ROLAND BREITENFELD (DE)
Le Pin Sec - WoodHouse (2020)
acusmatico 10’08” – CRM | DEGEM

THOMAS GERWIN (DE)
KatharsisGPT (2023)
acusmatico 08’19” – CRM | DEGEM

ULF PLEINES (DE)
Woke RS (2023)
acusmatico 06’02” – CRM | DEGEM

SABINE SCHÄFER (DE)
Bats ’n’ Insects (2022)
acusmatico 06’01” – CRM | DEGEM

ROLAND BREITENFELD (DE)
Le Pin Sec – WoodHouse (2020)

The sounds in Le Pin Sec – WoodHouse were recorded in an old barn as well as while “walking through a forest”, the crickets chirping all around and with the sound of the sea nearby. The original sounds come from nature, and were electronically processed and reassembled according to a musical composition mode rhythmically and even with the use of specific pitches. In order to be able to achieve a “harmonic” balance, a dramaturgy was worked out, which accounts for the proportion of the respective electronic arrangements to the existing original sound. An important incident arises while listening: The Wood (House) “does not live alone” – one feels the presence of people.

THOMAS GERWIN (DE)
KatharsisGPT (2023)

The AI chatbot that I was allowed to ask anything was not only very polite, but also surprisingly positive about electronic music. This attempt to directly involve artificial intelligence in the composition of a new electroacoustic work was a very interesting impulse for me (thank you for the DEGEM call), but it also clearly showed the limits. I think AI can become really very dangerous when fraudsters use it to create and place fakenews and manipulate images and sound recordings. But the fear that AI will put artists out of work is probably unfounded, because it cannot do what is most important for the creation of serious art-make aesthetic decisions.

ULF PLEINES (DE)
Woke RS (2023)

To be clear: The piece was not composed with artificial intelligence (AI). It is an aleatoric composition. Decisions about letters and numbers were made with a random generator. The decisions concerned: title; length; speed; beat; key / harmony; number of channels / sound events; selection of sound sources; values for intensity of effects, equaliser and panning; selection of modulation preset, effects, timbres and pitch; number of tones; sound and effect modulation; and level of channels. The type and (number) space of the decision was determined in advance in each case.

SABINE SCHÄFER (DE)
Bats ’n’ Insects (2022)

Bat and insect voices form the basic sound materials of this audio composition. The bat is a symbol carrier for the threatened biodiversity in nature. In a project grant from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, I collaborated with visual artist Rosemarie Vollmer to develop the site-specific audiovisual installation Bats ’n’ Insects for the glass facade of the ZKM. Sound transducers transform the artistically designed glass surfaces into a reproduction medium through which sound moves in space. Here you can hear an excerpt of the audio composition.

ROLAND BREITENFELD (Germania, 1952)
Roland Breitenfeld was a member of the Dresden Kreuzchor (R. Mauersberger) from 1963 to 1969. Since 1984 R. Breitenfeld lives in Freiburg. Studies with K. Huber and M. Maiguashca in Freiburg. 1991 foundation of the profectio initiative freiburg with Donoung Lee. 1992–2006 freelancer for the experimental studio of the SWR. 1998 foundation of the K.O.Studio Freiburg (with M. Maiguashca). 2006 to 2017 Professor of Composition and Electronic Music (Seoul National University, South Korea).

THOMAS GERWIN (Germania)
Thomas Gerwin, composer and sound artist, began improvising, later receiving classical training (guitar, musicology, composition). Since 1990 he has been working in soundscape composition and radio art. Influences by J. Cage, K. Stockhausen, R. M. Schafer. He was co-founder in 1993 of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology in 1998, founder and artistic director of the International Sound Art Festival Berlin (2004-2018). Since 2017 he  has been chairman of the Brandenburg New Music Association BVNM e. V. and artistic director of the festival Intersonanzen. Prizes, scholarships, and about 250 works have been performed worldwide. His music is published by Ricordi and Verlag Neue Musik.

ULF PLEINES (Germania, 1969)
Ulf Pleines enjoyed early musical education, piano and clarinet lessons in his childhood from the age of five. Since the 1980s, he has been involved with synthesizers and sound experiments such as a prepared piano. After studying architecture, he began field recording and sound installations in Japan in the late 1990s, where he taught conceptual design. Later, he studied at the Studio for Electroacoustic Music Weimar (SeaM) at the FRANZ LISZT University of Music Weimar with Prof. R. Minard. His works are primarily located in the fields of acousmatic and fixed media and his performances are characterised by live interpretations. Pleines lives and works in Weimar.

SABINE SCHÄFER (Germania, 1957)
Sabine Schäfer, born 1957 in Karlsruhe. Media artist and composer. Developing multimedia, computer-controlled spatial sound art, interactive graphics with audio QR code and works with augmented reality. The microcosm and macrocosm of nature are the focus of artistic work. As a solo artist as well as the artist duo <SA/JO> Sabine Schäfer / Joachim Krebs (1998–2013) she developed a variety of audiovisual installations.