ZHdK | Forschungsinstitut | Computer Music and Sound Technology | News
Die ZHdK gehört mit rund 2100 Bachelor- und Masterstudierenden zu den grössten und vielfältigsten Kunsthochschulen in Europa. Die Studien- und Forschungsbereiche umfassen Art Education, Design, Film, Fine Arts, Musik, Tanz, Theater und Transdisziplinarität. Mitten in Zürich ist die ZHdK ein dynamischer Ort, an dem passionierte Menschen aus über 75 Ländern arbeiten, studieren, lehren, forschen und sich weiterbilden. Zur Hochschule gehören zahlreiche Ausstellungs- und Aufführungsorte, an denen die Projektarbeiten der Studierenden öffentlich gezeigt werden.
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Für das vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds (SNF) und der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) finanzierte dreijährige Projekt Electronic_Music_School suchen wir auf 1. Mai 2026 eine:n
Doktorand:in, 60%
mit künstlerisch-pädagogischem Profil und Schwerpunkt elektronische Musikpraxis im Musikschulunterricht
Kontext:
Das Projekt „Electronic_Music_School“ ist ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsprojekt des Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) unter der Leitung von Prof. Germán Toro Pérez und des Musikinstituts (IM) der Pädagogischen Hochschule Freiburg i. Brsg. (PHF) unter der Leitung von Jun. Prof. Johannes Treß. Ziel ist eine vergleichende Studie zu den grundlegenden Prozessen und pädagogischen Prinzipien des Unterrichts kreativer elektronischer Musikpraktiken an Schulen und Musikschulen. Das Projekt wird in zwei parallelen Teilprojekten durchgeführt: eines am ICST im Kontext von Musikschulen in Zürich und Umgebung, das zweite am IM im Kontext des allgemeinen Musikunterrichts an Schulen in Freiburg. Beide Teilprojekte greifen auf bestehende Kooperationsnetzwerke mit lokalen Schulen zurück und teilen Ziele, Fragestellungen und Methoden. Am Standort Freiburg ist daher parallel eine weitere Qualifizierungsstelle mit Schwerpunkt schulischer Musikunterricht (https://stellenangebote.ph-freiburg.de/stellenangebote.html) ausgeschrieben.
He works as a musician and sound artist, musicologist, curator of contemporary music and new media art, and cultural organiser, and is based in Bratislava.
He holds Mgr. (MA) and PhD degrees in Musicology, as well as a Master’s degree in Sonology (Instruments and Interfaces Programme) from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and STEIM, where he studied with Joel Ryan, Frank Baldé, and Rebekah Wilson. From 2013 to 2017, he was Head of the Multimedia Study Programme at the Faculty of Fine Arts (FaVU) of Brno University of Technology.
He is Editor-in-Chief and publisher of the ¾ cultural magazine and a co-founder of the Mag.Net – Electronic Cultural Publishers Network. He is also co-founder and Artistic Director of the NEXT Festival of Advanced Music and the independent cultural centre A4 – Space of Contemporary Culture in Bratislava.
He performs music with electronic and interactive instruments, both solo and as a member of various experimental projects (Voice Over Noise, Shibuya Motors, VRITTI, Bratislava Improvisers Orchestra, and SWAG Ensemble). His musical interests focus on generativity, complexity, stochastic processes, human–machine interaction, gestural control, and improvisation in different contexts using custom software and various hardware devices.
His musicological research focuses on conceptual approaches and cutting-edge aesthetics in contemporary and experimental music. Visit his website for further information.
Michael Akstaller (*1992) works in scientific, artistic, and curatorial practice at the intersection of fluid dynamics research, acoustic research, and the relationships between sound and space, movement, and performance. His artistic and curatorial work is often interdisciplinary and collaborative in nature and has been presented, among other venues, at Silent Green, Berlin (2023), the Lenbachhaus, Munich (2022, 2021), the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2022, 2021), the 6th Ural Industrial Biennale, Yekaterinburg (2021), and at HKW Berlin (2021).
In 2024, he represented the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and in 2025 the Turkish Pavilion. Akstaller has worked at scientific institutions such as the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute in Karlsruhe, the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, and the Federal Institute of Hydrology in Koblenz. He currently teaches Sound Practice Research at the Folkwang University of the Arts. Through his interdisciplinary and collective collaborations with artists and scientists from a wide range of fields, he has co-curated festivals at the Künstlerhaus Nürnberg and at HKW Berlin. He lives and works in Nuremberg. Visit Michael Akstaller's website for further information.
Pierre Alexandre Tremblay (Montréal, 1975) is a composer and performer on bass guitar and electronic devices, working in solo and ensemble settings across electroacoustic music, contemporary jazz, mixed music, and improvised music. He has also worked in popular music and practises creative coding. His music is released on the label empreintes DIGITALes.
He studied composition with Michel Tétreault, Marcelle Deschênes, and Jonty Harrison; bass guitar with Jean-Guy Larin, Sylvain Bolduc, and Michel Donato; analysis with Michel Longtin and Stéphane Roy; and studio technique with Francis Dhomont, Robert Normandeau, and Jean Piché.
From 2005 to 2024, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay was Professor of Composition and Improvisation at the University of Huddersfield (UK). In September 2024, he joined the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana as a research professor in composition.
He enjoys spending time with his family, reading prose, and going on long walks. As a founding member of the no-tv collective, he does not own a working television set. Further information can be found on his website.
Dan Xu (CN/NL) is a creative researcher and artist with a background in physics, computer science, and new media art. Her work often lies within the broader field of human–computer interaction and explores the creative potential of computational media for expression and communication. Her recent research and artistic interests center on the intersections of dance and technology, movement and sound, and forms of interactivity that extend beyond a human-centered perspective. Dan recently completed her PhD at Leiden University, where she developed a relational approach to understanding and creating interactive dialogues in interactive art. Visit Dan Xu's website for further information.
Yurika Sophie Yamamoto is a Japanese-German dance maker and performer currently based in Berlin. In her artistic work, she is interested in intersectional approaches and moves as a performance artist between visual arts, music, and technology. Her work explores identity in relation to her multicultural background and examines the stereotypes embedded in her upbringing and socio-cultural environment. She scrutinizes stigmatized figures through their codes of gesture, movement, and use of voice.
In parallel, as a motion-capture dancer and 3D scan model, she engages with questions of body politics in relation to virtual spaces, reproducing and deconstructing given structures while seeking to empower the performer. In her movement practice, she embodies sensations of hiding and revealing, drawing inspiration and strength from nature, embracing disruption, and articulating space and time. Further information can be found on her website.
Heather Frasch is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic concert music, an improviser, and a performer-composer (flute, laptop/electronics, and sonic creations), as well as a collaborator and creator of interactive sound installations and DIY instruments. Her work brings together American experimentalism and French acousmatic practices, drawing on influences from new media theory. She uses technology to examine notions of stillness and fragility, with a current focus on real-time interactive performance, embodiment theory, and unstable systems.
By customising each performance setup for a new work — from handmade instruments to self-programmed digital interfaces — unexplored connections among sound production, sound outcome, and the performer can be investigated.
Frasch holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and is Professor of Music Technologies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. Visit Frasch’s website for further information.
Yoko Konishi is a sound artist and performer from Japan, currently based in France. Trained in classical music from a young age — first piano, then classical voice — she developed a deep interest in the inner physicality of sound: the resonance of the body, the vibration of the voice, and the ways in which sound shapes the perception of space.
She studied ambisonics and spatial sound composition during her Master’s degree at Université Paris 8, completed a post-master’s programme at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and pursued advanced training in the IRCAM Cursus in 2024–25.
Her work explores the intersection of sound, body, and technology through spatial audio, interactive systems, and sensor-based processes. While rooted in sensory, embodied experience, her compositions often allow narrative elements to emerge organically from the material. Rather than opposing narration and sensation, she seeks to combine them as complementary layers — where narrative arises through perception, and sensory experience becomes a form of storytelling in itself.
Organic phenomena, biological signals, and forms of documentation of the living body serve as sensitive archives that inform her artistic language.
During her upcoming residency, she aims to further refine the integration of narrative structures and sensory immersion, with a particular focus on advancing the precision and depth of spatial composition.
Eli Stine is a composer, software engineer, and educator whose work spans immersive electronic music, mixed-reality storytelling, and interactive multimedia. His sound and software projects have appeared in major outlets including The New York Times, The Economist, and NPR, and have toured across Europe, Asia, and India. Stine is Assistant Professor of Computer Music & Digital Arts at Oberlin Conservatory and previously worked as a Software Engineer at Meta Reality Labs Audio Research. His award-winning works include immersive composition Where Water Meets Memory and the world-touring VR installation VRWandlung. Visit Eli Stine's website for further information.
Das Projekt Animated Objects and Moving Sound Sources: Expanding Spatial Audio in Post-Instrumental Practice hat den Zuspruch vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds (SNF) bekommen und wird somit für vier Jahre finanziell gefördert. Das Projekt untersucht neue Konzepte und Methoden im Bereich der räumlichen Audiowiedergabe mit einem Fokus auf verkörperte und objektbasierte performative Praktiken in der zeitgenössischen Musik.
Unter der Leitung von Rama Gottfried verbindet das Projekt verschiedene Forschungsstränge des ICST zum Thema Räumlichkeit und verknüpft 3D-Audio-Rendering mit Peter Fäbers Arbeit zu Moving Sound Sources, Daniel Bisigs Forschung zur Bewegungsanalyse im Tanz sowie Gottfrieds Arbeit im postinstrumentalen Materialtheater und mit animierten Objekten als verkörperter Präsenz.
Hanna Järveläinen und Germán Toro Pérez sind als wissenschaftliche Berater:innen am Projekt beteiligt. Eine Postdoc- sowie eine PhD-Stelle werden im kommenden Jahr im Rahmen des Projekts ausgeschrieben.
Artists in Residence at ICST
Das Residenzprogramm des ICST bietet Künstler*innen die Möglichkeit, im Rahmen eines Aufenthalts an der ZHdK ein eigenes Projektvorhaben zu realisieren. Für das Jahr 2025 werden Residenzen in den Forschungsfeldern Spatial Audio (Studio Residenz), Klavierautomat (algorithmische Komposition), bewegte Lautsprecher und Tanz und generative KI vergeben. Sie beinhalten die Nutzung von Infrastruktur und Räumlichkeiten, Unterstützung durch ICST-Forschende sowie Kost und Logis. Die Ausschreibung richtet sich an Musiker:innen und Künstler:innen, die mit Klang und Klangmedien arbeiten und deren Portfolio von einem vertieften Interesse an einem der Forschungsgebiete zeugt.
Bewerbungsschluss ist der 1. September 2024. Weitere Informationen: zhdk.ch/icst-air
Daniel Hug (ZHdK) und Sascha Ketelhut (Universität Bern) erhalten an der Audio Mostly 2024 den Best Paper Award für ihre Publikation «Sonic Shuttle Run: Leveraging Sound Design to Improve Affective Response and Performance in Maximal Exercise Tests».
Dr. phil. Daniel Hug ist Sound Design-Dozent und am Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) der ZHdK tätig, PD Dr. Sascha Ketelhut am Institute of Sport Science der Universität Bern.
Das Projekt «Sonic Shuttle Run» erforscht die Verwendung detailreicher, eigenständiger Klänge zur Steigerung der sportlichen Leistung, der Motivation und der maximalen Anstrengung im Sport. In einer Pilotstudie mit 21 Teilnehmer:innen wurden verschiedene Sounddesign-Varianten und ihre Auswirkungen auf Anstrengung, emotionale Valenz, Flow und Hörerlebnis untersucht. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass gut gestaltete, evokative Klänge bei Tests zur maximalen Anstrengung von Vorteil sein können, was mögliche Richtungen für die weitere Erforschung von Klangdesign-Strategien für den Sport aufzeigt.
Link zur Publikation: Leveraging Sound Design to Improve Affective Response and Performance in Maximal Exercise Tests
Giannoutakis is a composer, media artist, and researcher with a PhD in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MA in Computer Music from the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics. His work explores alternative musicking, engaging with AI, Distributed Ledger Technology, and theories like critical posthumanities. Visit his website for further information.
Discover his work on 1 April at his ICST Artist Talk. On 8 April, he will present the piece he developed during his residency for the Klavierautomat and live coding at the Machine Musicianship concert.
Suk is a composer and sound artist based in Berlin and Seoul. Her work explores aural experience as a means of investigating physical, ecological, and political systems. She examines relationships between human and non-human, material and non-material, integrating technologies like machine learning and spatial audio.
During her residency, she will develop Ouroboros (working title), a generative composition using Neural Cellular Automata, movable speakers, and a microphone to create evolving, unpredictable sound textures. Visit Hyewon Suk’s website for further information.
Her work will be presented at Lange Nacht – Klänge | Strukturen | Situationen on 9 May.
Zhu is a composer, artist, and carillonist. She has written for and performed with various contemporary music ensembles and soloists, including Beyond This Point, Wu Wei, Marco Fusi, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, JACK quartet, Quasar, Semblance, and Dal Niente. Institutions such as IRCAM, GMEM, Chamber Music America, and the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan have supported her intermedia work. Visit her website for further information.
Porter is a US-American artistic researcher and choreographer-cyborg based primarily in Berlin with additional frequencies in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and Tokyo. Working between liveness and onlineness, ze interpolates (dis)identification and (dis)embodiment as phenomenological inquiries between surface, soma, portal, and psyche.
Holding a high-honors BA in Art Studio (with additional coursework in Computer Science and Performance Studies) from Wesleyan University and an MA in Choreography from DAS Graduate School – Amsterdam University of the Arts, ze has worked or participated in residencies at Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art (New York), Cité internationale des arts (Paris), Trauma Bar und Kino (Berlin), the Saison Foundation (Tokyo), National Institute for Space Research (São José dos Campos), and Leonardo@Djerassi (Woodside), alongside reception of disparate production and research grants or awards and participation in various exhibition and festival contexts internationally. Visit Porter's website for more information.
Nandele Maguni is a prominent Mozambican producer, beatmaker, and DJ known for shaping the modernity of Mozambique into music through his experimental fusion of trip-hop, dubstep, techno, and the traditional Makonde rhythms of Northern Mozambique. His work defies Western conventions of electronic music, instead creating hypnotic, rhythmically rich tracks that resonate deeply within Mozambique's burgeoning alternative music scene.
Nandele's innovative approach extends beyond production into nurturing emerging talent within the local music community. His notable releases include the "FF EP" on Cotch International and "Plafonddeinst," a cassette release on Already Dead Tapes, which sold out, reflecting his growing global influence. His collaborations span internationally, including work with Tresor Berlin, where he contributes to techno compilations alongside pioneers like Jeff Mills.
Through his tireless commitment to both his art and community, Nandele has established himself as a leading figure in African electronic music, transforming Mozambique’s soundscape while supporting the next generation of artists. Visit Nandele Maguni's Instagram for more information.
Youngjae Cho is a composer based in Korea and Germany. He is often inspired by daily life and tries to find various ways to connect the sounds or landscapes he has experienced with his compositions. The variety of his works includes solo and chamber music, electroacoustic music, live electronics, collaborations with video art, especially the realization of immersive spaces through multi-channel audio systems. His works have been performed at various festivals (DEGEM, ZKM, ICMC, SICMF, NYCEMF, SMC, Weimar Spring Days, ORF Musikprotokoll) in Germany, Ireland, China, Italy, France, Portugal, the USA, Austria and Korea. He has received scholarships from DAAD, and Deutscher Musikrat, as well as awards from the George Enescu Competition (1st Prize, Romania), Younghi Pagh-Paan Composition Prize (3rd Prize, Korea), Via Nova Competition (1st Prize, Germany), SoundChain International Composition Competition (Special Prize, Czech Republic) and IEM & VDT Student 3D Audio Production Competition (Gold Award, Austria). He studied composition in South Korea and with Prof. Peter Gahn at the Nuremberg University of Music. Since 2021 he has been studying electroacoustic composition with Prof. Kilian Schwoon at the University of the Arts Bremen (master's degree and concert exam). Visit Youngjae Cho's website for more information.
Dániel Péter Biró is Professor for Composition at the Grieg Academy, University of Bergen. Prof. Biró studied in the U.S., Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Israel before receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2004. From 2004–2009 he was Assistant Professor and from 2009–2018 Associate Professor for Composition and Music Theory at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC, Canada. In 2010 he received the Gigahertz Production Prize from the ZKM-Center for Art and Media. In 2011 he was Visiting Professor at Utrecht University and in 2014–2015 Research Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. In 2015 he was elected to the College of New Scholars, Scientists and Artists of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2017 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Dániel Péter Biró has been commissioned by prominent musicians, ensembles and festivals and his compositions are performed around the world. He is currently leader of the research project Sounding Philosophy, funded by the Norwegian Artistic Research Program (2021-2025). Visit Biró's website for further information.
Ana Gamboa is a composer and cellist. Her journey with music and sound began at home, where her family was connected to the radio industry. She started studying music at 16, and until age 18, she worked in radio production and technical operations. In 2010, she moved to Buenos Aires, where she trained as a musician, cellist, and composer, shaping her career as an artist. Through her musical practice, she aims to create soundscapes that transcend specific genres, drawing inspiration from her travels throughout Latin America. This journey has allowed her to absorb and reinterpret contemporary voices from the region, helping her break away from Eurocentric perspectives that often dominate global music appreciation. Since 2016, she has been working in self-managed spaces, relying on local networks, with her approach shaped by the challenges of accessing resources and formal platforms that support non-traditional sound creation in Latin America. Visit Ana Gamboa's website for further information.
EARS – Emerging Artists-Researchers in Sound and Technology
Das Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) der ZHdK bietet ein einjähriges Programm für Nachwuchskünstler:innen an, die sich für praxisbezogene Forschung mit Bezug zu Sound und Sound-Technologien interessieren. Ziele des Programms sind die Realisierung eines praxisbezogenen Pilotprojekts, die Ausarbeitung eines Forschungsplans für ein Doktoratsstudium und schliesslich die Vorbereitung einer Bewerbung für ein künstlerisches PhD-Kooperationsprogramm der ZHdK (oder andere).
Die Forschung am ICST ist breit gefächert. Sie verbindet wissenschaftliche und künstlerische Forschungsthemen und -methoden. Das ICST bietet somit ein fruchtbares Umfeld für die Entwicklung eines praxisorientierten Forschungsprojekts. Die Teilnehmer:innen von EARS erhalten individuelle künstlerische und technische Betreuung durch zwei wissenschaftliche Mitarbeitende des ICST sowie weitere methodische Unterstützung gemäss individuellen Bedürfnissen.
Anmeldeschluss ist der 31. Dezember 2023, das Programm startet im März 2023.
Detaillierte Informationen finden Sie hier.