Teaching

Thomas Gärtner

Geoformen [Geo forms]
February 2017

In his audiovisual composition Geoformen [Geo forms] Thomas Gärtner combines acoustic and visual characteristics of squares, circles, and triangles. Using computer animation and synthetic sounds, each form develops its own personality.

Geoformen [Geo forms] was completed in the 2016/17 winter semester as Thomas Gärtner's final project in the upper-level Visual Music module, and supervised by Marcus Schmickler, assistant professor of Composition, and me at the Institute For Music And Media.

[ 02/16/2017, Teachings ]

Jonas Scheler

Etüdion
February 2017

The interactive media installation Etüdion was completed in the 2016/17 winter semester as Jonas Scheler's final project in the upper-level Visual Music module, and supervised by Marcus Schmickler, assistant professor of Composition, and me at the Institute For Music And Media.

An elastic white membrane reacts to mechanical stimuli e. g. pressure, movement, speed, and fabric expansion, making the inconspicuous screen a touch-sensitive audiovisual multitouch-instrument. Motion graphics are projected from behind onto the same screen. The user can touch this canvas and thus receive a representation of their movements in the image on the screen as well as in the sound, which is heard via headphones.

[ 02/16/2017, Teachings ]

Magdalena Treutwein

Nadelarbeit III [Needle work III]
February 2017

The visual music film Nadelarbeit III [Needle work III] was completed in the 2016/17 winter semester as Magdalena Treutwein's final project in the upper-level Visual Music module, and supervised by Marcus Schmickler, assistant professor of Composition, and me at the Institute For Music And Media.

The images in Nadelarbeit III [Needle work III] were created by scratching the surface of old Super8 films with a large needle. For the sound, the scratched film was dubbed frame by frame, the noises being made with the same needle. The images are played through a projector, while the sound is digital. This additional sounds of the rattling projector are part of the audiovisual concept.

[ 02/16/2017, Teachings ]

Joseph Baader

berührt - geführt [touched - guided]
February 2017

The interactive installation berührt - geführt [touched - guided] by Joseph Baader tries to give the viewer an experience of the invisible spirals of everyday life. Using a self-made touch screen, the user creates spirals by touching the monitor, which then seem to flow from nothingness to infinity. While the spirals are self-sustaining and still lingering, a new spiral emerges through each further touch, which at first appears endless, but then turns up dependent on random parameters and finally extinguishes itself. The traces form a texture that grows steadily over several hours and fills the circular screen further. Each spiral is assigned a Shepard tone, which rotates around the base parallel to the respective spiral on four monitors positioned in the circle.

berührt – geführt [touched - guided] was completed in the 2016/17 winter semester as Joseph Baader's final project in the upper-level Visual Music module, and supervised by Marcus Schmickler, assistant professor of Composition, and me at the Institute For Music And Media.

[ 02/16/2017, Teachings ]

Paul Kusmaul

E is for Evolution
March 2016

E is for Evolution by Paul Kusmaul is an animated episodic film. In 26 short episodes, the film tells different stories about evolution. Each episode has its own look or interpretation of the term evolution. For example, the development of reptile to mammal, the evolutionary drive to reproduce, the question as to wether god or the evolution was responsible, or even the merging of man and machine. Everything wrapped up in slanted everyday stories and stereotypes.

The Nashville Nashville Film Festival 2017 rewarded E is for Evolution by Paul Kusmaul a Special Mention in the Animated Shorts Competition.

E is for Evolution is the diploma project of Paul Kusmaul in the Motion Design post-graduate program at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, and was supervised by Prof. Manfred Becker and me.

[ 03/17/2016, Teachings ]

Iris Schwarz

Raeding against the wind
March 2016

The clip Raeding against the wind is about cognitive processes in general, and specifically about the perception of a dyslexic person. It creates surreal landscapes – seeing into the head. Different forms of dyslexia and the resulting problems with words open the window to this inner realms. Dyslexia is often referred to as associative thinking. Sound and word processing of a dyslexic person is often based on images, and less direct."

Raeding against the wind is the diploma project by Iris Schwarz in the Motion Design post-graduate program at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, and was supervised by Prof. Manfred Becker and me.

[ 03/15/2016, Teachings ]

Christiane Goppert

Attraction
March 2016

Attraction is a contemporary dance film by Christiane Goppert, in which a dancer and an abstract animation describe the theme of attraction – a game of pulling and pushing, closeness and distance, connection and detachment. The ego on one side, and oneness of all on the other. The relationship between the opposites is expressed in the style of their movements, as well as by the music and lighting design. While the dancer is bound to physical laws, her dance partner - the animation - remains changeable in its form and is only influenced by the attraction that exists between the them.

Attraction is the diploma project of Christiane Goppert in the Motion Design post-graduate program at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, and was supervised by Alexander Hanowski and me.

[ 03/01/2016, Teachings ]

Valentin Link

Brain Sensing Music
February 2016

The audiovisual performance for string bass solo, Brain Sensing Music, by Valentin Link visualizes the brain activity of the player during a freely improvised music performance. Using an EEG (electroencephalography) headband, the focal point of the musician is measured by four sensors on the forehead and ears. This influences the size and deflection of the points on a predetermined circular path. The visual concept is based on the important hand-drawn ensō circle from Zen-Buddhism, which expresses a moment when the artist's mind is in a free state. The blinking of the performer distributes dots on the image, and the muscle traction on the jawbones generates a stroboscope effect. An individual image of the mental state during performance is thus created with each new improvisation.

Brain Sensing Music was completed in the 2015/16 winter semester as Valentin Link's final project in the upper-level Visual Music module, and supervised by Andreas Kolinski, assistant professor of Computer-based Media Composition, and me at the Institute For Music And Media.

[ 02/06/2016, Teachings ]

Magdalena Sojka

VeeMee
February 2016

VeeMee is an interactive mirror by Magdalena Sojka, which translates the utterances of the audience into sounds and images and projects these back. VeeMee is an audiovisual puzzle the recipient engages in through a concentrated internal dialogue. In the process, the work examines the multimodal interpretation of text. This follows strict rules which are similar to our use of language. The underlying thought is that sense only emerges based on a pool of building blocks which are always the same, much like letters in language. For example, regal and large consist of the same letters, but it is in their composition that the words take on their respective meanings.

The project was completed as a final project in the upper-level Visual Music module, and supervised by Andreas Kolinski, assistant professor of Computer-based Media Composition, and me at the Institute For Music And Media.

[ 02/05/2016, Teachings ]

David Füsgen

WUT, FREUDE, TRAUER
February 2016

David Füsgen went in search of ways to transfer music into the language of the camera in his work WUT, FREUDE, TRAUER [RAGE, JOY, MOURNING]. After an extensive phase of research, three video clips emerged which depict three different musical moods. The audience is given the opportunity to experience music only visually. The music underlying the video clips remains concealed from the beholder until the very end.

The work was completed as part of an upper-level Visual Music module, and supervised by Andreas Kolinski, assistant professor of Computer-based Media Composition, and me at the Institute For Music And Media.

[ 02/04/2016, Teachings ]