Works

Programming Language

henri programming language I'm developing and using in my Live-Electronic performances. henri is an experimental programming language, developed using the LLVM compiler infrastructure (https://llvm.org/), and originates mainly from my artistic practice. henri is a programming language designed specifically for the formulation and execution of dynamical systems (in the form of systems of ordinary differential equations) using a variable-order symplectic integrator. Dynamical systems programmed in henri are simulated (integrated) in audio rate and thus can be used directly for sound synthesis.

Git repository

Artistic Research Project

Ramón González-Arroyo, Gerhard Eckel, Martin Rumori, and David Pirrò

"The Choreography of Sound (CoS) is a project about the spatial in music, addressing in particular the domain of electroacoustic music. In contrast to acoustic sound, with its properties causally deriving from its origin and in which space is embedded in its nature, synthetic sound has no inherent properties, spatial or otherwise, and can be composed as a formal construct, with temporal and spatial properties opened to the imagination and the skills of its constructor.

In our approach sound is conceived including a spatial dimension. The sonic object has spatial extension, ideally suggesting the perception of dwelling in space. This perception, however, is not a direct and easy matter with which one can count for granted, quite on the contrary, it is our conviction that this goal will only be achieved through the collaborative action of compositional, scientific and technological forces. We are searching for the emergence of a perception of materiality of synthetic sound matter: the illusion of a sound object with the corporality of a plastic object. A change of perspective with consequences not to be underestimated in the conception of the composition of music."

Project page

Artistic Research Project

Speculative Sound Synthesis is an artistic research project that deals with the relationship between technology and artistic thinking in computer music. In doing so, it attempts to productively destabilize this relationship by artistically questioning the standards of digital sound synthesis.

The idea of speculation is central to this project, both methodogically as well as aesthetically. Speculation concerns the how, what, and the why of this project, its methods and its objectives. For the team, speculation does not refer to unfounded conjecture or purely theoretical thought removed from concrete practice or experience. On the contrary, speculation can be understood as situated oscillation between experience and imagination that is characteristic of processes that bring forth new forms of knowledge. The project is seen as an attempt to release aesthetic potentials of sound synthesis for artistic practice that would otherwise remain unknown, concealed by standard technological gestures. In this sense, speculation is capable of overcoming inductive or deductive processes and able to dynamize the interrelation of technology and aesthetics.

Project Page

Speculative Sound Synthesis has started in November 2022 and will end in October 2025. The project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) within the Programme for Arts-based Research (PEEK) – PEEK AR 713-G. It is hosted by the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

The project team consists of David Pirrò and Leonie Strecker. From November 2022 to October 2024, Luc Döbereiner and Ji Youn Kang were part of the project team. Luc Döbereiner was also a co-author of the initial project proposal.

Reactive Sound installation

Hanns Holger Rutz, David Pirrò

The work, a series of "modules" that can be exhibited in isolation or dialogue, explores the relationship between corporeality and the algorithmic, realised as an environmentally aware, sensitive installation combining the modalities of sound and moving image. Despite the absence of locomotion, there are perhaps complementary ways an electric body could renegotiate, with whomever it encounters, its shape and presence?

A body is not only occupying space, but it continuously reproduces space and presence in negotiation with other bodies. It thus touches upon the problem of individuality and how, as a living and not a dead body, it “presupposes a plurality of other forms in relation to it” (Canguilhem 2008 [1952], 106).

Computational process, on the other hand, can also be understood to occupy abstract spaces which are interwoven with physiological spaces. What does it mean that a body is living or alive, when we attribute corporeality to computational processes? Surely, we do not want to be trapped by the assumption that we could even remotely “model” human or animal bodies, which seems as problematic as equating computational process with disembodied brains or the mind (cf. Dreyfus 1972). Instead, what we call bodies are configurations that partially explore what bodily qualities could possibly emerge from a digital–physical assemblage, with the aim of eventually bringing these partials together and thus “fulfil” in a certain way the requisite plurality of forms.

The bodies we create and experiment with should become entities that not just passively receive and process stimuli, but that actively sound out their surroundings, ringing them out for interventions. These interventions are multi-modal, for example incorporating sound and vision, but also ultra-sound as a tactile medium. The bodies absorb and process impulses passing through their environment and emit sensible variations of responses. Instead of searching for the definite form that satisfies this criterion, the modularity is meant to allow us to implement and “prototype” ideas such that modules can be iterated over time, and iteration may also take place by accepting a “partial” module and moving forward to an additional module. In other words, the idea of the body re-enters the work as a structuring principle, allowing us to “create a body of works”, to give us space and presence to experiment.

6th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, 2018, and Lydgalleriet, Bergen, NO, 2018

Moro Info

Sound Direction and Live-Electronics

Graz/Wien 2018

Interprets:

Gobi Drab . Blockflöte Szilárd Benes . Klarinette David Pirrò . Live-Elektronik, Klangregie

Programme:

Marko Ciciliani: Tympanic Touch (2017) für 2 Instrumente, Elektronik und Videozuspielung Onur Dülger: Neues Werk (2018) für Blockflöte und Elektronik Katharina Klement: mihrab (2008/2012) für Klarinette, Blockflöte und Elektronik Matthias Kranebitter: 32bit recorder songs (2013) für Sopranblockflöte und playback Daniel Mayer: Matters 1 (2017), fixed media David Pirrò: Live-Performance Gabriele Proy: Kimochi (2009), fixed media Alexey Retinsky: Punctum Nulla (2012), fixed media Veronika Simor: Neues Werk (2018) für Klarinette und Elektronik

Link

Sound Installaion

Luc Döbereiner, David Pirrò

Orpheus Intituut, Ghent, March 21–22, 2019 Link

The installation was presented for the first time the seminar entitled Simulation and Computer Experimentation in Music and Sound Art, co-organised by the Orpheus Institute, Ghent (BE) and ALMAT.

It is based on a mathematical model used to describe synchronization, the Kuramoto model. Each loudspeaker outputs an oscillator which tries to link to another periodic input (picked up by a microphone). The installation consists of six loudspeaker-microphone couples that, in their endless process of synchronization, leave traces of sound forms over time

Audio and Video Recordings

Space and Sound Installation

Hanns Holger Rutz, David Pirrò

in|filtration _ Ein|sickerung is a space and sound installation dealing with persistent and inconspicuous processes of exchange, in which surfaces and membranes between adjacent actors and systems are not only regarded as forms of dissociation, but as partially permeable layers, thus allowing imaginings, signals, materials, light and sound to propagate and melt the identities of the separate. A translucent and sensorial space/body acts as a vessel for sound structures that migrate between two seemingly opaque computer systems. The project begins with an understanding that space is a basic precondition, not just for architecture, but also for our lived environment. According to this perspective, architecture is not just about buildings filling up space, but about the production of space. The physical space is interwoven with an algorithmic space, sounding and sensing its environment. Algorithmic space is not primarily the result of form generation but of an intrinsic speculative movement and the interaction with humans who write code and experiment with it. Making visible and audible the exchange processes between humans and machines becomes a means of critically articulating this space.

More Info

A collaboration between the Master Module in Art, Science and Technology (MAST) at the Institute of Spatial Design / TU Graz, and Algorithms that Matter (Almat) at the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) / KUG Graz. Exhibition esc media art lab 2020, within the parcours Algorithmic Segments - Graz Kulturjahr 2020.

Reactive Sound installation

Ji Youn Kang, Hanns Holger Rutz, David Pirrò and Daniele Pozzi

Through Segments is a sound installation in an unusual interstitial space—the staircase of the Kunsthaus’ Iron House that connects to the “Friendly Alien”. Four artists listen into the storeys using real-time computer algorithms, taking an acoustical image of the visitors’ movements, forming four individual reactions. It is a poetic attempt to think about the distributed, the fragmented, the parallel. During the development phase, the artists work independently, but at the same time they observe and interrogate each other, performing the gesture of a “simultaneous arrival” (Sara Ahmed). They enact a human algorithm, informed by reiteration and duplication but never being identical. The aim is not one “of all converging towards the same, but circulating, making common relaying, relaying back, being relayed” (Isabelle Stengers).

More

Live-Elektronik Performance

David Pirrò, Luc Döbereiner, Ludvig Elblaus

released May 3, 2022

Bandcamp link

Sound Direction, Live-Electronics

MUMUTH, Graz, 17.03.2023

"Living Electronics" plays with the various meanings that the English term "live electronics" has assumed in music over the past 60 years. In contrast to electronic sounds pre-produced in the studio, the production and transformation of sounds in "live electronics" takes place during the performance.

The pieces selected for "Living Electronics" span a period of 40 years: from John Cage's revolutionary Cartridge Music from 1960 to Luciano Berio's refined Altra voce from 1999. In between are Steve Reich's famous Pendulum Music from 1968, Karlheinz Stockhausen's Solo for Melody Instrument and Feedback from 1966, and Alvin Lucier's mysterious and radical Music for Pure Waves, Bass Drums and Acoustic Pendulums from 1980. In addition to various forms of "live electronics," traditional acoustic instruments are used in different roles. These include the human voice (mezzo-soprano), an alto flute, a horn, and 4 bass drums. But other objects, such as record player cartridges, pendulating microphones, or ping-pong balls, also become parts of specialized musical instruments that are played in symbiosis with composed analog and digital electronic processes.

Program sequence and performers

Alvin Lucier : Music for Pure Waves, Bass Drums and Acoustic Pendulums (1980) Miles Borghese Benjamin Alan Kubaczek Giovambattista Mazza Hannes Raehse Chloé Marine Ryo Jakob Christian Seidel

Karlheinz Stockhausen: Solo (1966) Paquito Ernesto Chiti : Horn José Duarte Pinto Silva : Elektronik Aleksandra Skrilec : Elektronik

John Cage : Cartridge Music (1960) Paquito Ernesto Chiti José Duarte Pinto Silva Aleksandra Skrilec

Luciano Berio : Altra Voce (1980) Ana Catarina Vieira Caseiro : Mezzosopran Paquito Ernesto Chiti : Elektronik José Duarte Pinto Silva : Elektronik Aleksandra Skrilec : Altflöte

Steve Reich : Pendulum Music (1968) Miles Borghese Benjamin Alan Kubaczek Giovambattista Mazza Hannes Raehse Chloé Marine Ryo Jakob Christian Seidel

Link

feedback system, live-electronics

Series 2011 - 2015

Sound captured by a variable number of microphones scattered in space is injected into a dynamical system consisting of interconnected moving elements. The movements of these objects are audified and projected back into the venue by loudspeakers, and again recaptured by the microphone array. The system is tightly connected to the environment, it reacts to every small acoustic variation recomposing it in space and time and it interacts with itself, exposing its internal behaviour.

The performance consists of an exploration of the space spanned by different behaviour qualities emerging by slight changes of the rules governing the dynamical system.

for two horns, two percussions, live electronics and video projection

Ypatios Grigoriadis (Composition), Valentina Moar (Choreography and Dance), David Pirrò

Graz, 2009

Link to Programme

Interactive Binaural Sound Installation

David Pirrò, Martin Rumori, Katharina Vogt

2009, MUMUTH Ligeti Saal; 2012, jakopič gallery ljubljana/slovenia, icmc conference 2012; 2012, hanse-wissenschaftskolleg, delmenhorst/germany, workshop and exhibition "performativity and scientific practice

The Quantum electrodynamics (QED), the theory of light and electromagnetism, describes a space that is, because of its high dimensionality and complexity, almost not representable. We use sonification as a tool to explore the space described by the theory. Controlling sound’s qualities like rhythm, timbre, loudness and spatial projection makes them carriers of information, in order to provide an experience of the QED space.

We present the data listening space, a navigatable sonification of the so called lattice simulation of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED).

Underlying to the sonification is a numerical simulation of the space described by theory. The listener moves freely through space, and her/his position and orientation are captured by a hybrid motion tracking system, which are in turn mapped into the QED space. In this virtual sonic space, sound objects appear, pulsate and vanish according to the running simulation. Further, by rendering these sounds binaurally to the listener's headphones according to her/his position and orientation, the listening space provides a sonic experience of this four-dimensional space.

In the data listening space, the listener plunges into the world of quantum mechanics. By moving around, s/he explores local or global sound structures and textures from all perspectives, listening out for underlying patterns.

The Data Listening space has been conceived within the QCD-audio project by Katharina Vogt, David Pirro' and Martin Rumori. Data listening space was realised and presented as a public interactive installation in November 2009 in the MUMUTH Gyorgi-Ligeti-Saal in Graz. Katharina Vogt, David Pirrò, Martin Rumori

Trumpet, Live-Elektronik und Motion-tracking

Graz, 2009

For his piece Tball for trumpet, David Pirrò created a virtual object with which the performer plays by participating in a real-time physical simulation. In listening to the sound resulting from the interaction and watching the behavior of the instrumentalist, the object appears in our imagination. In Tball, the trumpet’s bell is tracked.

Intermedial Composition, Dance, Choreography, Live-Electronics, Motion-Tracking

Gerhard Eckel, Valentina Moar, David Pirrò

Graz (Austria), 2009

Bodyscapes is the result of a collective research and creation involving dance, choreography, composition, as well as sound and interaction design aiming at exploring the various facets of an ecology of bodily movement and sound. An underlying assumption is that both elements have a high potential to interlink. In Bodyscapes they engage in a symbiotic relation which is based on a process of giving and taking, one element complementing the other, both forming a whole - one cannot be without the other. The piece presents different spaces of possible relationships between movement and sound (bodyscapes), each baring a particular recognizable characteristic and identity. Particular attention has been paid to identifying the most archetypical of these relationships. Bodyscapes has been realized by Valentina Moar (dance, improvisation, and choreography), Gerhard Eckel, and David Pirrò (composition, live electronics, interaction design, and software development) in the context of the artistic and scholarly research project Embodied Generative Music.

Video Excerpts of the Premiere

Video Installation

Gerhard Eckel, David Pirrò, Michael Schwab

Ghent (Belgium) 2010.

Rebody is a video installation in which the captured motion of a dancer (Valentina Moar) is transformed into a dynamic drawing that, in turn, feeds a musical composition. The installation shows sets of experimental variations that explore the dance movements, the drawing algorithms and the musical structures in an attempt to create aesthetic resonances and convergences. The work investigates how structured creative processes can transpose, rather than represent, the dancer's movements. There exists also a performance version of Rebody, which has been presented together with the installation version at the 2010 Research Festival of the Orpheus Research Center in Music (ORCiM ) in Ghent. Rebody is based on motion-capture data collected from Bodyscapes (2009), an intermedial dance solo performance by Valentina Moar (choreography/dance), Gerhard Eckel and David Pirrò (composition).

Video Performance Version

For solo Basoon, 8-Channel Live-Elektroink and Motion-Tracking

David Pirrò, Gerriet K. Sharma

Bodily Expression in Electronic Music Symposium 2009, & New Interface for Musical Expression Conference, Oslo 2011

cornerghostaxis#1 is an electroacoustic composition for solo bassoon. The piece is the result of the collaborative effort of a three people team: Stephanie Hupperich (bassoon), Gerriet K. Sharma (composition) and David Pirrò (physical modelling / interaction design). The aim was to design an environment in which the player interacting with the physical model establishes a gestural and bodily relation ship between the sounds she plays on her instrument, her movements in space and four electronic sources that are dy- namically spatialized on a loudspeaker array.

More info on the NIME 2011 paper Here

Old recording

Live-Electronics

Matthias Kronlachner, Peter Venus, David Pirrò, Marian Weger

Rondo Graz, 2011

Traditionally an ensemble of musicians relies on visual contact as well as listing to each other during performance. The four room concert tries to break this aspect to fully concentrate on the auditory perception while playing the concert. At the four room concert every musician has his own little concert hall. Visitors are motivated to change their point of view by walking between the different locations. In the separate rooms, you can hear and see just one musician solo. Additional speakers are located on half of the way between the concert rooms. There, you can listen to the concert with all musicians playing together, but you won’t see anybody. This concept suits electronic music very well to help the visitor distinguish between which musician is producing what sound.

Video

Intermedia Performance, Dance, Light, Live-Electronics

Simon Laburda, Veronika Mayerböck, David Pirrò

IEM Graz, Forum Stadtpark, Vienna 2012 & 2013

Translating Light and movement into sound

“Bodyscapes_{corpoPhonolux}” is a multidimensional interactive installation connecting synaesthetically the visual and spatial sense with hearing. The basic idea of this project is the translation of light into sound – to transform what we see simultaneously in an acoustic soundscape.

Bodyscapes establishes a tight link between body movement in space and light- and sound-scapes - the performer becomes “sensor” and interactive element at the same time. Along the dancer's body are 8 light sensors installed, measuring steadily the various intensities and colours of light on selected points along the body surface (joints, head, torso, etc…). The choreography develops as the performer "senses" and explores this environment.

Loudspeakers are distributed over an hemisphere that surrounds the audience. Assigning the sound output linked with each sensor to different loudspeakers, sound can be composed spatially and the soundscape itself becomes a plastic acoustic illustration of the body in space.

The dancer is passing through different light situations which are influenced by several parameters: the way and quality of movement in space, the plasticity of the body and different lighting and projection ambiances by the surrounding structure. The sensors are measuring the different light intensities and colour ambiences along the body surface. Each sensor’s output according to its particular “point of view” is the base for creating an acoustic landscapes which enhances the symbiosis of movement and light situations.

Programm: ./media/corpophonolux.pdf

Sound Installation

Georgios Martemtakis, David Pirrò, Raphael Kapeller

ESC im Labor, Graz 2012

Exhibition "interior | exterior"

An irregular lattice of 48 loudspeakers forms a three-dimensional landscape. The sounds projected by these sources draw regions, planes and lines into the room subdividing and reorganizing its space. Listening and exploring the intervening spaces between these acoustic shapes, the visitor can compose her / his own path through the sound installation and experience the different spatial perspectives delineated by a slowly changing sonic architecture. This installation is conceived and realized in collaboration with Georgios Marentakis and Sebastian Blamberger.

Webpage

Project

Georgios Martemtakis, David Pirrò, Marian Weger

The project "Klangräume" enables a broad public to gain insights into current research and state-of-the-art technology. Within the project, two different sound spaces are being realized, which are thematically coordinated and target different audiences. The first sound space deals with the relationship between space and time in acoustic communication, while the second translates datasets from climate research into spatially experienceable forms. Each sound space takes place as an installation in cooperation with an art institution. In this process, a new type of interaction between humans and technology is explored.

Three elements are connected in the "Klangräume" and evaluated for the first time in a holistic framework: sound as a knowledge mediator, which is interactively controlled and thus enables embodiment. This combination is Sonic Interaction Design – SID. The "Sound Spaces" project attempts to develop a methodology for the holistic evaluation of acoustic Human-Computer Interaction through multidimensional evaluation of SID systems – both "in the wild" and under laboratory conditions.

The "Klangräume" project aims to combine the knowledge available in Styria on Sonic Interaction Design (University of Arts Graz/Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics) and Human-Computer Interaction (FH JOANNEUM Graz, Information Design) into an interdisciplinary field of investigation. In doing so, we build on a portfolio of ongoing and completed research projects and socialize their results: on the one hand, a broad public is involved in HCI evaluation methods; on the other hand, a participatory discourse is stimulated through the novel interactive presentation of research results.

Project Home

Space and Sound Installation

David Pirrò, Georgios Marentakis, Raphael Kapeller, Johanna Reiner s Forum Stadtpark, Graz 2013

24 microphones and 48 distributed speakers transform the acoustics of the room into a reactive, ever-changing spatial sound sculpture. Snippets of shredded drawings form a mountain. A printer continuously prints new images that are sent to it from outside. The printed images flutter to the ground, intertwining the exterior with the interior space. Visitors are invited to interact with the walkable sculpture and become part of the living sound space.

Immersive sound art radio play performance in binaural stereophony

Live broadcast by ORF/zeitton extended.

May 9, 2014

Starting at 11:00 PM at esc media art laboratory Graz.

Peter Venus (sound direction, electronics), Andres Gutierrez (electronics), David Pirro (electronics), Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka (double bass, electronics), Johannes Schrettle (text, performance)

Winner of the „lime_lab“, Stipend for transdisziplinary Radio Play, ORF/Steirischer Herbst. Graz, Austria 2014

Artistic Research Project

David Pirrò, Hanns Holger Rutz

Algorithms that Matter (Almat) is an artistic research project by Hanns Holger Rutz and David Pirrò. It aims at understanding the increasing influence of algorithms, translating them into aesthetic positions in sound. It builds a new perspective on algorithm agency by subjecting the realm of algorithms to experimentation and diffractive reading.

Almat is a three-year project running from 2017 to 2020, within the framework of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) – PEEK AR 403-GBL – and funded by the Austrian National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development (FTE) and by the State of Styria. It is hosted by the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

Project Page

Workshop

Gerhard Eckel & David Pirrò

held at the International Summer Course for New Music, Darmstadt, 2014

The expansion of the compositional process through digital instrument design is a common practice today. In this practical workshop, we explored a specific type of instrument and interaction design using motion capture technology. Composing the smallest details of the relationship between human movement and sound opens up unprecedented possibilities for musical expression. The spectrum includes approaches such as those in the Embodied Generative Music project or sound installations designed for direct exploration by the audience.

In the workshop, we introduced composers, musicians, and performers to the fundamentals of high-resolution motion capture, which enables the composition of complex movement/sound relationships that allow quasi-tactile control of synthetic sound. Participants were provided with a specialized software toolkit for SuperCollider. Sufficient time was allocated for experimenting with composed spatial instruments for both performance and installation applications. We also highlighted connections to other artistic fields such as dance and media art.

Workshop

David Pirrò with teh suppro of Richard Barrett

Impuls International Composers Academy 2015.

Selected participants:

Jessica Aslan, Joan Bagés, Bernardo Barros, Julie Delisle, Davide Gagliardi, Vincent Giles, Martyna Kosecka, Emma Lloyd, Hanns Holger Rutz, Idin Samimi Mofakham

Performative Computer Music (PCM) is a musical practice that integrates composition and performance, rather than treating them as separate activities. In PCM, performance goes beyond the mere interpretation and staging of a text; it is an integral part of the composition process, which also includes instrument design. Consequently, in PCM, the traditional roles of performers, composers, and instrument makers merge. This workshop aimed to attract various practitioners—laptop performers, instrument builders, interface designers, composers, and instrumentalists—by providing a platform for exchanging and reflecting on their personal approaches to PCM. Through presenting and collaboratively exploring their respective practices, participants were able to develop greater virtuosity and deeper insights into PCM.

The workshop began with an internal concert, where participants performed for each other, followed by an in-depth analysis and discussion of the presented approaches. Participants were then encouraged to engage with others' approaches by performatively exploring each other's instruments.

Link

Live-Elektronik Concert

Agostino Di Scipio & David Pirrò

Ligeti Hall, MUMUTH, Graz, Austria 2015

This concert explores different ‘performance ecosystems’ in the work of composer and sound artist Agostino Di Scipio. In the featured works, sound and music emerge from situated (real-time and real-space) sonic interactions between performers, various technlogical resources, and the room itself hosting the performance. Canonical of this approach are the works from the AUDIBLE ECOSYSTEMICS pieces. Other, more recent works are presented scored for either instrumental resources only, or for performers ‘visiting’ or ‘navigating’ automous networks made of digital and/or analog technological resources. Also featured is a new work by David Pirrò USELESS MACHINE #6, which develops similar lines of sonic research and investigation toward new possible directions.

Signale Graz

Flyer: file:///home/david/src/pirro.mur.at/media/1010_Flyer_04.pdf

Saxophone, Live-Electronics

Joel Diegert, David Pirrò

Prattica E

Friday, 05. June, 2015 Minoritensaal, Graz

and

open CUBE, IEM, Graz Tuesday 06.05.2014, 20:00

Joel Diegert (Saxophone) and David Pirrò (Sound Design) present outstanding works from the current repertoire for saxophone and electronics: compositions by Germán Alonso, Nathan Davis, Fabien Lévy, and Luis Naón.

Programme:

El Gran Cabrón (2012) Germán Alonso (*1984) Cipher (2012) Nathan Davis (*1973) L'air d'ailleurs - Bicinium (1997) Fabien Lévy (*1968) Senderos… que bifurcan (2002-03) Luis Naón (*1961)

Live-Elektronik Performance

David Pirrò, Martin Rumori

Prattica E, 5. June, 2015

With the series "useless machine" and "martim-pescador," David Pirrò and Martin Rumori have been documenting their respective engagements with themes they cannot resolve for several years. In "useless machine" (Pirrò), these are dynamic systems and their sonic developments, while in "martim-pescador" (Rumori), they are associative improvisations with field recordings. In both projects, the design of the spatial parameter is essential, which repeatedly involves new aesthetic and technical approaches to various procedures and instruments for sound projection.

In today's opening concert of the "prattica E" series, 48 mobile miniature speakers, organized in 12 groups of 4 speaker cubes each, form such a projection matrix, which is contrasted with the multi-channel sound system of the preceding concert sections and a number of radios. Incarnations of "useless machine" and "martim-pescador" appear today outside their series without the usual numbering and form the basis of a joint, comprehensive composition that is expanded with quotations and allusions to other composers.

Sound Direction, Live-Elektronik

Graz/Vienna, 2015

Die Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) wurde 1922 während der Salzburge Festspiele von einigen der damals namhaftesten zeitgenössischen Komponisten gegründet und besteht heute als österreichische Sektion der internationalen Dachorganisation ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) fort. Seit dem Jahr 2011 besteht auch eine Geschäftsstelle Steiermark, deren Konzerte zumeist in Kooperation mit dem Kulturzentrum stattfinden. Im ersten IGNM-Schwerpunkt dieses Herbstes werden nun Werke aus dem Bereich fixed media instrumentalen Solostücken mit Live-Elektronik bzw. Klangprojektion gegenübergestellt. Wir freuen uns auf ein vielseitiges Programm, das Werke aus den letzten Jahren und Jahrzehnten umfasst und somit auch das äußerst diverse Klangmaterial widerspiegelt, das zum Gegenstand der elektronischen Gestaltung werden kann. Die Klangregie der mehrkanaligen Bespielung des Cubus wird von David Pirrò geleitet. (Daniel Mayer)

Programm, 13. November*: Dieter Kaufmann: Paganihilismo (Lorenzo Derinni – Violine) Johannes Kretz: Nocturne (Karin Silldorff – Blockflöte) Pia Palme: GIB SIE WIEDER (Mona Smale – Harfe) Angelica Castello: la fontaine 2a Se-Lien Chuang: Launenspiel Thomas Gorbach: Four variations with ribbed sounds Katharina Klement: peripheries Andreas Weixler: für Pi Tamara Wilhelm: bad weather lately

Programm, 14. November*: Belma Bešlić-Gál & Bernhard Gál: flut (Elisa Azzarà – Bassflöte) Karlheinz Essl: Sequitur X (Kevin Fairbairn – Posaune) Veronika Simor: Imaginlo (Michael Moser – Violoncello) Thomas Grill: Extended View Klaus Hollinetz: N.N. Volkmar Klien: Nahen – Weiten 01 Caroline Profanter: Das Leben ist kein Wunschkonzert Elisabeth Schimana: Weave Oliver Weber: Calling JT

Klangregie: David Pirrò

Online Programm

Live-electronic duo project

David Pirrò, Hanns Holger Rutz

Anemone Actiniaria is an algorithmic improvisation duo founded by Hanns Holger Rutz and David Pirrò in 2014. In it, they couple computer systems and introduce semi-autonomous agents. As artistic research project, the seemingly well-defined concept of algorithm is subject to a new reading based on material agencies. Mutual observation and overwriting is initiated between our systems, Wolkenpumpe and rattle, rooted in physical modelling and in the generation of parametric models based on machine learning. This is inspired by the notion of an emergent new machine through ‘orientation’ and ‘composition’ as outlined by Heinz von Foerster and Dirk Baecker, whereby the functions of operators and operands of the formerly separated systems begin to vacillate.

Anemone Actiniaria performed in various venues including the xCoAx 2016 Conference in Bergamo and the the BEAST FEaST 2017 in Birminghem (upcoming). The duo has also been invited for a residency at ZKM | Institut für Musik und Akustik (IMA) in 2015 where it contributed to a concert of the EASTN European Art-Science-Technology Network.

Anemone Actiniaria on the Researchcatalogue

Please contact us if you are interested in obtaining a demo of this project. Here is an excerpt from a live improvisation:

Anemone actiniaria at the Pikselfest 2021

Further recordings:

anemone af1a21b (i)

anemone af1a21b (ii)

anemone af1a21b (iii)

anemone af1a21b (iv)

Recording of the performance on 17.01.2017 - Art's Birthday, which has been streamed live on Ö1, Austria's first public radio channel.

Performative Inquiry

Anna Nowak, Alexander Gottfarb, Christine Ericsdotter, Gerhard Eckel, David Pirrò

This project is an interdisciplinary research process articulating the practices of choreography, phonetics and sound art. It is a co-opertation with the dancers and choreographers Anna Nowak (Poland) and Alexander Gottfarb (Sweden), the lignuist and phonetician Christine Ericsdotter (Sweden), and composer and sound artist Gerhard Eckel (Austria) and David Pirrò (Italy, Austria).

The origins of this work can be traced back to Embodied Generative Music (EGM), a project initiated by Gerhard Eckel in 2007 at the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM), University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria. EGM investigated the relationship between musical and bodily expression by extending dancers’ bodies into virtual instruments using a full-body motion tracking system. This artistic research continued in the interdisciplinary project Dancing the Voice, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation: articulating the practices of choreography, phonetics and music composition, this ongoing project produces a series of performative inquiries focussing on the relation of bodily movement and vocal sound. The piece On Traces, performed at the Royal Technical University in Stockholm in the autumn of 2014 and in Tanzquartier Wien in February 2015, was the first open presentation of the research process which then continued in Every move a sound – On the Intricacies of Memory performed in September 2016 in Graz, Austria.

Dissertation - David Pirrò

Full Text

Abstract - English

This thesis investigates interaction in computer music composition, particularly in the context of performance- oriented generative music practice. The research follows three approaches of inquiry.

The first is a scholarly and theoretical analysis of the concept of interaction and its understanding in the field of computer music. The topic is discussed in relation to theories of perception and cognition in philosophy and cognitive sciences, in particular with the concepts of embodiment and enaction. This approach introduces an understanding of interaction as a temporal process of mutual influence taking place between agents. At this point, the concept of the agent becomes central to this dissertation.

The second direction of research is based on the mathematical theory of dynamical systems. The framework implies a process-based mindset and offers an ecological perspective that emphasises the role of interrelations between elements in a system. In the context of this work, dynamical systems are understood as the most apt language for formulating and understanding processes of interaction.

A third approach consists of personal artistic engagement in the development of interactive computer music environments. This thread interweaves with the former two and allows for continuous aesthetic experimentation : speculations and abstract intuitions are put into perceptible form and, in turn, concepts and formulation can be sharpened by experience. An essential part of this engagement relies on the software framework rattle, which has been developed for the formulation and the real-time simulation of dynamical systems.

The dissertation develops an approach towards interaction that employs the language of dynamical systems to address the agency of generative computer music processes. Eventually, agency is re-interpreted as an essential perceptual quality generative computer music systems should be afforded with to allow for a composition of interactions to emerge.

Zusammenfassung - German

Diese Dissertation untersucht Interaktion im Kontext der Komposition von Computermusik im Allgemeinen sowie der Praxis performance-orientierter generativer Musik im Besonderen. Die Forschung verfolgt drei methodische Ansätze:

Der erste Ansatz besteht in einer wissenschaftlichen und theoretischen Analyse des Konzeptes von Interaktion und dessen Verständnis im Bereich der Computermusik. Dieses Thema wird in Relation mit Theorien von Wahrnehmung und Kognition innerhalb von Philosophie und Kognitionswissenschaften gestellt, insbesondere durch die Konzepte von Embodiment und Enaction. Eingeführt wird eine Auffassung von Interaktion als einem zeitlichen Prozess gegenseitiger Beeinflussung, die zwischen Agenten stattfindet. An dieser Stelle entwickelt sich das Konzept des Agent zu einem zentralen Thema der Dissertation.

Die zweite eingeschlagene Richtung der Forschung basiert auf der mathematischen Theorie dynamischer Systeme. Dieses Bezugssystem gewährt eine prozessbasierte Denkart und eine ökologische Perspektive, welche die Rolle von Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Elementen eines Systems betont. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wird dieser Ansatz als die geeignetste Sprache betrachtet, um Prozesse der Interaktion zu formulieren und zu verstehen.

Ein dritter Ansatz besteht in der persönlichen künstlerischen Beschäftigung mit der Entwicklung interaktiver Computermusik- umgebungen. Dieser Strang wird mit den beiden vorherigen verwoben und ermöglicht das kontinuierliche ästhetische Experimentieren : Vermutungen und abstrakte Intuitionen werden in wahrnehmbare Form überführt, und umgekehrt können Konzepte und Formulierungen durch die Erfahrung geschärft werden. Ein wesentlicher Teil dieser Beschäftigung stützt sich auf das Software-Framework rattle, das für die Beschreibung und Echtzeitsimulation dynamischer Systeme entwickelt wurde.

Diese Dissertation entwickelt einen Standpunkt hinsichtlich Interaktion, welcher die Sprache dynamischer Systeme gebraucht um, die Wirkmächtigkeit generativer Computermusik- prozesse zu erfassen. Schlussendlich wird Wirkmächtigkeit (agency ) als eine essentielle Wahrnehmungsqualität neu interpretiert, mit welchen generative Computermusiksysteme auszustatten sind, um das Komponieren von Interaktionen zu ermöglichen.

Georgios Marentakis, David Pirrò, Raphael Kapeller

ICMC Conference 2014

This paper presents a collaborative project revolving around the conception, the realisation, and the qualitative evalua- tion of the interactive sound installation zwischenräume. In the installation interaction is considered in a particular way, in that both the installation and the visitor are regarded as being part of an evolving dynamical system.

First, we will frame the addressed question in the relevant research context. Then the installation and the ideas guiding its realisation will be described. Next, the evaluation methods used in this case study will be presented as well as the first results arising from their application. We finally point out how evaluation results could inform the subsequent refinement of the sound installation and directions for future research. The aspects investigated here are part of broader research project that looks into how evaluation strategies could be integrated in the development lifecycle of interactive sound installations.

Permalink

Vogt, Katharina and Pirrò, David and Höldrich, Robert

Proceedings of the 9th Sound and Music Computing Conference, SMC 2012

Digital waveguides have been used in signal processing for modelling room acoustics. The same technique can be used for model-based sonifications, where the given data serves to construct the three-dimensional sound propagation model. The resulting sounds are intuitive to understand as they simulate real world acoustics. As an example we introduce a digital waveguide mesh based on complex data of computational physics. This approach allows ex- ploring sonically this three-dimensional data and unveiling spatial structures.

Permalink

qcd-audio project's homepage

Vogt, Katharina and Pirrò, David and Rumori, Martin and Höldrich, Robert

Proceedings of the 38th International Computer Music Conference, ICMC 2012

Simulations, as widely used in science, need to be perceptualized. Data from computational physics’ simulations provide an interesting application case for sonification, which was studied in the research project QCD-audio. Within the project, the data listening space was set up as an interactive installation in Nov. 2009 in Graz, Austria. It allowed non-experts to immerge into the sonification of lattice quantum electrodynamics’ data as a virtual auditory scene. Movement and position of one listener at a time were tracked and used in the sonification, establishing a tight connection between virtual and real space. The installation was evaluated in a small test setting following a grounded theory approach.

Parmalink

Pirrò, David and Wankhammer, Alexander and Schwingenschuh, Petra and Sontacchi, Alois and Höldrich, Robert

Proc. of the 18th International Conference on Auditory Display, ICAD 2012

In this paper we introduce new methods for real-time acoustical tremor diagnosis. We outline the problems of tremor diagnosis in the clinical context and discuss how sonification can complement and expand the existing tools neurologists have at their disposal. Based on three preliminary sonification experiments upon recorded tremor movement data, we show how temporal as well as spectral characteristics of tremor can be made audible in real-time. Our first observations indicate that differences among tremor types can be made recognizable via sonification. Therefore, we suggest that the proposed methods could allow for the formulation of more con fi dent diagnoses. At the end of the paper, we will also shortly outline the central topics of future research.

Permalink

Project Page

Marentakis, Georgios and Pirrò, David

Proceedings of the 9th Sound and Music Computing Conference, SMC 2012

In the course of the realization of the sound installation Interstices, questions pertaining to the auditory perception of location and extent and the spatial composition of the micro and macro structure of sound were explored in a poietic way. Physical modelling was re-interpreted as a framework to design the spatial and timbral appearance of sounds upon a set of distributed speaker array clusters. This explorative process lead to observations that helped formulating novel research questions within the context of psychoacoustics and auditory display.

Permalink

Pirrò, David and Eckel, Gerhard

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, NIME 2011

In this paper we present research which can be placed in the context of performance-oriented computer music. Our research aims at finding new strategies for the realization of enactive interfaces for performers. We present an approach developed in experimental processes and we clarify it by introducing a concrete example. Our method involves physical modelling as an intermediate layer between bodily movement and sound synthesis.

The historical and technological context in which this research takes place is outlined. We describe our approach and the hypotheses on which our investigations ground. The technological frame in which our research took place is briefly described. The piece cornerghostaxis#1 is presented as an example of this approach. The observations made during the rehearsals and the performance of this piece are outlined. Grounding on ours and the performers’ experiences, we indicate the most valuable qualities of this approach, sketch the direction our future experimentation and development will take, pointing out the issues we will concentrate on.

Permalink

Vogt, Katharina and Höldrich, Robert and Pirrò, David and Rumori, Martin and Rossegger, Stefan and Riegler, Werner and Tadel, Matevz

Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Auditory Display, ICAD 2010

In a short-term research project at CERN, an auditory display of elementary particle tracks has been developed. Data stems from simulations of the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) in ALICE experiment. Particle detection there is based on pattern recognition algorithms, but is still today double checked with visualization tools. The sonification works with cluster data of the TPC and was designed in analogy to the physics behind the measurement device. Thus it is possible to listen directly to the otherwise silent detector.

Permalink

qcd-audio project's homepage

Vogt, Katharina and Höldrich, Robert and Pirrò, David and Gattringer, Christof

Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Auditory Display, ICAD 2010

We present an intuitive sonification of data from a statistical physics model, the XY-spin model. Topological structures (anti-/vortices) are hidden to the eye by random spin movement. The behavior of the vortices changes by crossing a phase transition as a function of the temperature. Our sonification builds on basic acoustic properties of phase modulation. Only interesting structures like anti-/vortices remain heard, while everything else falls silent, without additional computational effort. The researcher interacts with the data by a graphical user interface. The sonification can be extended to any lattice model where locally turbulent structures are embedded in rather laminar fields.

Permalink

qcd-audio project's homepage

Vogt, Katharina and Pirrò, David and Kobenz, Ingo and Höldrich, Robert and Eckel, Gerhard

Appeared in: "Auditory Display", Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Editors: Ystad, Sølvi and Aramaki, Mitsuko and Kronland-Martinet, Richard and Jensen, Kristoffer, Springer Berlin Heidelberg Also appeared in: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2009)

We detect human body movement interactively via a tracking system. This data is used to synthesize sound and transform sound files (music or text). A subject triggers and controls sound parameters with his or her movement within a pre-set range of motion. The resulting acoustic feedback enhances new modalities of perception and the awareness of the body movements. It is ideal for application in physiotherapy and other training contexts.

The sounds we use depend on the context and aesthetic preferences of the subject. On the one hand, metaphorical sounds are used to indicate the leaving of the range of motion or to make unintended movements aware. On the other hand, sound material like music or speech is played as intuitive means and motivating feedback to address humans. The sound material is transformed in order to indicate deviations from the target movement.

PhysioSonic has been evaluated with a small study on 12 patients with limited shoulder mobility. The results show a clear benefit for most patients, who also report on PhysioSonic being an enrichment of their therapeutic offer.

Permalink

Saranti, Anna and Eckel, Gerhard and Pirrò, David

Appeared in: "Auditory Display", Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Editors: Ystad, Sølvi and Aramaki, Mitsuko and Kronland-Martinet, Richard and Jensen, Kristoffer, Springer Berlin Heidelberg Also appeared in: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2009)

This work deals with the sonification of a quantum mechanical system and the processes that occur as a result of its quantum mechanical nature and interactions with other systems. The quantum harmonic oscillator is not only regarded as a system with sonifiable characteristics but also as a storage medium for quantum information. By representing sound information quantum mechanically and storing it in the system, every process that unfolds on this level is inherited and reflected by the sound. The main profit of this approach is that the sonification can be used as a first insight for two models: a quantum mechanical system model and a quantum computation model.

Permalink

Paper

David Pirrò, Gerhard Eckel, Martin Rumori

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Spatial Audio, VDT IEM, Graz 2017, pp. 24-28

Abstract

Production tools that hide their technical complexity stimulate an understanding of creation that centres ‘content’ rather than materiality, or form. What are the consequences when such user-oriented tools become the predominant means for conceiving auditory experience? Many scholarly interpretations highlight as an advantage that ‘content’ creators do not have to deal with peculiarities of different sound projection methods anymore. However, assuming a universal model for auditory space effectively shadows its exploration. This paper illuminates that the focus on geometric representation may impede experiential sonic practice. The discussion departs from the main arguments of the call for this ICSA’s Student 3D Audio Competition. We aim to identify implicit demarcations that contradict the transdisciplinary nature of engineering in an artistic context.

link to paper

Eckel, Gerhard and Pirrò, David

Sound and Music Computing Conference, SMC 2009

Motion-Enabled Live Electronics (MELE) is a special approach towards live electronic music aiming at increasing the degree of the performers’ embodiment in shaping the sound processing. This approach is characterized by the combination of a high-resolution and fully-3D motion tracking system with a tracking data processing system tailored towards articulating the relationship between bodily movement and sound processing. The artistic motivations driving the MELE approach are described, an overview of related work is given and the technical setup used in a workshop exploring the approach is introduced. Brief descriptions of the pieces realized in the workshop and performed in the final concert inform the presentation of the conclusions drawn from the workshop.

Permalink

Eckel, Gerhard and Pirrò, David

Proceedings of the 35th International Computer Music Conference, ICMC 2009

We describe an artistic research process leading to the intermedial piece Bodyscapes in the context of the artistic and scientific research project Embodied Generative Music, which aims at furthering the understanding of the relationship between bodily and musical expression.

Permalink

De Poli, G. and Avanzini, F. and Rodà, A. and Mion, L. and D'Incà, and Trestino, C. and Pirrò, D. and Luciani, A. and Castagne, N.

Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on Enactive Interfaces (ENACTIVE05), 2009

Expressive content has multiple facets that can be conveyed by music, gesture, actions. Different application scenarios can require different metaphors for expressiveness control. In order to meet the requirements for flexible representation, we propose a multi-layer architecture structured into three main levels of abstraction. At the top (user level) there is a semantic description, which is adapted to specific user requirements and conceptualization. At the other end are low-level features that describe parameters strictly related to the rendering model. In between these two extremes, we propose an intermediate layer that provides a description shared by the various high-level representations on one side, and that can be instantiated to the various low-level rendering models on the other side. In order to provide a common representation of different expressive semantics and different modalities, we propose a physically-inspired description specifically suited for expressive actions.

Link

by Gerhard Eckel, David Pirrò, Martin Rumori, Gerriet K. Sharma, Christos Zachos

Permanent generative sound installation at technical university graz Studienzentrum, Inffeldgasse 10, 8010 Graz, Austria

link

Space, Video and Sound Installation

Lisa Horvath, David Pirrò Hanns Holger Rutz

Graz Austria, ESC medien kunst labor November 2016

An algorithmic project by Lisa Horvath, David Pirrò, Hanns Holger Rutz.

The image of coding/decoding often includes the ideal of perfect reconstruction. Something real—an experience, a thought, a movement—can be transformed into a finite set of elements that may then be transported and unfolded as an evocation of that original experience or movement. Something is communicated (duplicated and made equal). It bothers us when the reconstruction is not complete, when the distance between the pairs of conceptualisation/perception, intention/interpretation… is not annulled: somebody did not understand.

What we are interested in for this exhibition are those distances and gaps that produce imperfection, understood as the resistance of thoughts and movements to become determinate; understood as their durational and iterative configuration. Located at the intersection of computer art and sound art, we are primarily interested in algorithmic movements. In algorithmic practices pieces of code assume the production of forms and establish mutual writing processes between human and computer.

Increasingly, algorithms are given authority to make decisions about our lives. Dystopian scenarios stretch to the expendability of humankind altogether because so-called artificial intelligence might soon outpace our slow biological evolution. But going beyond the traditional view of algorithms as a tight interlocking of logic and control structures, algorithms involve speculative computations, the production of materials that are yet “continually unrealized” (Parisi). In other words, imperfection (incompletion) may well lie at the centre of algorithms and endow them with an intrinsic poiesis, making them an ally for the retention of freedom.

How to make imperfect reconstructions? One strand we have been working with in the past years is the use of similarity as a motor for algorithmic movement. For example, a computer can be instructed to find among a set of sounds those that are particularly similar or dissimilar to other sounds or it may be instructed to evolve sound structures to approximate a given sound. What becomes important is that processes are instantiated that produce trajectories which then become themselves the aesthetic objects and reveal something about their inner motions rather than focusing on the target sounds. Another strand is the introduction of reconfigurations, the addition or shift of elements and relations between elements. For example, trajectories may be translated from the audible to a graphical domain or to a textual domain and back again, foregrounding gaps inherent to such translations. In this exhibition, we will be especially working with the algorithmic treatment of text and language. A third approach is the coupling of systems, something that we explored in the project ‘Anemone Actiniaria’. Once the two machines that we have been developing for several years are oriented towards each other and composed, “a new machine arises” (von Foerster).

In ‘Imperfect Reconstructions’, we will be creating an overall installation that decomposes into a number of corresponding works, combining sound with image, text and video. There is a focus on the durational and iterative aspects of imperfection: We want to show the stages through which pieces emerge and how the reconfigurations take place. Like a Langzeitbelichtung, things that happen sequentially or that are dislodged become integrated. The paths of reconstruction thus also obtain something “forensic”, they form speculative (hi)stories

Full online Documentation

Video Trailer

InnerSpace is part of a group of works created under the umbrella project Imperfect Reconstruction (https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/245942/245943) The image encoding/decoding is often associated with the ideal of perfect reconstruction. Experiencing something, an idea can turn into a movement, a finite set of elements, which can then be transported and unpacked as a reference to the original experience or movement. Imperfection is thus taken as a failure, for example a failure to understand. What interested us in this project were the distances and gaps that produce imperfection, defined as resistance of thoughts and movements to become determinate. InnerSpace is conceived as an 8-channels video installation for small format monitors. A complementary set of quasi-fixed video miniatures are recalled by a slightly indeterminate algorithm. As the name suggests, it was originally situated in an intimate, half-closed space, but it also refers to the fact that each piece is, in one way or another, connected to our noö-topology, the spatial particularity of our mind, the way we internalise the algorithmic.

Showed at:

• xCoAx 2017 Lisbon
• From Science to Art and Back, Stockholm October 2017

link

Live-Electronic Performance

Antonia Manhartsberger, David Pirrò

Performance on Martin Rumori's multichannel installation "Promenade" in the context of the 2018 Art's birthday, 17.01.2018 at the esc medien kunst labor in Graz

improvisation collective

David Pirrò & Martin Rumori

altraconsonanza is an improvisation collective bringing together diverse means of producing and controlling sound. Our experimental arrangement contrasts generative algorithms with analogue chaotic circuitry, complemented by environmental recordings. As disparate these instruments are, as diverse are the aesthetics they rest upon and as unequal are the modes of listening they afford. We take all these elements and patch them together; not only conceptually but physically: signals are exchanged between all involved interfaces, effectively affecting, influencing and superimposing each other. We re-compose them into an intractable field of possibilities that is navigated using the senses and the intelligence of the performers and the audience alike.

The name altraconsonanza is meant as an homage to the Italian pioneers who formed the Nuova Consonanza collective in the 1960s.

altraconsonanza is David Pirrò and Martin Rumori, occasionally complemented by other musicians.

Recent Performances

• aNOther festival, 6.10.2023. Vienna
• Sweet Spot, 14.01.2025, Salzburg

altraconsonanza is on YouTube

Various performances starting from 2012 to e.g. at the 47. internationale ferienkurse für neue musik, darmstadt/germany

Live-Electronics

with Cantando Admont, Markus Wallner and Martin Rumori

Salzburger Festspiele, 21. Juli 2025, Kollegienkirche

Martin Rumori and me will realize the Live-Electronics. The sound direction is carried out jointly with Markus Wallner. The live electronics are entirely realized using free and open-source software (SuperCollider). After the performance, we intend to publish the implementation of the live electronics.

Link

Live-Elektronik

Crosstalks: KULTUM Cubus, Graz, 25.04.2024

In the context of the “Speculative Sound Synthesis” rather then an “unfounded conjecture”, speculation is viewed as a leap of imagination. As A. N. Whitehead describes, speculation is taking “off from the ground of a particular observation; it makes a flight in the thin air of imaginative generalization; and it lands again for renewed observation”. To speculate is to venture into uncharted territories and always return to familiar ground before taking the next leap. It is an iterative process where risks are embraced while remaining open to unexpected discoveries and encounters. With this emphasis on experience, speculation is tied to a way to perceive, to be in the world and engage with it that is material and radically subjective rather than detached and purely objective.

Agent 1 embodies some of these concepts through a generative reactive process. In this setup, four microphone-loudspeaker pairs are positioned in a space to create sound through feedback loops. Throughout the performance, the interactions within these couplings are modulated to explore diverse behaviors and sonic textures. This intertwining of listening and sound production results in four parallel processes that are interconnected, each attempting to define its identity.

More Info

• D. Pirrò. "Staging collisions: On behaviour." In Michael Schwab, editor, Transpositions Aesthetico-Epistemic Operators in Artistic Research. Leuven University Press, 2018.
• Rutz, H., Pirrò, D., "Körper." In xCoAx 2018 - Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Computation Communication Aesthetics & X (6th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, pp. 176-180, 2018
• Eckel, G., Schwab, M., Pirrò, "Da.ta (Transpositions)", D., MER. Paper Kunsthalle, Ghent, Belgium, 2017 ISBN:978-94-9232-172-5
• Rumori, M., Pirrò, D., Eckel, G., "Stop challenging technology! Towards content-based audio production." In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Spatial Audio, VDT IEM, Graz 2017, pp. 24-28
• Marian Weger, David Pirrò, and Robert Höldrich. "Evaluation of an acoustic interface for tremor analysis." In Proceedings of the 14th Sound and Music Computing Conference, pages 234–241, Espoo, Finland, 2017.
• Georgios Marentakis, David Pirrò, and Marian Weger. "Creative evaluation." In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, pages 853–864. ACM, 2017.
• D. Pirrò "Composing Interactions." PhD Thesis, Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria, 2017
• Lisa Horvath, David Pirrò and Hanns Holger Rutz "Imperfect Reconstruction: an algorithmic project", 2017 ISBN:978-3-9503349-1-3
• Hanns Holger Rutz and David Pirrò. "Anemone actiniaria." In Proceedings of the 2016 xCoAx Conference, Computation, communication, Aesthetics and X, pages 404–408, 2016.
• Marian Weger, David Pirrò, Alexander Wankhammer, and Robert Höldrich. "Discrimination of tremor diseases by interactive sonification." In 5th Interactive Sonification Workshop (ISon), volume 12, 2016.
• Rutz, H. H., Pirrò, D., "Where Sounds Dwell" In Castillo, N., Howlett-Jones, K., (eds), Rose of the Winds, 2016 ISBN:978-3-9504253-1-4
• Georgios Marentakis, David Pirro, and Raphael Kapeller. "Zwischenräume-a case study in the evaluation of interactive sound installations." In Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference ICMC, 2014.
• Katharina Vogt, David Pirrò, and Robert Höldrich. "Waveguides for model-based sonification." In Proceedings of the 9th Sound and Music Computing Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012.
• Gerhard Eckel, Martin Rumori, David Pirrò, and Ramón González-Arroyo. "A framework for the choreography of sound." In Proceedings of the 38th International Computer Music Conference, pages 404–511, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2012.
• Georgios Marentakis and David Pirrò. "Exploring sound and spatialization design on speaker arrays using physical modelling." In Proceedings of the 9th Sound and Music Computing Conference, pages 55–60, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012.
• David Pirrò, Alexander Wankhammer, Petra Schwingenschuh, Alois Sontacchi, and Robert Höldrich. "Acoustic interface for tremor analysis." In Proc. of the 18th International Conference on Auditory Display, pages 210–213, Atlanta, Georgia, 2012.
• Katharina Vogt, David Pirrò, Martin Rumori, and Robert Höldrich. "Sounds of simulations: data listening space." In Proceedings of the 38th International Computer Music Conference, pages 525–530, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2012.
• David Pirrò and Gerhard Eckel. "Physical modelling enabling enaction: an example." In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, pages 461–464, Oslo, 2011.
• Katharina Vogt, David Pirrò, Ingo Kobenz, Robert Höldrich, and Gerhard Eckel. "Physiosonic-evaluated movement sonification as auditory feedback in physiotherapy." In In Sølvi Ystad, Mitsuko Aramaki, Richard Kronland-Martinet, and Kristoffer Jensen, editors, Auditory display, volume 5954 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science pages 103–120. Springer, 2010.
• Katharina Vogt, Robert Höldrich, David Pirrò, and Christof Gattringer. "Spin quartets, sonification of the xy model." In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Auditory Display, pages 97–102, Washington, DC, 2010.
• Niemüller, Tim, Alexander Ferrein, Gerhard Eckel, David Pirro, Patrick Podbregar, Tobias Kellner, Christof Rath, and Gerald Steinbauer. "Providing ground-truth data for the nao robot platform." In Robot Soccer World Cup, pp. 133-144. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2010.
• Katharina Vogt, Robert Höldrich, David Pirrò, Martin Rumori, Stefan Rossegger, Werner Riegler, and Matevz Tadel. "A sonic time projection chamber, sonified particle detection at cern." In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Auditory Display, pages 103–108, Washington, DC, 2010.
• Anna Saranti, Gerhard Eckel, and David Pirrò. "Quantum harmonic oscillator sonification." In Sølvi Ystad, Mitsuko Aramaki, Richard Kronland-Martinet, and Kristoffer Jensen, editors, Auditory Display, volume 5954 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 184–201. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2010.
• Eckel, G., Pirro, D., & Sharma, G. K. "Motion-enabled live electronics." In Proceedings of the 6th Sound and Music Computing Conference, Porto, Portugal, 2009
• Gerhard Eckel and David Pirrò. "On artistic research in the context of the project embodied generative music." In Proceedings of the 35th International Computer Music Conference, pages 541–544, Montréal, 2009.
• De Poli, Giovanni, Federico Avanzini, Antonio Rodà, Luca Mion, Gianluca d'Inca, Cosmo Trestino, Carlo de Pirro, Annie Luciani, and Nicolas Castagné. "Towards a multi-layer architecture for multi-modal rendering of expressive actions." In Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on Enactive Interfaces (ENACTIVE05), pages 541–544, Genova, Italy, 2005. 2005.

• D. Pirrò. "Staging collisions: On behaviour." In Michael Schwab, editor, Transpositions Aesthetico-Epistemic Operators in Artistic Research. Leuven University Press, 2018.
• Rutz, H., Pirrò, D., "Körper." In xCoAx 2018 - Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Computation Communication Aesthetics & X (6th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, pp. 176-180, 2018
• Eckel, G., Schwab, M., Pirrò, "Da.ta (Transpositions)", D., MER. Paper Kunsthalle, Ghent, Belgium, 2017 ISBN:978-94-9232-172-5
• Rumori, M., Pirrò, D., Eckel, G., "Stop challenging technology! Towards content-based audio production." In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Spatial Audio, VDT IEM, Graz 2017, pp. 24-28
• Marian Weger, David Pirrò, and Robert Höldrich. "Evaluation of an acoustic interface for tremor analysis." In Proceedings of the 14th Sound and Music Computing Conference, pages 234–241, Espoo, Finland, 2017.
• Georgios Marentakis, David Pirrò, and Marian Weger. "Creative evaluation." In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, pages 853–864. ACM, 2017.
• D. Pirrò "Composing Interactions." PhD Thesis, Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria, 2017
• Lisa Horvath, David Pirrò and Hanns Holger Rutz "Imperfect Reconstruction: an algorithmic project", 2017 ISBN:978-3-9503349-1-3
• Hanns Holger Rutz and David Pirrò. "Anemone actiniaria." In Proceedings of the 2016 xCoAx Conference, Computation, communication, Aesthetics and X, pages 404–408, 2016.
• Marian Weger, David Pirrò, Alexander Wankhammer, and Robert Höldrich. "Discrimination of tremor diseases by interactive sonification." In 5th Interactive Sonification Workshop (ISon), volume 12, 2016.
• Rutz, H. H., Pirrò, D., "Where Sounds Dwell" In Castillo, N., Howlett-Jones, K., (eds), Rose of the Winds, 2016 ISBN:978-3-9504253-1-4
• Georgios Marentakis, David Pirro, and Raphael Kapeller. "Zwischenräume-a case study in the evaluation of interactive sound installations." In Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference ICMC, 2014.
• Katharina Vogt, David Pirrò, and Robert Höldrich. "Waveguides for model-based sonification." In Proceedings of the 9th Sound and Music Computing Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012.
• Gerhard Eckel, Martin Rumori, David Pirrò, and Ramón González-Arroyo. "A framework for the choreography of sound." In Proceedings of the 38th International Computer Music Conference, pages 404–511, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2012.
• Georgios Marentakis and David Pirrò. "Exploring sound and spatialization design on speaker arrays using physical modelling." In Proceedings of the 9th Sound and Music Computing Conference, pages 55–60, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012.
• David Pirrò, Alexander Wankhammer, Petra Schwingenschuh, Alois Sontacchi, and Robert Höldrich. "Acoustic interface for tremor analysis." In Proc. of the 18th International Conference on Auditory Display, pages 210–213, Atlanta, Georgia, 2012.
• Katharina Vogt, David Pirrò, Martin Rumori, and Robert Höldrich. "Sounds of simulations: data listening space." In Proceedings of the 38th International Computer Music Conference, pages 525–530, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2012.
• David Pirrò and Gerhard Eckel. "Physical modelling enabling enaction: an example." In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, pages 461–464, Oslo, 2011.
• Katharina Vogt, David Pirrò, Ingo Kobenz, Robert Höldrich, and Gerhard Eckel. "Physiosonic-evaluated movement sonification as auditory feedback in physiotherapy." In In Sølvi Ystad, Mitsuko Aramaki, Richard Kronland-Martinet, and Kristoffer Jensen, editors, Auditory display, volume 5954 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science pages 103–120. Springer, 2010.
• Katharina Vogt, Robert Höldrich, David Pirrò, and Christof Gattringer. "Spin quartets, sonification of the xy model." In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Auditory Display, pages 97–102, Washington, DC, 2010.
• Niemüller, Tim, Alexander Ferrein, Gerhard Eckel, David Pirro, Patrick Podbregar, Tobias Kellner, Christof Rath, and Gerald Steinbauer. "Providing ground-truth data for the nao robot platform." In Robot Soccer World Cup, pp. 133-144. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2010.
• Katharina Vogt, Robert Höldrich, David Pirrò, Martin Rumori, Stefan Rossegger, Werner Riegler, and Matevz Tadel. "A sonic time projection chamber, sonified particle detection at cern." In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Auditory Display, pages 103–108, Washington, DC, 2010.
• Anna Saranti, Gerhard Eckel, and David Pirrò. "Quantum harmonic oscillator sonification." In Sølvi Ystad, Mitsuko Aramaki, Richard Kronland-Martinet, and Kristoffer Jensen, editors, Auditory Display, volume 5954 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 184–201. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2010.
• Eckel, G., Pirro, D., & Sharma, G. K. "Motion-enabled live electronics." In Proceedings of the 6th Sound and Music Computing Conference, Porto, Portugal, 2009
• Gerhard Eckel and David Pirrò. "On artistic research in the context of the project embodied generative music." In Proceedings of the 35th International Computer Music Conference, pages 541–544, Montréal, 2009.
• De Poli, Giovanni, Federico Avanzini, Antonio Rodà, Luca Mion, Gianluca d'Inca, Cosmo Trestino, Carlo de Pirro, Annie Luciani, and Nicolas Castagné. "Towards a multi-layer architecture for multi-modal rendering of expressive actions." In Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on Enactive Interfaces (ENACTIVE05), pages 541–544, Genova, Italy, 2005. 2005.

Artistic Project

David Pirrò, Daniele Pozzi

The project "Klangnetze" is a collaboratively developed, site-specific sound installation that sonically connects different places in Styria. It takes the concept of the network as a starting point. Mobile sound elements are installed in public spaces at five locations, interacting with each other and with their acoustic environment. These elements consist of photovoltaically powered computers that are programmed by the artists. In addition to the five locations in Styria, a virtual location will be added. Here, the five works installed in the public space are interconnected in another work that can be heard online.

Project proposal

The project started at the beginning of 2022. and will go on until end of 2022. The official web page will be online soon.

The project is jointly funded by the State of Styria and Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport) Klangnetze is a cooperation with:

• Leibnitz Kult
• eisenerZ*ART
• Gleisdorf
• Spielberg
• Ligist - Schilcherhof

Audio-visual Work

David Pirrò

The Metaboliser on the Researchcatalogue

The Metaboliser is an artistic audio-visual work whose development was triggered by a reaction towards a certain way of conceiving of and operating computers common in many branches of digital arts. A conception which relegates these machines to the role of mere accomplishment of a predefined task, mostly that of generating a perceptible audio or visual form for some kind of data or of the ideas of the artists. That is, computers are considered as a means for finding a solution to a problem of representation of something external.

…

The Metaboliser is an artistic work that embodies the ideas of networks and entanglement in different ways. It is a computational artefact that does not have a given solution to achieve: once it is started, it is a potentially endless process. Its temporal evolution is its primary sensible dimension: that is, rather than resulting in some static object which could be experienced as a singular object, the metaboliser continuously produces changing visual and auditory forms that cannot be extracted from their temporal sequence: a “snapshot” of its evolution cannot be extracted from the interconnection of its past and its future. The experience of the unfolding and development of its behaviour, the particular way in which subsequent states relate to each other, this is the mode of perception the work addresses.

…

This work originated within the artistic research project Transpositions.

Image

Appears in the Catalogue "the Book of X", 2022

The X stands for a place of interaction. Along its edges, a process of mutual interference, of irreversible entanglement takes place. Through the X differences meet and touch: they will never be the same. Through the X the one materializes weaving itself into the other.

Inside the X, the liminal space between, patterns emerge from noise. Paths branch off, rejoin, and spiral: they lose direc- tion in a labyrinth of choices with unforeseeable yet certain con- sequences.

Synchronization patterns of a two-dimensional lattice of coupled oscillators. Each oscillator interacts with the four near- est neighbours placed at the vertices of an X.

http://bookof.xcoax.org/

http://bookof.xcoax.org/thebookofx.pdf

Experimental Text

David Pirrò

Contribution to Spatial Experiments in MAST edited by Castillo-Rutz, Nayarí and Hederer, Franziska, appeared 2021

David Pirrò & Luc Döbereiner

The Special Interest Group on Artistic Research in Generative Art, founded 2021, (ARIGA) addresses artistic research that focuses on the computational, the algorithmic, and the generative. ARIGA offers a context for artistic practices that create processes whose performance results in the work of art: such performances may or may not be influenced by external factors or agents (the audience, human performers, data, light, the weather etc.). We refer to practices that set the conditions for a work of art to emerge based on the temporal and unforeseeable interaction of an ensemble of agents, objects or rules. ARIGA gathers artist researchers working in diverse media, including space, sound, image, video, sculpture, and language.

The group addresses practices that engage in an interaction with computational artifacts that suspend preconceived functioning — tools or instruments to achieve something — and rather embrace the mutual evolution of technology and artistic thought. It further advocates for a stance towards the computational as a non-atomic and actor integrated in a mesh of irreducible interrelations, as part of an ecology in which technological, historical, social, scientific aspects interact. ARIGA critically addresses fundamental questions common to diverse practices and approaches relating to notation, the textuality of source code, the role of procedures, computation and automation in creative processes, the materiality of algorithms, machine agency, and data as material. Moreover, we seek to provide a context for the critical and speculative artistic exploration of web technologies and their potential to connect and relate people, places, spaces, time scales, data and algorithms.

ARIGA seeks to establish a framework and network for existing communities of artistic researchers working with computational material. ARIGA aims to create a context for exchange, collaboration, publication, and discourse for artists and researchers in experimental generative art. We deem such a platform particularly relevant due to the increasing digitization of our lives, post-covid remote presence mediated by networks of computational agents, and the ubiquity of AI and machine learning in everyday life and the arts. ARIGA provides a space for critical and artistic reflection on these realities.

ARIGA has been proposed and conceived by David Pirrò and Luc Döbereiner. We aim to form a larger group of core organizing members representing a more diverse group of artistic disciplines and practices.

We propose to establish a regularly appearing peer-reviewed online publication medium (e.g. "Journal for Generative Art", working title) hosted on the Research Catalogue, either autonomously or as part of an already established journal. In doing so, we aim to actively feed into the further development of the Research Catalogue by gathering creative coding practices and expertise. In this way, ARIGA aims to foster the development of genuinely generative and computational presentation and publication formats. In addition, we propose to contribute to SAR conferences with panels, presentations, and workshops centered around artistic research in generative art.

The ARIGA Special Interest Group is supported by the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

ARIGA introduction on the Researchcatalogue

Link to the ARIGA Portal on the researchcatalogue

Link to the ARIGA channel on youtube hosting the recording of the ARIGA sessions. In each session group's members present their work in Generative Arts

The Special Interest Group on Artistic Research in Generative Art has been closed in 2023

Piece

Computational Studies of Entanglement

The piece is part of a series exploring the temporal behaviour of systems composed of interacting elements. Of particular interest are the temporal and spatial structures appearing and vanishing in the synchronisation processes between mutually influencing, or entangled, entities.

Appears in the CD Segmod by DUMPF EDITION

CD

http://iem.kug.ac.at/institut-aktuell/details/article/tangible-sound.html