We Dig It!

As part of the We Dig It! project, the 3D platform HfK – Virtual Spaces is being developed as a testing ground for virtual exhibition and concert spaces, as well as for virtual campus life. The platform aims to reflect as many facets of the HfK as possible and will consist of three sections:

1. Virtual exhibition spaces: an open offer for students; digital presentation of artistic works and the development of digital art
2. Virtual concert spaces: an open offer for students; digital presentation of audio and/or video recordings of musical and artistic performances
3. Virtual campus life: informal and professional interaction for students in a digital environment

The platform was first presented at the We Dig It! festival in June 2024 and is accessible via HfK - Virtual Spaces.

The development of the platform focuses on open-source technologies. The 3D scenes are created using the open-source software Blender, and the platform itself is being further developed based on Hubs (formerly Mozilla Hubs), using a self-hosted version of the Hubs Community Edition.

Digital teaching and laboratory space for experimental artistic formats. The focus was on location-independent artistic interaction among students – for example, through joint remote rehearsals or creative processes – as well as the integration of various digital tools, cameras, and audio technology in performative contexts and artistic teaching projects.

The Interpret:innenkammer (Performers’ Chamber), a hybrid space that combined the qualities of a studio, rehearsal room, workshop, and experimental stage, was to be reflected and further developed in digital form through this initiative. In this sense, the Digital Chamber functioned as a dynamic teaching and laboratory space for experimental artistic formats, with a strong emphasis on performative contexts and digital media. Initially, the central approach was to enable virtual, location-independent artistic interaction among students (e.g. through joint remote rehearsals and creative processes). However, as the number of projects increased, more digital tools, cameras, and audio technology were incorporated into artistic and performative teaching formats. The goal was always to reach students from Music, Design, Fine Arts and Digital Media equally.

Throughout the entire project period (winter semester 2021/22 to summer semester 2023), the potential of the Digital Chamber was explored each semester through collaborative courses taught by various lecturers. Each semester focused on a different theme, ranging from music on digital stages to the expansion of digital media in performances, installations, and sound-based work. A detailed assignment of themes to the individual semesters was documented in the work packages (see below). The courses were part of Prof. Raphael Sbrzesny’s teaching load and were offered as part of the open elective programme available to all degree courses, allowing students to earn credit points. In the winter semester 2022/23, a cross-disciplinary, university-wide lecture series – the Digital Chambers Lecture Series – was launched, attracting a number of internationally renowned guests who presented artistic work at the intersection of music, performance and digital space. Through this, the HfK was able to expand its network and is now in exchange with other universities that also focus on interdisciplinary teaching and working at the intersection of performance and digital formats.

Guests included: Prof. Nicola L Hein, Prof. Alexander Schubert, Prof. Johannes Kreidler, Prof. Brigitta Muntendorf, Sara Glojnaric, Marc Sinan and Prof. Sonja Lena Schmidt

Prof. Raphael Sbrzesny. The sub-project concluded in the summer semester 2023 with the end of his tenure at the HfK. We thank Prof. Raphael Sbrzesny for his dedication to We Dig It!

3D audio expands surround sound to include a vertical plane, thereby enabling particularly immersive sound experiences. Additional ceiling speakers can also be used to reproduce sound from above the audience. This expands the possibilities for positioning sound objects and structures, both in live performances and in fixed soundtracks or compositions. 

The technical infrastructure can also be used for the recording and playback of acoustic music, whereby conventional miking of a sound body is expanded to include the height level. This can be used creatively in music productions and enhances the audience's acoustic immersion in sound worlds. Some concerts have already been recorded in 3D audio. Immersive compositions have also been realised in performances of electroacoustic music in some projects. 

As part of the “3D audio production and presentation” sub-project, some rooms at the HfK were equipped with new loudspeaker systems to enable testing in all of these areas. In the concert hall, in the multimedia studio and in the studio for electronic composition at the Dechanatstraße location, as well as in the audio laboratory in the storage facility, immersive, including multimedia, works can be composed and pre-produced in the future, and recordings can be mixed in 3D audio. Appropriate, mobile microphone sets are available for recording.

In producing 3D audio material, technological overlaps with the area of virtual reality are evident. In addition to the new hardware in the studios, special software is now available for VR experiments and the production of content.

High-quality recordings using innovative video technology are intended to enrich the learning scenarios for students in many ways. The possible uses and benefits of videography are being tested in three pilot projects: for reflection and supervision of teaching experiments and teaching samples; as an analysis method for practicing in self-study and in the extended form of video tracking in experimental artistic and artistic-pedagogical teaching settings.

This project is dedicated to developing and testing concepts for the implementation of software specific to music and collaborations for:

• Online-in-presence-formats
• purely virtual teaching settings (synchronous and asynchronous)
• eExams

The formats are constituted by links between modern multimedia presentation systems in the seminar rooms and several class sets of tablets as well as the Moodle learning platform and – partially integrated into it – software for special areas of application in the field of music. 

Asynchronous approaches are intended to promote flexibility and individualisation of student learning. In addition, we expect the new digital collaboration options to strengthen student collaboration and interaction as well as greater motivation to learn through new and varied cooperative teaching and learning methods, which should ultimately lead to improved learning success for students. In addition, students acquire important digital and technical skills for their future careers. 

Open source software is preferred, on the one hand to enable cost-effective use, and on the other hand to make the transfer options for the results as broad as possible.

In this project we want to carry out tests on digitally supported piano lessons. For this we have a hybrid grand piano at hand, a Steinway Spirio | r. This is a technological advancement of the player pianos or “disklaviers”. The grand piano can record and play back the movements of the piano mechanics. 

This allows you to analyse and evaluate your own playing very well. In addition, one can subsequently change the recorded material (keyboard and pedals) in every parameter (tone length, pitch, duration, dynamics, etc.) using an app. These options could be used to provide a greater variety of methods in piano lessons. 

The instrument should also be used for concert formats in which the MIDI functionality of the instrument is used. For example, the grand piano could control other sound sources or trigger image or light-emitting media or itself be “played” by other devices, sensors, instruments, etc. 

The instrument is available for piano lessons, experiments and technical introductions on a regular basis.

• We Mix It! in the winter semester 2022/23, which invited proposals for hybrid teaching concepts.
• music // interact: dialogues with a player piano in the summer semester 2023. This competition supported artistic projects that engaged with the Steinway grand piano “Spirio | r” in an interdisciplinary way.
• Performing in HfK – Virtual Spaces in the winter semester 2024/25. This competition supported performative concepts situated at the intersection of analogue and digital space.