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    About the Institute

    • Institute and Research Areas
    • History
    • Newsletter

    Institute and Research Areas

    The Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology brings together scientists and artists from various professional backgrounds: mathematics, engineering, audio engineering, psychoacoustics, computer science, generative art, media art, musicology, music theory, performance and composition. This rich mix encourages projects examining the relationship between technology and musical practice, exploring critically the tradition of contemporary and electroacoustic music using methods of both classical and artistic research.

    In addition to research and teaching, other activities at ICST include musical creation made possible through artistic residencies, the realization of concerts, workshops, talks and other public events and an the documentation of electroacoustic music made publicly available in the ICST Archives. With the pre-PhD programme EARS, launched for the first time in spring 2022, the ICST is also active in promoting young researchers in the arts.


    Research Areas
    ICSTโ€™s research areas include 3D-Audio, Interfaces & Augmented Instruments, Audio Haptic, Auditory Perception, Telematic Performance, Performance Practice of Electroacoustic Music, Sound Design, Sound Moving Sources, Theory, Notation and Representation, Acoustic Ecology and Generative Art.

    Results are presented in the form of software, hardware, publications, conference contributions as well as through compositions and artistic projects. The tools for the practical use of the surround technology Ambisonics developed at ICST have received international acclaim.


    Research Focus in Technology and Music Practice
    Our research in this area explores the interaction between music practice and technology, such as the manifold interrelations between sound as a natural phenomenon and human perception. We also develop the tools (including software, interfaces, instruments) needed for sound generation, transformation, diffusion, and design. Such work includes questions concerning the relationship between the conception, performance, and archiving of musical works. Doing so brings together practical disciplines (composition and performance), the natural sciences (including mathematics, engineering, audio-technology), and the humanities (cultural studies and musicology). The Research Focus in Technology and Music Practice is affiliated with the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at the Department of Music.

    History

    The Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology was founded 2005 by Gerald Bennett and Daniel Fueter. Since 2007, Germรกn Toro Pรฉrez is the head of the institute. The ICST has its origin in the Schweizerischen Zentrum fรผr Computermusik (SZCM, Swiss Centre for Computer Music) โ€“ an institution that worked within the fields of education, research, production and distribution of computer music. Founded it 1985 by Bruno Spoerri, Gerald Bennett and Rainer Boesch in Genf and Zurich, the SZCM was a progressive place since computer music hasn't yet entered the spheres of classical conservatories and universities for musi by that time.
    Spoerri, Bennet and Boesch tried to understand the technological possibilities that arose as a productive extension to the repertoire of sound. Concerts, Artist-in-Residencies and lectures helped the SZCM to bcome one of the most important centres for Computer Music and Sound Technology. Both in Genf and Zurich, young artists and composers, scientists and students could work together with the technological infrastructure provided by the SZCM.

    Since the ICST continues the education of electro-acoustic music in swiss universities, the SZCM is focusing on events and concerts. In April 2022, the SZCM ceased its activities.

    Newsletter

    If you are interested in receiving current information about the events, publications and workshops that take place at our institute, please click here to sign up for the Newsletter.