The new artistic research project “Spirits in Complexity” is a cooperative effort together with the Johannes Kepler University (JKU) in Linz, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, the University of the Arts in Reykjavik, and several artistic and scientific experts.

The infrastructure research project Applied/Experimental Sound Research Laboratory (ÆSR Lab) (2023–2026) is a collaborative effort of the University of Applied Arts, the mdw (Artistic Research Center and Department of Composition Studies and Music Production), and the Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. This project embodies an initiative to develop a mobile and modular sound research lab.

It was with the Rotting Sounds Symposium on 23 and 24 September and the concert Einschreibung, Übertragung, Abtragung [Inscription, Transcription, Erosion] on the evening of 12 November in cooperation with Vienna’s contemporary music festival Wien Modern that we presented the Future Art Lab’s (FAL) Sound Theatre to the public with an audience present for the very first time.

After a flat, circular artifact reminiscent of a compact disc had been found in Vienna’s Auer-Welsbach Park back in June of 2019, it took quite some analytical work to determine that it was indeed a digital data medium containing a lengthy message of unclear origin.

Since its founding in 1963, the mdw’s Certificate Programme in Electroacoustic and Experimental Music (ELAK) has embodied an open, present-oriented, electronic sound-based platform for a wide range of practices in audible art ranging from musical composition to live electronics, sound design, inter-media installations, and performances.

On the Temporal Deterioration of Digital Audio: Embracing Degradation