Hanns Holger Rutz is an artist and researcher at the intersection of sound art, computer music, digital art and intermedia. He is also the author of various computer programs for sound transformation and algorithmic electroacoustic composition. He holds a PhD in computer music from Plymouth University, UK, and 2014–2022 he was postdoc at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG), AT. 2017–2021 he led the artistic research project 'Algorithms that Matter' (FWF AR-403) on algorithmic experimentation in sound, 2022–2025 he leads the artistic research project 'Simultaneous Arrivals' (FWF AR-714) on novel forms of collaborative intermedia practices. Rutz is Professor for Artistic Research at the Gustav Mahler Private University for Music (GMPU) Klagenfurt, AT.
Proceedings of 8th Colloquium on Artistic Research in Performing Arts (CARPA8), 2024
Departing from the question what a machinic self is that exerts a thought or will when put into o... more Departing from the question what a machinic self is that exerts a thought or will when put into operation, this text proposes that human-machine and human-human ensembles become more interesting from an artistic research perspective when conceived as “moving along”, rather than investigating them through diachronic or synchronic coupling. By way of looking at the projects Algorithms that Matter and Simultaneous Arrivals, a third position is identified with the notion of simultaneity. A “time-space” is created that enables and encourages contact without the identification of positions or rhythms. While the selves of the ensemble’s constituents are not dissolved, the focus moves on to the “within” that such time-space provides, allowing different forms of collaborative making and practising and to potentially overcome the divide between self and other. To make use of dramaturgy for a simultaneous, circulatory work, it has to be developed from a narrative logic of and-then into a topology of or-there.
Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X (xCoAx 2023), 2023
Strip & Embellish is a young experimental live sound project founded in 2022 by computer music du... more Strip & Embellish is a young experimental live sound project founded in 2022 by computer music duo Daniele Pozzi and Hanns Holger Rutz. Both have developed specific, individual digital instruments based on the SuperCollider sound synthesis language which are strongly linked together by plugging each other's sound signal into many nodes and entry points of the opposite system, creating essentially a complex non-linear feedback process. The project frames electronic music improvisation as a form of parallel collaborative musicking, whose computer-mediated synergies are subject to experimentation through the development of idiosyncratic software tools and strategies that introduce asymmetries, deviations and interruptions in the performance.
Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X (xCoAx 2023), 2023
This piece embodies an instance in an ongoing series of intermedia entities. Deriving its name pe... more This piece embodies an instance in an ongoing series of intermedia entities. Deriving its name perhaps from the French word for fish eggs or from the vintage computer game adventurer, a Rogue denotes a thing that lives with you. It is a multi-sensory and multi-modal object, perhaps sitting somewhere, in an exhibition space, or a private space, or outside waiting for the birds. Rogues may appear in different forms, but it is estimated that their size is somewhat in the magnitude of a human child. Like other creatures, one might be of different dimensions than the other. A Rogue is a thing that emits sound and image, it takes in sensations of its surroundings. It is not a surveillance device, its senses are, for example, touch, proximity, and light. When there are several Rogues in a space, they can make connections between them. A Rogue grows a memory of its place, accumulating sensor data, employing algorithms, adopting fragments of data from other Rogues. In their phoretic configuration-derived from the biological property of organisms to utilise others for spatial movement-humans aid the Rogues with the exchange of information fragments across space.
xCoAx 2022 Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, 2022
Kontakt (simultan) is a hybrid net-art piece and screen installation on an experimental waiting p... more Kontakt (simultan) is a hybrid net-art piece and screen installation on an experimental waiting process taking place as a permanent arrangement inside the studio of Reagenz. Here, a glass plate with collected lichen fragments is irrigated and photographed four times a day, perhaps producing an extremely slow growth, that is revealed as a time series of the photographs. The recordings began in April 2021. The process can be followed online, as a bot posts the photographs on a social media account. The second form are physical installations, using either a suspended screen in a showroom window, in front of which stereoscopic lenses are mounted, or a tabletop viewing device. In these versions, the most recent photo is superimposed with a photo that was taken a month ago. The tabletop version allows the visitor to scroll through the time series. The photographs are augmented by text lines contributed by people reacting to an ongoing open call, reflecting on waiting and on making contact.
Proceedings of the 7th Colloquium on Artistic Research in Performing Arts (CARPA7), 2022
The singular “writing” is always suspicious, as the source of truth and authority, as monism. The... more The singular “writing” is always suspicious, as the source of truth and authority, as monism. The multiple on the other hand(s) seems like the supreme expression of the algorithmic. A potentially endlessly ongoing writing, iteration, recursion, re-instantiation, or as Frieder Nake put it: “The work of art in algorithmic art is the description of an infinity of possible works.” Perhaps against the backdrop of capitalist-industrialist automated production and techno-optimism, when Cage was interviewed about HPSCHD, he said that “in the case of working with another person and with computer facilities, the need to work as though decisions were scarce – as though you had to limit yourself to one idea – is no longer pressing. It’s a change from the influences of scarcity or economy to the influences of abundance and – I’d be willing to say – waste.” Waste, surplus, excess. It is interesting that the work on computers is linked here with collaborative work. How can we arrive at a form of excessive and collaborative writing that does not subscribe to the techno-optimist logic or imperative that all writing should become inter-connectable, compatible, ready for optimisation and exploitation? We want to capture this idea of a surplus writing – writing with machines, through machines, writing with other artists – that resists becoming a network node, one that preserves the alterity of each agent in the process, as a simultaneous writing. Instead of defining a topology that assigns positions to each part, totalising the text’s meaning, simultaneous writing practices hodology, makes pathways, orients different texts towards each other, allowing them to come together in a space without establishing cause-and-effect or hierarchy among them. In this presentation, we work with sound and computation. We understand writing as an operation more generic than “linguistic” and discrete writing.
Proceedings of International Computer Music Conference (ICMC 2011), Huddersfield, UK, 2011
We elaborate on the feature of reproducibility and random access in the process of electroacousti... more We elaborate on the feature of reproducibility and random access in the process of electroacoustic composition. Random access has an intrinsic relationship to concrete sound material by means of the cutting operation. We propose a concise model of the electroacoustic composition process and within it locate the importance of random access. Random access is then interpreted in the light of real-time sound synthesis and the potential and limitations of such interpretation are shown. Implementation approaches are demonstrated on the SuperCollider Server. A final discussion questions the object of effigy in the reproduced sound structure, instead arguing for the concept of a differential reproduction.
Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, 2021
We register a need for novel ways of collaborative artistic work beyond solitary authorship or fu... more We register a need for novel ways of collaborative artistic work beyond solitary authorship or functional differentiation, on one hand, and unified, synchronised collective production, on the other hand. We propose that a transversal understanding of different kinds of spaces—spaces of thought, aesthetic spaces, and physical spaces—leads to a method for this envisioned new collaborative approach, and to include a horizontal nexus between spatial functions (workspace, exhibition space). We present three study cases and experiences that informed our approach, suggesting particular techniques that facilitated a “singular plural” perspective on artistic creation. We finally ask how this may help addressing the limitations of artistic online work.
Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, 2021
This audio-visual web piece explores the possibilities of defining a new type of personal aesthet... more This audio-visual web piece explores the possibilities of defining a new type of personal aesthetic space in the audience’s browser, reconfiguring and transposing a former interactive multi-channel installation piece for a physical 100 m 2 space. How can the underlying principles of filtration, fibres and latent sonic spaces be applied to this new type of space? How can a meaningful sound art experience be created for personal laptops and desktop computers, an experience that one wants to return to, surviving the short- lived attention economy of the screen space and the crowded browser tabs?
AM '20: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Audio Mostly, 2020
This article reports on a new library for the ScalaCollider and Sound Processes computer music en... more This article reports on a new library for the ScalaCollider and Sound Processes computer music environments, a translation and adaptation of the patterns subsystem known from SuperCollider. From the perspective of electroacoustic music, patterns can easily be overlooked by reducing their meaning to the production of “notes” in the manner of “algorithmic composition”. However, we show that they can be understood as a particular kind of programming language, considering them as a domain specific language for structures inspired by collection processing. Using examples from
SuperCollider created by Ron Kuivila during an artistic research residency embedded in our project Algorithms that Matter, we show the challenges in translating this system from one programming language with a particular set of paradigms to another. If this process is studied as a reconfiguration of an algorithmic ensemble, the translated system produces new usage scenarios hitherto not possible.
Accepted paper, 15th Sound & Music Computing Conference (SMC), 2018
This article reports on a new library for the ScalaCollider and Sound Processes computer music en... more This article reports on a new library for the ScalaCollider and Sound Processes computer music environments, a translation and adaptation of the patterns subsystem known from SuperCollider. From the perspective of electro-acoustic music, patterns can easily be overlooked by reducing their meaning to the production of " notes " in the manner of " algorithmic composition ". However, we show that they can be understood as a particular kind of programming language, considering them as a domain specific language for structures inspired by collection processing. Using examples from SuperCollider created by Ron Kuivila during an artistic research residency embedded in our project Algorithms that Matter, we show the challenges in translating this system from one programming language with a particular set of paradigms to another. If this process is studied as a reconfiguration of an algorithmic ensemble, the translated system produces new usage scenarios hitherto not possible.
We present two modules from a series of works that explore the relationship between corporeality ... more We present two modules from a series of works that explore the relationship between corporeality and the algorithmic. Each module or Körper (body) is realised as an environmentally coupled, sensitive installation with the digitally composed modalities being primarily sound and moving image. A module is comprised of heterogeneous internally coupled algorithms that react in a non-direct way to ambient perturbation. Körper α uses a number of continuous-signal ultra-sound circuits, Körper β uses a video camera image.
Departing from the discourse on whether a specific (social, ethical) responsibility is attached t... more Departing from the discourse on whether a specific (social, ethical) responsibility is attached to the creation and manipulation of algorithms, this article questions the prerequisite of having an identity of algorithms to which that responsibility could be attached. After showing that such identity is partly fictional due to the fact that algorithms are connected to other algorithms and their identity is always a selective reading of a series of transitions through which algorithms come into existence, the perspective is shifted to the algorithmic as the medium of algorithms and as the actual agential domain. This shift translates responsibility into the ability to respond to otherness and non-identity through sensitive forms of alignment. Comparing the algorithmic with the desiring-machines of Deleuze and Guattari, this article proposes that its dynamics of flows and interruptions could be artistically reflected as halting operations that controvert the superficial evaluation of algorithms, for example under the classical decision problem or halting problem. A possible strategy for making the inner dynamics perceivable is proposed through a balancing act between the credible and the incredible, the plausible and the implausible.
SysSon is a sonification platform originally developed in collaboration with climatologists. It c... more SysSon is a sonification platform originally developed in collaboration with climatologists. It contains a domain-specific language for the design of sonification templates, providing abstractions for matrix input data and accessing it in real-time sound synthesis. A shortcoming of the previous version had been the limited breadth of transformations applicable to this matrix data in real-time. We observed that the development of sonification objects often requires pre-processing stages outside the real-time domain, limiting the possibilities of fully integrating models directly into the platform. We designed a new layer for the soni-fication editor that provides another, semantically similar domain-specific language for offline rendering. Offline and real-time processing are unified through common interfaces and through a mechanism by which the latter can make use of the outputs of the former stage. Auxiliary data calculated in the offline stage is captured by a persisting caching mechanism, avoiding waiting time when running a sonification repeatedly.
One could characterise algorithms by operations of selection — selecting elements, selecting an o... more One could characterise algorithms by operations of selection — selecting elements, selecting an order between elements, categorising and unambiguously reducing data. It is perhaps through these forms of completion that algorithms exert power, or that some actor attempts to exert power by way of an algorithm. This article proposes that an artistic counter-strategy, a strategy of de-weaponising and aestheti-cising algorithms, is the conscious exploration of operations of un-or non-selection, that is the interruption of the flow of algorithms, their incomple-tion. These operations are elaborated by looking at a number of video pieces, revealing a temporality that cuts across the boundaries of pieces and unpacks the apparent boundaries of algorithms.
Although the concept of algorithms has been established a long time ago, their current topicality... more Although the concept of algorithms has been established a long time ago, their current topicality indicates a shift in the discourse. Classical definitions based on logic seem to be inadequate to describe their aesthetic capabilities. New approaches stress their involvement in material practices as well as their incompleteness. Algorithmic aesthetics can no longer be tied to the static analysis of programs, but must take into account the dynamic and experimental nature of coding practices. It is suggested that the aesthetic objects thus produced articulate something that could be called algorithmicity or the space of algorithmic agency. This is the space or the medium – following Luhmann's form/medium distinction – where human and machine undergo mutual incursions. In the resulting coupled " extimate " writing process, human initiative and algorithmic speculation cannot be clearly divided out any longer. An observation is attempted of defining aspects of such a medium by drawing a trajectory across a number of sound pieces. The operation of exchange between form and medium I call reconfiguration and it is indicated by this trajectory.
Anemone Actiniaria is an algorithmic improvisation duo founded by Hanns Holger Rutz and David Pir... more Anemone Actiniaria is an algorithmic improvisation duo founded by Hanns Holger Rutz and David Pirrò. 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.
Although the concept of algorithms has been established a long time ago, their current topicality... more Although the concept of algorithms has been established a long time ago, their current topicality indicates a shift in the discourse. Classical definitions based in logic seem to be inadequate to describe their aesthetic capabilities. New approaches stress their involvement in material practices as well as their incomplete-ness. Based on the distinction of form and medium, as known for example in Luhmann's work, we propose that algorithms are actual forms taken out of a medium we tentatively call algorith-micity. We attempt an observation of defining aspects of such a medium by drawing a trajectory across a number of sound pieces. The operation of exchange between form and medium we call reconfiguration and it is articulated along this trajectory.
We introduce SysSon, a platform for the development and application of sonification. SysSon aims ... more We introduce SysSon, a platform for the development and application of sonification. SysSon aims to be an integrative system that serves different types of users, from domain scientists to sonification researchers to composers and sound artists. It therefore has an open nature capable of addressing different usage scenarios. We have used SysSon both in workshops with climatologists and sonification researchers and as the engine to run a real-time sound installation based on climate data. The paper outlines the architecture and design decisions made, showing how a sonification system can be conceived as a collection of specialised abstractions that sit atop a general computer music environment. We report on our experience with SysSon so far and make suggestions about future improvements.
SysSon is a research approach on introducing sonification systematically to a scientific communit... more SysSon is a research approach on introducing sonification systematically to a scientific community where it is not yet commonly used - e.g., in climate science. Thereby, both technical and socio-cultural barriers have to be met. The approach was further developed with climate scientists, who participated in contextual inquiries, usability tests and a workshop of collaborative design. Following from these extensive user tests resulted our final software framework. As frontend, a graphical user interface allows climate scientists to parametrize standard sonifications with their own data sets. Additionally, an interactive shell allows to code new sonifications for users competent in sound design. The framework is a standalone desktop application, available as open source (for details see http://sysson.kug.ac.at/) and works with data in NetCDF format.
Proceedings of 8th Colloquium on Artistic Research in Performing Arts (CARPA8), 2024
Departing from the question what a machinic self is that exerts a thought or will when put into o... more Departing from the question what a machinic self is that exerts a thought or will when put into operation, this text proposes that human-machine and human-human ensembles become more interesting from an artistic research perspective when conceived as “moving along”, rather than investigating them through diachronic or synchronic coupling. By way of looking at the projects Algorithms that Matter and Simultaneous Arrivals, a third position is identified with the notion of simultaneity. A “time-space” is created that enables and encourages contact without the identification of positions or rhythms. While the selves of the ensemble’s constituents are not dissolved, the focus moves on to the “within” that such time-space provides, allowing different forms of collaborative making and practising and to potentially overcome the divide between self and other. To make use of dramaturgy for a simultaneous, circulatory work, it has to be developed from a narrative logic of and-then into a topology of or-there.
Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X (xCoAx 2023), 2023
Strip & Embellish is a young experimental live sound project founded in 2022 by computer music du... more Strip & Embellish is a young experimental live sound project founded in 2022 by computer music duo Daniele Pozzi and Hanns Holger Rutz. Both have developed specific, individual digital instruments based on the SuperCollider sound synthesis language which are strongly linked together by plugging each other's sound signal into many nodes and entry points of the opposite system, creating essentially a complex non-linear feedback process. The project frames electronic music improvisation as a form of parallel collaborative musicking, whose computer-mediated synergies are subject to experimentation through the development of idiosyncratic software tools and strategies that introduce asymmetries, deviations and interruptions in the performance.
Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X (xCoAx 2023), 2023
This piece embodies an instance in an ongoing series of intermedia entities. Deriving its name pe... more This piece embodies an instance in an ongoing series of intermedia entities. Deriving its name perhaps from the French word for fish eggs or from the vintage computer game adventurer, a Rogue denotes a thing that lives with you. It is a multi-sensory and multi-modal object, perhaps sitting somewhere, in an exhibition space, or a private space, or outside waiting for the birds. Rogues may appear in different forms, but it is estimated that their size is somewhat in the magnitude of a human child. Like other creatures, one might be of different dimensions than the other. A Rogue is a thing that emits sound and image, it takes in sensations of its surroundings. It is not a surveillance device, its senses are, for example, touch, proximity, and light. When there are several Rogues in a space, they can make connections between them. A Rogue grows a memory of its place, accumulating sensor data, employing algorithms, adopting fragments of data from other Rogues. In their phoretic configuration-derived from the biological property of organisms to utilise others for spatial movement-humans aid the Rogues with the exchange of information fragments across space.
xCoAx 2022 Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, 2022
Kontakt (simultan) is a hybrid net-art piece and screen installation on an experimental waiting p... more Kontakt (simultan) is a hybrid net-art piece and screen installation on an experimental waiting process taking place as a permanent arrangement inside the studio of Reagenz. Here, a glass plate with collected lichen fragments is irrigated and photographed four times a day, perhaps producing an extremely slow growth, that is revealed as a time series of the photographs. The recordings began in April 2021. The process can be followed online, as a bot posts the photographs on a social media account. The second form are physical installations, using either a suspended screen in a showroom window, in front of which stereoscopic lenses are mounted, or a tabletop viewing device. In these versions, the most recent photo is superimposed with a photo that was taken a month ago. The tabletop version allows the visitor to scroll through the time series. The photographs are augmented by text lines contributed by people reacting to an ongoing open call, reflecting on waiting and on making contact.
Proceedings of the 7th Colloquium on Artistic Research in Performing Arts (CARPA7), 2022
The singular “writing” is always suspicious, as the source of truth and authority, as monism. The... more The singular “writing” is always suspicious, as the source of truth and authority, as monism. The multiple on the other hand(s) seems like the supreme expression of the algorithmic. A potentially endlessly ongoing writing, iteration, recursion, re-instantiation, or as Frieder Nake put it: “The work of art in algorithmic art is the description of an infinity of possible works.” Perhaps against the backdrop of capitalist-industrialist automated production and techno-optimism, when Cage was interviewed about HPSCHD, he said that “in the case of working with another person and with computer facilities, the need to work as though decisions were scarce – as though you had to limit yourself to one idea – is no longer pressing. It’s a change from the influences of scarcity or economy to the influences of abundance and – I’d be willing to say – waste.” Waste, surplus, excess. It is interesting that the work on computers is linked here with collaborative work. How can we arrive at a form of excessive and collaborative writing that does not subscribe to the techno-optimist logic or imperative that all writing should become inter-connectable, compatible, ready for optimisation and exploitation? We want to capture this idea of a surplus writing – writing with machines, through machines, writing with other artists – that resists becoming a network node, one that preserves the alterity of each agent in the process, as a simultaneous writing. Instead of defining a topology that assigns positions to each part, totalising the text’s meaning, simultaneous writing practices hodology, makes pathways, orients different texts towards each other, allowing them to come together in a space without establishing cause-and-effect or hierarchy among them. In this presentation, we work with sound and computation. We understand writing as an operation more generic than “linguistic” and discrete writing.
Proceedings of International Computer Music Conference (ICMC 2011), Huddersfield, UK, 2011
We elaborate on the feature of reproducibility and random access in the process of electroacousti... more We elaborate on the feature of reproducibility and random access in the process of electroacoustic composition. Random access has an intrinsic relationship to concrete sound material by means of the cutting operation. We propose a concise model of the electroacoustic composition process and within it locate the importance of random access. Random access is then interpreted in the light of real-time sound synthesis and the potential and limitations of such interpretation are shown. Implementation approaches are demonstrated on the SuperCollider Server. A final discussion questions the object of effigy in the reproduced sound structure, instead arguing for the concept of a differential reproduction.
Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, 2021
We register a need for novel ways of collaborative artistic work beyond solitary authorship or fu... more We register a need for novel ways of collaborative artistic work beyond solitary authorship or functional differentiation, on one hand, and unified, synchronised collective production, on the other hand. We propose that a transversal understanding of different kinds of spaces—spaces of thought, aesthetic spaces, and physical spaces—leads to a method for this envisioned new collaborative approach, and to include a horizontal nexus between spatial functions (workspace, exhibition space). We present three study cases and experiences that informed our approach, suggesting particular techniques that facilitated a “singular plural” perspective on artistic creation. We finally ask how this may help addressing the limitations of artistic online work.
Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, 2021
This audio-visual web piece explores the possibilities of defining a new type of personal aesthet... more This audio-visual web piece explores the possibilities of defining a new type of personal aesthetic space in the audience’s browser, reconfiguring and transposing a former interactive multi-channel installation piece for a physical 100 m 2 space. How can the underlying principles of filtration, fibres and latent sonic spaces be applied to this new type of space? How can a meaningful sound art experience be created for personal laptops and desktop computers, an experience that one wants to return to, surviving the short- lived attention economy of the screen space and the crowded browser tabs?
AM '20: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Audio Mostly, 2020
This article reports on a new library for the ScalaCollider and Sound Processes computer music en... more This article reports on a new library for the ScalaCollider and Sound Processes computer music environments, a translation and adaptation of the patterns subsystem known from SuperCollider. From the perspective of electroacoustic music, patterns can easily be overlooked by reducing their meaning to the production of “notes” in the manner of “algorithmic composition”. However, we show that they can be understood as a particular kind of programming language, considering them as a domain specific language for structures inspired by collection processing. Using examples from
SuperCollider created by Ron Kuivila during an artistic research residency embedded in our project Algorithms that Matter, we show the challenges in translating this system from one programming language with a particular set of paradigms to another. If this process is studied as a reconfiguration of an algorithmic ensemble, the translated system produces new usage scenarios hitherto not possible.
Accepted paper, 15th Sound & Music Computing Conference (SMC), 2018
This article reports on a new library for the ScalaCollider and Sound Processes computer music en... more This article reports on a new library for the ScalaCollider and Sound Processes computer music environments, a translation and adaptation of the patterns subsystem known from SuperCollider. From the perspective of electro-acoustic music, patterns can easily be overlooked by reducing their meaning to the production of " notes " in the manner of " algorithmic composition ". However, we show that they can be understood as a particular kind of programming language, considering them as a domain specific language for structures inspired by collection processing. Using examples from SuperCollider created by Ron Kuivila during an artistic research residency embedded in our project Algorithms that Matter, we show the challenges in translating this system from one programming language with a particular set of paradigms to another. If this process is studied as a reconfiguration of an algorithmic ensemble, the translated system produces new usage scenarios hitherto not possible.
We present two modules from a series of works that explore the relationship between corporeality ... more We present two modules from a series of works that explore the relationship between corporeality and the algorithmic. Each module or Körper (body) is realised as an environmentally coupled, sensitive installation with the digitally composed modalities being primarily sound and moving image. A module is comprised of heterogeneous internally coupled algorithms that react in a non-direct way to ambient perturbation. Körper α uses a number of continuous-signal ultra-sound circuits, Körper β uses a video camera image.
Departing from the discourse on whether a specific (social, ethical) responsibility is attached t... more Departing from the discourse on whether a specific (social, ethical) responsibility is attached to the creation and manipulation of algorithms, this article questions the prerequisite of having an identity of algorithms to which that responsibility could be attached. After showing that such identity is partly fictional due to the fact that algorithms are connected to other algorithms and their identity is always a selective reading of a series of transitions through which algorithms come into existence, the perspective is shifted to the algorithmic as the medium of algorithms and as the actual agential domain. This shift translates responsibility into the ability to respond to otherness and non-identity through sensitive forms of alignment. Comparing the algorithmic with the desiring-machines of Deleuze and Guattari, this article proposes that its dynamics of flows and interruptions could be artistically reflected as halting operations that controvert the superficial evaluation of algorithms, for example under the classical decision problem or halting problem. A possible strategy for making the inner dynamics perceivable is proposed through a balancing act between the credible and the incredible, the plausible and the implausible.
SysSon is a sonification platform originally developed in collaboration with climatologists. It c... more SysSon is a sonification platform originally developed in collaboration with climatologists. It contains a domain-specific language for the design of sonification templates, providing abstractions for matrix input data and accessing it in real-time sound synthesis. A shortcoming of the previous version had been the limited breadth of transformations applicable to this matrix data in real-time. We observed that the development of sonification objects often requires pre-processing stages outside the real-time domain, limiting the possibilities of fully integrating models directly into the platform. We designed a new layer for the soni-fication editor that provides another, semantically similar domain-specific language for offline rendering. Offline and real-time processing are unified through common interfaces and through a mechanism by which the latter can make use of the outputs of the former stage. Auxiliary data calculated in the offline stage is captured by a persisting caching mechanism, avoiding waiting time when running a sonification repeatedly.
One could characterise algorithms by operations of selection — selecting elements, selecting an o... more One could characterise algorithms by operations of selection — selecting elements, selecting an order between elements, categorising and unambiguously reducing data. It is perhaps through these forms of completion that algorithms exert power, or that some actor attempts to exert power by way of an algorithm. This article proposes that an artistic counter-strategy, a strategy of de-weaponising and aestheti-cising algorithms, is the conscious exploration of operations of un-or non-selection, that is the interruption of the flow of algorithms, their incomple-tion. These operations are elaborated by looking at a number of video pieces, revealing a temporality that cuts across the boundaries of pieces and unpacks the apparent boundaries of algorithms.
Although the concept of algorithms has been established a long time ago, their current topicality... more Although the concept of algorithms has been established a long time ago, their current topicality indicates a shift in the discourse. Classical definitions based on logic seem to be inadequate to describe their aesthetic capabilities. New approaches stress their involvement in material practices as well as their incompleteness. Algorithmic aesthetics can no longer be tied to the static analysis of programs, but must take into account the dynamic and experimental nature of coding practices. It is suggested that the aesthetic objects thus produced articulate something that could be called algorithmicity or the space of algorithmic agency. This is the space or the medium – following Luhmann's form/medium distinction – where human and machine undergo mutual incursions. In the resulting coupled " extimate " writing process, human initiative and algorithmic speculation cannot be clearly divided out any longer. An observation is attempted of defining aspects of such a medium by drawing a trajectory across a number of sound pieces. The operation of exchange between form and medium I call reconfiguration and it is indicated by this trajectory.
Anemone Actiniaria is an algorithmic improvisation duo founded by Hanns Holger Rutz and David Pir... more Anemone Actiniaria is an algorithmic improvisation duo founded by Hanns Holger Rutz and David Pirrò. 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.
Although the concept of algorithms has been established a long time ago, their current topicality... more Although the concept of algorithms has been established a long time ago, their current topicality indicates a shift in the discourse. Classical definitions based in logic seem to be inadequate to describe their aesthetic capabilities. New approaches stress their involvement in material practices as well as their incomplete-ness. Based on the distinction of form and medium, as known for example in Luhmann's work, we propose that algorithms are actual forms taken out of a medium we tentatively call algorith-micity. We attempt an observation of defining aspects of such a medium by drawing a trajectory across a number of sound pieces. The operation of exchange between form and medium we call reconfiguration and it is articulated along this trajectory.
We introduce SysSon, a platform for the development and application of sonification. SysSon aims ... more We introduce SysSon, a platform for the development and application of sonification. SysSon aims to be an integrative system that serves different types of users, from domain scientists to sonification researchers to composers and sound artists. It therefore has an open nature capable of addressing different usage scenarios. We have used SysSon both in workshops with climatologists and sonification researchers and as the engine to run a real-time sound installation based on climate data. The paper outlines the architecture and design decisions made, showing how a sonification system can be conceived as a collection of specialised abstractions that sit atop a general computer music environment. We report on our experience with SysSon so far and make suggestions about future improvements.
SysSon is a research approach on introducing sonification systematically to a scientific communit... more SysSon is a research approach on introducing sonification systematically to a scientific community where it is not yet commonly used - e.g., in climate science. Thereby, both technical and socio-cultural barriers have to be met. The approach was further developed with climate scientists, who participated in contextual inquiries, usability tests and a workshop of collaborative design. Following from these extensive user tests resulted our final software framework. As frontend, a graphical user interface allows climate scientists to parametrize standard sonifications with their own data sets. Additionally, an interactive shell allows to code new sonifications for users competent in sound design. The framework is a standalone desktop application, available as open source (for details see http://sysson.kug.ac.at/) and works with data in NetCDF format.
What would be a good description for the sponge-like behaviour we practised during the intensive ... more What would be a good description for the sponge-like behaviour we practised during the intensive week of the artistic research pilot study 'Swap Space'? For the way in which experiences were created that persist and inform my future doing? I started out with six terms as openings, but decided to make the text more lightweight, simply stopping after four of them, thus not claiming any exhaustiveness of their treatment.
in: Swap Spaces, edited by Nayarí Castillo and Hanns Holger Rutz, 70–77. Graz: Reagenz Verlag. ISBN: 978-3-9504622-5-8.
Demokratie und Frieden auf der Straße: Comrade Conrade, 2019
Diodos Electroluminiscentes; Selección de los Textos; Arrancando Máquinas; Envió de la Grabadora;... more Diodos Electroluminiscentes; Selección de los Textos; Arrancando Máquinas; Envió de la Grabadora; No a la Bandera; Energía Sonora; Surrealismo; Umbral; Mexico; Hojas; Fases; Cielo
The Book of X: 10 Years of Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, 2022
X is for Hybrid. The German word “kreuzen” means to cross or to hybridise. When spoken—ˈkʁɔɪ̯t s ... more X is for Hybrid. The German word “kreuzen” means to cross or to hybridise. When spoken—ˈkʁɔɪ̯t s ͡ n—the sonogram of this word has a cross shape itself with both a temporal and a spectral stop gap, creating four quadrants: a crossing means two things meet and depart, both become transformed. The graphics are based on hundreds of recorded instances of the word, each revealing a slightly different articulation. The corpus is clustered into four quadrants and a subset of each cluster is composited after rendering each individual using the Growing Neural Gas algorithm, which imposes its own characteristics.
Nayarí Castillo, Gertrude Maria Grossegger, Hanns Holger Rutz (eds.) 2018. SCHWÄRMEN + VERNETZEN Bewegungsprofile des Holobionten — Impulse für transdisziplinäre künstlerische Prozesse | SWARMING + NETWORKING Movement profiles of the Holobiont — impulses for transdisciplinary artistic processes., 2018
Essay and typographic-algorithmic experiment in the context of the exhibition catalogue for “swar... more Essay and typographic-algorithmic experiment in the context of the exhibition catalogue for “swarming + networking” (“schwärmen + vernetzen”). Leporello, inserted at page 42.
Hanns Holger Rutz (2017), "Escaping Prolonging". In: Imperfect Reconstruction – An algorithmic pr... more Hanns Holger Rutz (2017), "Escaping Prolonging". In: Imperfect Reconstruction – An algorithmic project by Lisa Horvath, David Pirrò, Hanns Holger Rutz (catalog). Graz: esc media art lab, pp. 56–59
Reflections on the improvisational practice of the algorithmic duo "Anemone Actiniaria". Publishe... more Reflections on the improvisational practice of the algorithmic duo "Anemone Actiniaria". Published in: Nayarí Castillo and Kate Howlett-Jones (Eds.), Rose of the Winds (Catalogue). Graz 2016, p. 76–79
The essay outlines the thoughts around which the fixed media electro-acoustic composition 'Leere ... more The essay outlines the thoughts around which the fixed media electro-acoustic composition 'Leere Null (2)' is centered. It proposes the idea of 'programmed time', a time which exists as trace regressing from "the piece", preceding it and re-entering into it in the performance.
IMA | lab No. 15. Ludger Brümmer in Discussion with Hanns Holger Rutz. Presentation (in German) a... more IMA | lab No. 15. Ludger Brümmer in Discussion with Hanns Holger Rutz. Presentation (in German) at Institute for Music and Acoustics (IMA) of the ZKM Karlsruhe, during a studio residency in May 2013.
"Gibt es so etwas wie eine sensible Qualität von vermeintlich abstrakten Vorstellungen wie der des Algorithmus? Können die materiellen Spuren, die in der Kluft zwischen Konzeption und symbolischer Vereinigung entstehen, beobachtet werden und letztere entbehrlich machen?"
The domain of this thesis is electroacoustic computer-based music and sound art. It investigates ... more The domain of this thesis is electroacoustic computer-based music and sound art. It investigates a facet of composition which is often neglected or ill-defined: the process of composing itself and its embedding in time. Previous research mostly focused on instrumental composition or, when electronic music was included, the computer was treated as a tool which would eventually be subtracted from the equation. The aim was either to explain a resultant piece of music by reconstructing the intention of the composer, or to explain human creativity by building a model of the mind. Our aim instead is to understand composition as an irreducible unfolding of material traces which takes place in its own temporality. This understanding is formalised as a software framework that traces creation time as a version graph of transactions. The instantiation and manipulation of any musical structure implemented within this framework is thereby automatically stored in a database. Not only can it be queried ex post by an external researcher—providing a new quality for the empirical analysis of the activity of composing—but it is an integral part of the composition environment. Therefore it can recursively become a source for the ongoing composition and introduce new ways of aesthetic expression. The framework aims to unify creation and performance time, fixed and generative composition, human and algorithmic “writing”, a writing that includes indeterminate elements which condense as concurrent vertices in the version graph. The second major contribution is a critical epistemological discourse on the question of ob- servability and the function of observation. Our goal is to explore a new direction of artistic research which is characterised by a mixed methodology of theoretical writing, technological development and artistic practice. The form of the thesis is an exercise in becoming process-like itself, wherein the epistemic thing is generated by translating the gaps between these three levels. This is my idea of the new aesthetics: That through the operation of a re-entry one may establish a sort of process “form”, yielding works which go beyond a categorical either “sound-in-itself” or “conceptualism”. Exemplary processes are revealed by deconstructing a series of existing pieces, as well as through the successful application of the new framework in the creation of new pieces.
singuhr hœrgalerie 2007–2014: sound installation art in berlin, 2015
although they were designed with the same purpose in mind, the large and small water reservoirs a... more although they were designed with the same purpose in mind, the large and small water reservoirs are architectonically very different spaces. while the small reservoir is characterized by its transparent column architecture, the large reservoir is distinguished by its labyrinthine structure with five concentric circles. in terms of acoustics, the small reservoir is relatively homogenous, whereas the large reservoir features reverberation times of up to 40 seconds. large versus small, centrifugal versus peripheral, hermetic versus transparent — these dichotomies form the basis of the sound installation vice versa …, a project for both the large and small water reservoirs by robin minard, robert rehnig, hanns holger rutz and ludger hennig.
Handbook of Artificial Intelligence for Music, 2021
How can the exchange processes between human artists and software algorithms as the medium of the... more How can the exchange processes between human artists and software algorithms as the medium of their work be understood? It is no longer the case that the research value in art is only validated through other disciplines, and this chapter attempts to interrogate the possibilities of artistic research to shed light on this question. I will put a particular computer music system and various pieces and studies made with it into a dialogue with theoretical explorations, focusing on the question how temporal rela- tionships are established that subvert the instrumental reasoning often foregrounded in technological discourses. What happens to the rudiments and failures, and how can turning away and disconnecting from real-time coupling help to think compu- tation as a domain that includes the relations that were built by us through careful and long-term investment? How can the elements that appear in software systems be seen as carrying a transformative potential, and what does it mean to share these elements with others in a togetherness that avoids a regime of cause-and-effect?
A configuration is an arrangement, a set of—possibly heterogeneous—elements along with their posi... more A configuration is an arrangement, a set of—possibly heterogeneous—elements along with their positions or relations with respect to each other. This chapter looks at specific configurations in sound works that use algorithmic experimentation as their compositional strategy. As opposed to the term system that stresses aspects of design and function, suggesting technological determination, a configuration focuses instead on the productive potential of the representations that its elements both entail and operate on.
Part of G.Nierhaus (Ed.), Patterns of Intuition, Springer 2015. Chapter Authors: Elisabeth Harnik... more Part of G.Nierhaus (Ed.), Patterns of Intuition, Springer 2015. Chapter Authors: Elisabeth Harnik, Hanns Holger Rutz, Gerhard Nierhaus
Part of G.Nierhaus (Ed.), Patterns of Intuition, Springer 2015. Chapter Authors: Matthias Sköld, ... more Part of G.Nierhaus (Ed.), Patterns of Intuition, Springer 2015. Chapter Authors: Matthias Sköld, Hanns Holger Rutz, Gerhard Nierhaus
Part of G.Nierhaus (Ed.), Patterns of Intuition, Springer 2015. Chapter Authors: Orestis Toufekts... more Part of G.Nierhaus (Ed.), Patterns of Intuition, Springer 2015. Chapter Authors: Orestis Toufektsis, Hanns Holger Rutz, Gerhard Nierhaus
Part of G. Nierhaus (Ed.), Patterns of Intuition, Springer 2015. Chapter Authors: Eva Reiter, Han... more Part of G. Nierhaus (Ed.), Patterns of Intuition, Springer 2015. Chapter Authors: Eva Reiter, Hanns Holger Rutz, Gerhard Nierhaus
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Papers by Hanns Holger Rutz
SuperCollider created by Ron Kuivila during an artistic research residency embedded in our project Algorithms that Matter, we show the challenges in translating this system from one programming language with a particular set of paradigms to another. If this process is studied as a reconfiguration of an algorithmic ensemble, the translated system produces new usage scenarios hitherto not possible.
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.
can be conceived as a collection of specialised abstractions that sit atop a general computer music environment. We report on our experience with SysSon so far and make suggestions about future improvements.
SuperCollider created by Ron Kuivila during an artistic research residency embedded in our project Algorithms that Matter, we show the challenges in translating this system from one programming language with a particular set of paradigms to another. If this process is studied as a reconfiguration of an algorithmic ensemble, the translated system produces new usage scenarios hitherto not possible.
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.
can be conceived as a collection of specialised abstractions that sit atop a general computer music environment. We report on our experience with SysSon so far and make suggestions about future improvements.
in: Swap Spaces, edited by Nayarí Castillo and Hanns Holger Rutz, 70–77. Graz: Reagenz Verlag. ISBN: 978-3-9504622-5-8.
"Gibt es so etwas wie eine sensible Qualität von vermeintlich abstrakten Vorstellungen wie der des Algorithmus? Können die materiellen Spuren, die in der Kluft zwischen Konzeption und symbolischer Vereinigung entstehen, beobachtet werden und letztere entbehrlich machen?"
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