.

After weeks of close collaboration with the TouchDesigner team at Derivative, we were honored to support them in bringing TouchDesigner first-ever Paris gathering to life. This was the last stop on Derivative’s European tour that had already brought the community together in Dublin and London and it was shaped by their vision, dedication, and love for the community. As a small creative technology studio, we were there to help with local production and logistics, and to share the care and energy the Derivative team poured into every detail. 

On July 9th, Point Éphémère buzzed from morning till midnight. Perched on the Canal Saint-Martin, this former warehouse-turned-arts center has long been a grassroots hub for experimental music, art, and performance. The day’s program blended five in-depth 30-minute presentations with a lightning round of shorter talks, punctuated by casual mingling and an Open Beamer jam session in the evening. Greg Hermanovic, Isabelle Rousset and Markus Heckmann opened the event with warmth and humor, setting the tone for a day where expertise, generosity, and community spirit were at the forefront.

Greg Hermanovic and Isabelle Rousset from Derivative making opening remarks

The lineup featured a range of voices:

Louk Amidou, exploring generative visuals shaped by movement and interaction, and AI’s role in digital creation;

Fabien Bouchard (aka Parse/Error, video above), Diving into the new Operator family of POPs;

Philippe Dubost, sharing insights from his work on prototyping mobile style apps for installations;

Jacques Hoepffner, diving into the adaptation of TouchDesigner in performative art forms;

Cécile Lebon, offering a deep look at visual storytelling workflows in TouchDesigner for show production;

Sumeet Rohilla, whose talk “TouchDesigner Diaries: Anatomy of an Installation” peeled back the layers of large-scale immersive projects, revealing a creative process that fuses light, sound, visuals, and audience interaction into living, breathing experiences;

Sébastien Mercier, showcasing how TouchDesigner changed their approach to graphic design;

Florian Rouzaud Cornabas, unpacking workflows for creating modular interactive installations;

and Vincent Sanjiv, exploring how to adapt creative technology workflows to challenging environments, turning limited resources into opportunities for innovation and community building.

We also had our own OVVO Studio’s Shandor Churry, whose talk “Beyond the Screen: Integrating Physical Systems and Digital Realms” championed the idea of giving digital creations a tangible presence, bridging code, objects, and environments in ways that make ideas truly come alive.

As the day’s talks wrapped up and the room settled into a more relaxed buzz, we had one last surprise left. A cake appeared, candles lit, and the entire community joined in to celebrate Greg Hermanovic’s birthday. It was a moment that felt less like an industry gathering and more like a family reunion. It was a reminder that beyond the code, the projects, and the workflows, it’s the human connections that make this community thrive.

Shandor Churry presenting  “Beyond the Screen: integrating physical systems and digital realms”

Open Beamer jam session at Point Éphémère

Behind the scenes, from last-minute equipment wrangling to making sure the coffee flowed, people pitched in. A special nod goes to our own OVVO Studio team Shandor Churry, Cyrille Macé, Sara Bigdeli Shamlou, and Evann Foy, for keeping everything running smoothly.

But we didn’t want to stop there. The following night, with the support and help of INPNDNT PARIS, a community-driven initiative founded by visionary festival organizer  Slava Kostyakhin, we hosted an after-party with a stacked lineup of live A/V performances including Dasha Rush, Neurotypique, Canblaster, Milkorvaa, Yssue, The Glad Scientist, Cotton Pills and Minereed. If the event was about learning, the after-party was about letting loose, proof that Paris has both the talent and the appetite for this scene. Across two nights, connections were made, collaborations were sparked, and more than a few mentions of “We should do this more often” were exchanged.

The feedback was unanimous: Paris needs more of this. In a city overflowing with art but still building its new-media infrastructure, events like these aren’t just social occasions; they’re catalysts. They give artists a platform, a network, and a reason to dream bigger. They make the scene visible, and by doing so, they make it grow.

Video recap:

And it’s not just Paris. The energy of this gathering rippled far beyond the Seine. In the weeks after, friends and colleagues in Tehran reached out, telling us how the Paris event had inspired them finally to set up their own local meet-up. What started as a conversation quickly became reality, an equally warm and ambitious event that showed just how much creative firepower exists in places often overlooked on the global stage. [Ed.: Hopefully more on that soon!]

If the TouchDesigner meeting in Paris 2025 was the first step, it certainly won’t be the last.

We at OVVO also want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the entire Derivative team for trusting us to be a small part of this milestone in the TouchDesigner journey. The dedication, generosity, and creativity you brought to the Paris gathering were inspiring. Isabelle Rousset and Greg Hermanovic, your vision and leadership set the tone for a day the community will remember. It was a privilege to support you in making it happen.

TouchDesigner’s official site:

https://derivative.ca