Discover Digital #2: May Fest 2026

Matt Szczerek, Sean Burns and Jack Foster will introduce audiences to the digital world not as something abstract or intimidating, but as a creative playground where art, movement, music and technology meet. 

Using EKO Project as a live case study, they will demonstrate how a simple webcam and accessible tools like TouchDesigner and MediaPipe can transform everyday movement into immersive visuals and responsive sound. By showing how 21 hand-tracking points, or even full-body motion capture, can generate evolving imagery and music in real time, they make visible what often feels invisible in digital technology: the human input behind the machine. This helps audiences understand that digital systems are not “magic” or exclusive: they are built from creative decisions, experimentation, and curiosity. 

They will also demystify the ideology around the digital world by reframing technology as a medium, not a replacement for human creativity. 

Together, they will show audiences that the digital world is not separate from the real world; it is shaped by it. 

By sharing insights from projects like Matt & Hat and EKO, they will emphasise accessibility, experimentation, and cross-disciplinary collaboration, encouraging audiences to see technology as something they can shape, question, and play with, rather than something that controls them. 

About the Artists 

Mateusz Szczerek is a Dublin based dance artist and professional member of Dance Ireland and ISACS. Matt is an artistic director for Irish based company Human Collective and choreographer for International Circus/Dance company Kundle Cru.  Matt’s work at The Civic Theatre includes Matt & Hat, a Civic Theatre Digital Commission 2023 using animation, dance and VR technology at Dublin Fringe Festival 2023. 

Matt also founded and curates Dance2Connect LAB (D2C), a 5-day development programme for dancers with International mentors in partnership with Dance Ireland and Luail. Recent works include Birds by Kundle Cru, presented at the Civic Theatre as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2025. Kundle Cru’s first work Blame Game also had a short Irish tour in October 2025. He has also been Artist in Residence at Draoícht Blanchardstown for the last few years, developing new dance piece Monsters for young audiences which has been touring to Dublin 15 schools in November 2025. 

Matt is also the recent awardee of an Activating Archive residency from Luail. He has recently been selected for a new international dance residency exchange partnership led by Dance Ireland and TROIS C-L | Maison pour la danse Luxembourg with dance artist Saeed Hani (Luxembourg; FABLE for Dublin Fringe Festival nominated for best ensemble award 2018. He has performed for CoisCeim Dance Theatre, performing in both The Wolf and Peter and Palimpsest. He also toured Ireland with over 50 performances of Up-Close in 2022 choreographed by Monica Munoz. In 2017 he was selected by Far From The Norm dance company as a lead Irish artist in international production UNION BLACK, funded by Creative Europe touring UK, France, Sweden, Ireland.   

In 2026 & 2027 he will present new circus and dance outdoors works Dead Men Tell No Tales at Rosorcas Festival and Cairde Sligo Arts Festival.

Seán Burns is a creative technologist, educator, and interdisciplinary designer working at the intersection of computer science, 3D graphics, and visual storytelling. He has been active in digital creation since 2004, spending over two decades building tools, workflows, and learning frameworks that help artists and technologists work together in real-time, creative environments. 

Seán specialises in 3D pipelines, real-time graphics, procedural workflows, and creative automation, combining software like Blender, game engines, WebXR, and AI-assisted systems to turn ideas into interactive, visual experiences. His work sits between engineering and art — designing not just images or assets, but workflows, tools, and creative systems that allow others to innovate with creativity.

Alongside his technical practice, Seán is a highly experienced educator and curriculum designer. He writes and delivers degree-level modules for universities and contributed to the national immersive technology apprenticeship program, helping shape how the next generation of artists, designers, and developers learn 3D, XR, and real-time production. His teaching is hands-on, production-driven, and industry-aligned, enabling learners to move quickly from concept to working prototypes. 

Seán’s work is grounded in innovation and emerging technology — from procedural modelling and real-time simulation to AI-assisted creativity and spatial computing. He focuses on how computational systems can amplify human creativity, not replace it, building bridges between creative intuition and technical precision. 

Whether designing tools, teaching students, or building experimental pipelines, Seán’s core mission is to make advanced creative technology accessible, playful, and powerful — so that artists, storytellers, and technologists can shape new kinds of digital worlds

Jack Foster is a Dublin-born composer, music producer, sound designer and audio mixer. Grounded in classical training and shaped by a forward-leaning approach to electronic music, he merges orchestral tradition with contemporary soundscapes driven by detailed audio and sample manipulation. His influences span Tchaikovsky, John Williams, and Hans Zimmer through to Pink Floyd, Nicolas Jaar, and beyond. 

In 2020, Jack composed and mixed music for several RTÉ-featured documentaries, including THE BUSK—a project that raised funds for the Simon Community—and Origins: The Story of Irish Hip Hop. He has also developed music for brand campaigns with clients such as Irish Life and TG4. 

In 2023, he composed the original score and sound design for Douglas Reddan’s The 38th House on the Left, which premiered to a sold-out audience at Dublin’s IFI Cinema. He also collaborated with Jessie Thompson on Bench, a CoisCéim Dance Theatre commission inspired by Dublin’s canals, and with filmmaker Alexandra Vostokova on the short film Tasting an Organised Dream.

In 2024, Jack created the music and sound design for The Ireland We Dreamed Of, directed by Dr. Sinéad McCann and staged at Smock Alley Theatre. 

In 2025, he composed for Abi Morgan’s LOVESONG at Dublin’s Gate Theatre and both composed and performed in Matt Szczerek’s Birds—funded by the Arts Council—which was performed at The Everyman Theatre in Cork and the Dublin Fringe Festival. He also wrote the score for MonkeyShine’s original children’s production HomeBird, staged at The Watergate Theatre. 

Across all his projects, Jack Foster continues to push the boundaries of composition and sound design, bringing an evocative, cinematic sensibility to every piece of work.