Rock Your Research - Music and Society Lab - Mimosa Festival (24/06/2026) & Rock Café III, Invocation nº4 (17/07/2026)

This presentation documents the final public activities of the Music & Society Lab developed at the University of Granada within the Erasmus+ project Rock Your Research (RYR). It brings together visual evidence, methodological reflections and lessons learned from two complementary initiatives: the MIMOSA Festival, held at Sala Planta Baja on 24 June 2026, and Rock Café III: Invocation No. 4, held at the Las Sin Sombrero Room, V Centenario, on 17 July 2026. Together, these activities illustrate how the Music & Society Lab used participatory cultural formats to connect artists, citizens, cultural organisations and the university around questions of inclusion, sustainability, sound experimentation and local cultural participation.

The first case, the MIMOSA Festival, was the public outcome of Ellas Suenan, a citizen laboratory promoted by the Miguel Ríos Foundation, Medialab UGR and Rock Your Research. The laboratory addressed gender inequalities in Granada’s music and nightlife scene by creating a space for cultural actors, artists and citizens to discuss barriers related to visibility, access and participation. These discussions were translated into a free public festival featuring Marrón Rosé, Paul Rodie, Carmencore and Paulina del Carmen. The event demonstrates a citizen-lab-to-public-action methodology in which collective diagnosis and co-design lead to a visible cultural intervention in an established local music venue.

The second case, Rock Café III: Invocation No. 4, marked the closure of the Music & Society Lab and the collaboration with the Miguel Ríos Foundation. Led by sound engineer and experimental musician Benjamín Segura Steinhauser, the activity combined a performance with organ, homemade synthesisers and MIDI compositions with a public improvisation session. Participants were invited to approach, play and explore the instruments, transforming a conventional performance into an open, low-threshold space for shared sonic experimentation. The use of DIY and recycled electronic components linked artistic practice with technological reuse, sustainability and accessible learning.

The presentation describes the methodological approaches underpinning both activities, including the creation of citizen laboratories, collective discussion and co-design, the testing of ideas through public cultural action, participatory performance, and process documentation through observation, photography, video and participant feedback. It also identifies lessons learned about the value of public cultural outcomes, diverse programming, direct hands-on engagement and the artist’s role as a mediator between specialised practice and public participation. The material contributes to the development of transferable Rock It Lab methodologies for art-science-society collaboration and knowledge valorisation in higher education.