Listening session @ NRW Forum Dusseldorf

Theatre and Technology congress
October 30th, 2018

Prof. Dr. Swantje Lichtenstein and I have been invited by Dr. Kathrin Dreckmann and Prof. Dr. Maren Butte to perform at the Theatre and Technology congress of the Society for Theatre Studies at NRW Forum Dusseldorf on November 10th. We asked fabulous composer Brigitta Muntendorf to join us via Skype from 4:3 Kammer Musik Neu festival in Hellerau.

Via NRW Forum Dusseldorf: "In the 20th century, so-called new or contemporary music has been influenced by composers such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti, Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and others. For one of her seminars at the Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik und Medien, communication designer Heike Sperling and artist Swantje Lichtenstein started to research the outstanding female composers of the 20th century (post–World War II). Their list exploded quickly, because an incredible number of great female composers can be found in the last century – but unlike their male colleagues they are not yet part of the 'canon'.
The Listening Session invites you to give those composers a (listening) space and to talk about their music. The two Düsseldorf professors will exchange thoughts with the renowned composer Brigitta Muntendorf via Skype, about those unheard composers, their aesthetics and techniques."

[ Latest additions ]

Jury President @ Academy of Art and Design Basel

Diploma / Final exams
July 23rd, 2018

Prof. Catherine Walthard invited me to chair the diploma jury at the Academy of Art and Design in Basel. From September 10th until 13th 30 students graduate in Postindustrial Design at one of their institutes called HyperWerk. At HyperWerk the students are trained in complex process design to initiate and shape the social changes of the future.

"Study freedom, shape society. So the mission statement of HyperWerk, the Institute of Postindustrial Design. Here Design is seen as a procedural strategy which influences, and thus communicates, our lifeworld.
HyperWerk is a learning lab. It sees itself in a process of permanent change and responds to the ongoing changes in postindustrial society by developing innovative experimental designs, taking economic, ecological as well as social dimensions into consideration. The aim is to develop a wide range of competences that bring to bear as best as possible specific interests and individual skills, advancing them with the help of creative freedom, flexibility, initiative and teamwork."

[ Latest additions ]

Talk @ CVM Symposium 2018

Teaching Visual Music
April 14th, 2018

The fabulous Center for Visual Music in Los Angeles invited me to talk about Teaching Visual Music at their Exploring and Preserving Visual Music symposium (August 14-16) in Sonoma, California.

Via CVM: "The CVM Symposium 2018: Exploring and Preserving Visual Music will explore the theories, histories and practices of Visual Music. It features two days of talks and presentations from international scholars, artists, students, curators and researchers, plus a final half day of special sessions. Set in Sonoma County’s wine country.

A series of screenings feature historical and contemporary visual music works. CVM is pleased to present this symposium in association with Sonoma State University at their Rohnert Park campus. Some of the special events are off-campus.The Symposium features talks on music visualization, sonification, color organs, visual music and art history, Oskar Fischinger, James

Whitney, Norman McLaren, Charles Blanc-Gatti, John Cage, Teaching Visual Music, 1960s psychedelic light shows, mapping, oscillocopes, preservation and more. Plus special video spotlights on Mary Ellen Bute and others, and screenings. A preview of the program is online."

[ Latest additions ]

Jury member @ DAAD

Fine Arts, Design, Film committee
February 16th, 2018

The Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst [German Academic Exchange Service] appointed me for two years as a jury member to their Fine Arts, Design, Film committee.

Via the DAAD's website: "The DAAD is the world’s largest funding organisation for the international exchange of students and researchers. Since it was founded in 1925, around two million scholars in Germany and abroad have received DAAD funding. It is a registered association and its members are German institutions of higher education and student bodies. Its activities go far beyond simply awarding grants and scholarships. The DAAD supports the internationalisation of German universities, promotes German studies and the German language abroad, assists developing countries in establishing effective universities and advises decision makers on matters of cultural, education and development policy."

[ Latest additions ]

Jury member @ Institute for Popular Music

Folkwang University of the Arts
January 26th, 2018

Director Hans Nieswandt invited label owner and influential musician Gudrun Gut, Popakademie Baden-Württemberg's president and CEO Udo Dahmen, and me to evaluate his brainchild, the Institute for Popular Music at Essen's well-known Folkwang University of the Arts, from a perspective of a critical friend.

We spent one day with the pop institute's faculty, and their students talking about their teachings, projects and plans. The candor, courage, and sensibility of all the people we met was beautiful and mind-blowing. Plus, I always love to visit the Ruhrpott.

[ Latest additions ]
klein

Jury member @ CreateMedia.NRW Düsseldorf

European Regional Development Fund
September 6th and 7th, 2017

The LeitmarktAgentur.NRW invited me to serve as a jury member for the lead market CreateMedia.NRW. For two days we sat in a Duesseldorf hotel and discussed complex, innovative, and outstanding proposals.

Via Wikipedia: "The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is a fund allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and services of underdeveloped regions. This will allow those regions to start attracting private sector investments, and create jobs on their own."

[ Latest additions ]

Jury member @ Cologne Game Lab

Künstlerinnenpreises NRW 2017
July 20th, 2017

Had the honour to serve as a jury member for this year's Künstlerinnenpreises NRW 2017 in cooperation with Next Level 2017 – Festival for Games.

My fellow jury members, Dr. Ruth Seidl / Chair Frauenkulturbüros Krefeld, Denise Gühnemann / Grimme Institut, Prof. Björn Bartholdy / Co-Chair Cologne Game Lab, Manuel Fritsch / Games Journalist, Katharina Tillmanns / Researcher Cologne Game Lab, Fee Bonny / Frauenkulturbüro, and I awarded two outstanding women, one superstar in the realm of independent games with the main prize and a grant for an innovative young talent. The awards ceremony will be held on November 10th at NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf.

[ Latest additions ]

Talk @ Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln

A Perfect Match? On the Alliance of Sound and Visuals
April 18th,  2017

Gave a presentation for the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz, Germany's largest music academy, in Cologne. Prof. Michael Beil, chair of the renowned Studio for Electronic Music, invited me to his Electronic Composition class to talk about the historical development of my discipline, Visual Music.

In my lecture I focused on the significance of the close interrelation between sound and images. As founder and chair of the Visual Music major concentration at the Institute of Music and Media (IMM) at the Robert Schumann music academy I am also editor-in-chief of the highly praised Visual Music Archive online forum.

[ Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Talk @ Goethe-Institute

A Perfect Match? On The Alliance Of Sound And Visuals
November 28th, 2015

Jörg Süßenbach, head of the music devision at Goethe-Institute Germany, invited me to give a talk on the relationship between sound and visuals for an international congregation of Goethe-Institute members in Darmstadt.

The delegation will be in Darmstadt to attend the cresc Biennale 2015 which is focused on the topic of Images of Sound.

[ Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Talk @ MSD / Münster School of Design

A Perfect Match? On the Alliance of Sound and Visuals
November 20th, 2015

Gave a presentation at the Münster School of Design of Münster University of Applied Sciences on the historical development of my discipline Visual Music, and focused on the significance of the close interrelation between sound and images. I initiated the Visual Music major concentration at the Institute of Music and Media (IMM) of the Robert Schumann School of Music and Media, and am also the founder and editor-in-chief of the Visual Music Archive.

Prof. Nina Juric and Prof. Gregor Kuschmirz hosted my lecture. Both are alumni of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, and majored in Motion Design, a post-graduate-program I have been chair of since 1998.

[ Talks, Panels & Juries ]