It’s a mixture of curiosity, enthusiasm, and perhaps anxiety that can often arise when the talk turns to AI technologies’ deployment in our everyday private and professional lives. At home, it might be a robovac that’s supposed to save us work but—How could it be otherwise?—ends up repeatedly needing help. In academic and artistic contexts, on the other hand, it’s about things like questions of authorship, innovation, and inspiration.

In her recently published book Die Zeitreisende [Time Traveler], global star Ute Lemper describes her unusual journey as an artist—including the years she spent at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. The reading tour of this multiple award-winning actor, singer, dancer, and author included a stop in Vienna, where she joined us at the Seminar for this interview.

A discussion with Dagmar Abfalter, Karl-Gerhard Straßl, Walter Werzowa and Christoph Stuhlpfarrer of the approach to artificial intelligence tools at the mdw.

In mid-April of 2023, fans of Canadian superstar rapper Drake broke out in jubilation over a new release by their idol as the song “Heart on My Sleeve” appeared on Spotify and then on YouTube, after which it went viral on TikTok. It soon became clear, however, that what seemed to be a duet between Drake and his Canadian compatriot The Weeknd was actually an AI-generated deepfake.

The fact that Helmut Lachenmann now occupies an outstanding position in the contemporary music scene is owed not just to his compositions but also to the efficacy of his writings, which have stimulated the production of a considerable number of texts referring thereto.

In the new research column “Early Stage Researchers”, up-and-coming academics at the mdw offer glimpses into their intriguing and wide-ranging research activities.

How do art and sound enter into dialogue with each other in the public realm? As part of KlangBildKlang, the three-day spring school “Sonic Dialogues: Intersections of Art and Sound in Public Spaces” offered a forum for early-stage researchers to explore precisely this question.