Talks, Juries & Workshops

Visual Music @ tanzhaus nrw

Temps d'Images closing event
January 10th, 2015

For the closing event of the Temps d'Images festival I was invited to present works of my students at the fabulous tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf.

The tanzhaus nrw also showed the live performance Olympia by Orson Hentschel, student in the Music and Media program at the Institute For Music And Media. Olympia was created as Orson Hentschel's final project in my Visual Music class supervised by Andreas Kolinski and me.

Afterwards they threw a party in the tanzhaus' massive entrance hall. Live visuals by Tim Fehske, assistant professor for Visual Music Technology / Production, to the music by Christian S (Cómeme), assistant professor for Visual Composition / Graphic Design.

[ 01/10/2015, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Panelist @ Literature Club Düsseldorf

Interfaces as a hinge and interpretation
June 3rd, 2014

Prof. Dr. Swantje Lichtenstein invited Dr. Johanna Dombois and me to place a discussion along the boundaries of literature, theory and art at the closing event of the LCD - Literature Club Duesseldorf on in the renowned Salon des Amateurs in Düsseldorf.

The event itself was an experimental group performance. We included our favorite books, tarot cards, and audience participation. The subject Interfaces was open for new paths and opportunities. it was a kind of incision which represented the end of LCD. Sections, which divided a topic, and breaks, which need to be done. It was a wild, colorful, lively endeavor, and I am very greatful for this experience.

[ 06/03/2014, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Talk @ Macromedia University for Media and Communication

Just make it beautiful!
November 6th, 2013

Prof. Dr. Christof Breidenich invited me to give a talk at the Cologne campus of MHMK, Macromedia University for Media and Communication on the motion design process – from the client's briefing to the public perception.

I had a boss at a large German broadcaster who would tell me, "Just make it beautiful," when I wanted to discuss identity, concepts, and strategies with him. I took his quote as a stepping stone for my talk about communication design, and why I believe that design is a language, and that you need to know what you want to communicate, and to whom.

[ 11/06/2013, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Workshop @ College for Music and Art Montepulciano

Visualizing Music
September 21th until 27th, 2013

Gave my workshop Visualising Music, and worked as a mentor for the 50+ students at the European Academy of Music and Performing Arts Montepulciano in Tuscany, Italy.

The European Academy of Music and Performing Arts Montepulciano is the only German cultural project dedicated to music in Italy. The main idea of the academy is to enable encounters between young highly-qualified artists from Europe. The Academy is run by the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
The four music universities of North Rhine-Westphalia (Cologne, Detmold, Düsseldorf and Essen) and the three art schools in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Cologne, Düsseldorf and Münster) signed an agreement to establish a College for Music and Art Montepulciano. The program is funded by the Ministry for Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The College for Music and Art Montepulciano, is organized by Dr. Sybille Fraquelli at the Academy for Music and Dance Cologne and the 2013 motto is Displacement of Time.

[ 09/21/2013, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Jury President @ Academy of Art and Design Basel

Diploma / Final exams
September 9th until 11th, 2013

Max Spielmann invited me to chair the diploma jury at the Academy of Art and Design in Basel. 20 students graduated 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.

[ 09/09/2013, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Talk @ Baden-Württemberg Film Academy

Motion design as a cooperative strategy of communication
May 8th, 2013

Gave my talk Motion design as a cooperative strategy of communication as part of the annual Highlights at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. I showed a compilation of the best works from the last two terms by students from the Motion Design program, as well as three experimental videos from the Visual Music workshop, which composer Prof. Matthias Raue and I host twice a year.

Been charing the Motion Design post-graduate program with Prof. Manfred Becker since 1998. This program is unique to German Film Schools.

[ 05/08/2013, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Panelist @ Globalize:Cologne 2012

Video Games in Live Performance
November 17th, 2012

theater-51grad dedicated a day to Video Games in Live Performance at the Globalize:Cologne:Theories 2012 festival. Amongst others, Victor Morales (Caracas/Berlin) held his Inside The Machine workshop, and showed his video game lecture, The Blurry Line And Other Divagations.

I was invited to discuss video games as an artistic medium in the performing arts, and the interplay of virtual and real-time reality with Victor Morales and Barbara Kuon, academic faculty member for Media Philosophy at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, right after Victor's lecture.

[ 11/17/2012, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Zap visitor @ TRYANGLE 2012

Listening with eyes, seeing with ears
July 24th and 25th, 2012

In 2012 three performing arts institutions – O Espaco do tempo, Theatre des Bernardines and tanzhaus nrw – cooperated under the title TRYANGLE – Performing Arts Research Laboratories to develop three multidisciplinary experimental laboratories. Each lab had 20 selected artists from various disciplines. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

tanzhaus nrw invited me as a so called zap visitor. During the two days, I supervised the projects of the international artists through observation and with feedback. In my keynote presentation Listening with eyes, seeing with ears on July 25th I spoke about Visual Music.

[ 07/24/2012, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Panelist @ Creativity & Business Convention Cologne

Radical Thinking – Are we still doing the right thing?
June 21st, 2012

The Creativity & Business Convention (C'n'B) hosted the Radical Thinking – Are we still doing the right thing? panel in the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Cologne. Christian Boros, cluster manager at CREATIVE.NRW, Daniel Hug, director of ART COLOGNE, Katja Kullmann, a freelance author and journalist, and me discussed Radical Thinking.

My perspective for this panel emerged from the inspiring essay collection in Christoph Menke and Juliane Rebentisch's book Kreation und Depression – Freiheit im gegenwärtigen Kapitalismus.

[ 06/21/2012, Talks, Panels & Juries ]

Photo by Jens Willebrand.

Panelist @ K20 – Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Hear with your eyes, see with your ears
April 4th, 2012

Prof. Thomas Leander, prorector at the Robert Schumann Muisc Academy, and I were invited by Kunstsammlung Nordhrein-Westfalen curators, Dr Maria Müller-Schareck and Angela Wenzel. Both joined our panel to discuss the topic, Hear with your eyes, see with your ears.

The KPMG-Kunstabend at the wonderful museum K20 – Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen was an opportunity to demonstrate that music and fine arts belong together. With his idea in kind Thomas Leander, and me talked about selected pieces from their exhibition Fresh Window. Images of Windows since Matisse and Duchamp.

The 100 paintings, drawings, objects, sculptures, photographs, and projections featured in the exhibition Fresh Widow. The Window in Art since Matisse and Duchamp exemplifyed the astonishing variety and diversity of the pictorial models proposed between 1912 and the present. The presentation strikingly documented the use to which these artists put their new-won freedom.

[ 04/04/2012, Talks, Panels & Juries ]