#CodingisArt: How Martin Eyerer is bridging Tech and Music
You may already have heard this Berliner’s name before … Martin Eyerer has got decades of experience under his belt. Next to being a professional DJ and producer for over 30 years, Martin has established his own music label and founded the Riverside Studios Berlin. Since 2020, Martin has brought his experience to the role of CEO at Factory Berlin. There, Martin is focusing on bringing together the world of tech and the music industry. Factory Berlin is doing amazing work in bridging the gap between different disciplines by offering a network and collaborative space in Berlin and Hamburg for creators to thrive and unleash their potentials. At Factory Berlin, Martin has developed the “Creative Code’’ ethos, which operates at the intersection of tech, music, and the arts. We picked Martin’s brain as to why he does what he does and — yep, you guessed it — why #CodingisArt and where its future may be heading.
42: You have a lot of experience under your belt — in the music scene as well as in the tech world. Could you tell us a little about this, and what motivated you towards your work in digital tech?
Martin Eyerer: Working since 1992 in the studio producing music means exactly a mix between technology and creativity to me. When I evolved as a producer from just being a DJ, it made me study the next decade of electrolysis, signal flow, and audio engineering. Later on, this turned more and more into software-related skills. I was always interested in new technologies and the opportunities they give us to be creative. When, together with my business partners, we opened Riverside Studios, already at the second stage of our company, we started to focus more and more on the intersection of technology and art. We offered our 27 studios to creators and artists who work on in-game sound implementation or other technological music directions. We experienced a mutual interest and curiosity between our 60 residents. This motivated us to develop this idea further. When I was invited by Udo Schloemer — the founder of Factory Berlin — to collaborate and implement the idea of art and tech into the Factory Berlin’s ecosystem, it was no question for me to start new chapter in my life. At Factory Berlin, we developed the “Creative Code” — an ethos that brings tech minds, artists, and forethinkers because this is the key to innovation. We continue adding artists and creators to Factory Berlin’s 5,000+ members network.
42: The sentiments behind the “Creative Code” ethos seems to really create a bridge between digital technology and art. This is an intersection we are really curious about. What inspired this interdisciplinary initiative?
ME: If we think back to the age of Leonardo da Vinci, when artists were the inventors of technology and innovation, we can definitely find parallels to present times. Even though the technology wasn’t “professionalized” at this time, it didn’t stop the artists from thinking freely about the impossible things. Today, technology likewise doesn’t limit us, since machine learning and the era of industrialization and research and development are fading out. We are at the beginning of the outside-in innovation era, where we come from an inside-out innovation logic. We already see different clusters like VR/AR, UX design, or different sub-clusters melting creativity with digital technology. At Factory Berlin, we always believed in a curated mix of individuals and creators, where diversity and the ability to switch perspectives amongst the members of the community is the key to learning and exchange of knowledge and experiences. Building trust is the consequence, and this is the currency in any community. If you trust the people around you, you will consider their input as valuable — no matter from which fields these people come from. We have an application system to get access to our community at Factory Berlin.
It’s not about exclusivity, though. It means that to fulfil our vision “give every creator an empowering network,” we always look for creators, who want to do something and who live our values as open-minded, progressive thinkers, innovation-driven people, risk-takers, and, after all, people who also want to give something to a community. At the same time, we are able to curate or “control” the balance of the community, so that diversity is set in a balanced way. Our community includes not only founders, solopreneurs, startups, and corporate partners, but also artists, developers, designers, as well as partners from education, politics, culture, and the digital and creative economy. In our international community of 5,000+ people, artists play an important role as drivers of innovation, collaboration, and change.
42: For you, what is the creative side of technology?
ME: To me, there are two sides: the first one is what you can do with technology to be creative or to use your creativity. If I use computers or other new technologies like VR or blockchain, for instance, the possibilities seem to be endless. It’s exciting what all these creative people make out of it! The other side is to develop the technology itself further. It’s a super creative process as well. Before you engineer anything, there needs to be a creative idea and a vision of what you want to do. This is clearly the creative side, even before the purely technological side.
42: And … do you believe that #CodingisArt?
ME: Of course, I can 100% confirm that! I learned to code in 1986 when I was very young. I had this new Sinclair ZX81 computer I first had to build together and then program basic things in, so that the machine could do something. I loved it and never felt this wasn’t something creative. I also believe that in the future, we will focus less and less on the coding side of things but on the way how software has to be built and how we will use it. The focus will go more and more on the vision and creative side of building products.
To find out more about Factory Berlin, visit factoryberlin.com and stay tuned for more news about the international community of creators. To follow Martin Eyerer’s professional and artistic journey, head over to LinkedIn and Instagram.This chat proves just how much creativity can be exercised through coding in all its forms.
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