Artist in residence 2022: Esmeralda Conde Ruiz

© Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden, Foto: André Wirsig

From April to September 2022 artist Esmeralda Conde Ruiz was the third resident artist at Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden.

Together with scientists from a wide range of disciplines at TUD and external partners, including HELLERAU - European Center for the Arts and the Dresden University of Fine Arts, Conde Ruiz she conducted artistic research on the topic of "Artificial Intelligence as a factor and consequence of societal and cultural change”.

During her residency at Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden she further developed her research into the field of Artificial Intelligence and polyphonic singing, with the help of Prof. Miriam Akkermann, Junior Professor for Empirical Musicology in the Division of Musicology at the TUD Institute of Art and Music.

Guiding questions are:

• Can we use AI as an instrument as opposed to a tool for composition?
• How can a human control AI when it is used as an instrument in this context?
• Can AI find its own voice and distinctive sonic sound?

Further support for the acoustic development of the project was provided by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ercan Altinsoy and Dr. Sebastian Merchel of the Chair of Acoustics and Haptic Engineering at the Institute for Acoustics and Speech Communications in the TUD Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The institute has three specialized acoustic rooms available for aural experiments. The possibilities of the lab allow Conde Ruiz to investigate specific sounds, specifically machine sounds. The material for the acoustic compositional studies are created from Conde Ruiz’s own recordings created on site at the TUD, in particular, the sounds of servers, and their cooling and ventilation systems play a central role. The acoustic environments of server farms is a main point of sonic inspiration, and their function in turn is inextricably linked to applications of AI which will acquire more significance in the future as the world's digital storage needs increase.

In Summer 2022, Conde Ruiz gave an insight into her artistic research at various public events: At the conference “Digital ist besser?! – Camp für Digitale Kultur” at Komplexlabor Digitale Kultur, Hochschule Merseburg, she will initiate an experimental performance event: “Larynx Nights”.
In September 2022 there was also a joint workshop with Junior Prof. Matthew Mc Ginity, Professorship in Immersive Media, Institute of Software and Multimedia Technology, Faculty of Informatics, TUD, and a public symposium with collaborators at the end of her residency on September 29 at the SLUB – Sächsische Landes- und Universitätsbibliothek.

Presentation of her TUD-project

In April/May 2023, the artist will present the results of her artistic research at HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts . Conde Ruiz will be one of the main artists at the international festival “31. Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik”. She will present a site-specific artwork featuring both an installation and accompanying performance. Collaboration with different choirs will be central to this aspect of the project.

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Esmeralda Conde Ruiz: 24/7, Presentation in HELLERAU

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About the artist

Esmeralda Conde Ruiz is a Spanish award-winning interdisciplinary composer and audio-visual artist who lives and works in London. She specialises in creating artworks that focus on human voices and life experiences. Her site specific compositions evolve from a visual starting point and develop into sound landscapes with rhythmic patterns. In her often multilingual compositions she interacts with light and dark, colour, staged elements and moving image. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of choral composition, which she transforms musically and visually, decoding them and transposing them into new contexts. 

Conde Ruiz  has worked with choirs from Ecuador to New York, to Syria and Sydney. Her experience ranges from creating and directing the 500 amateur choir who performed at the 2016 opening of the Tate Modern Turbine Hall in London to writing a composition for 350 child singers from 7 different countries in multiple languages for Dresdner Philharmonie.

Images of earlier works of the artist

Alongside her own artistic practice Conde Ruiz also composes for concert halls, theatres, sound installations and film and her music has been broadcast on radio and TV internationally. She has composed award-winning film soundtracks, campaigns for the United Nations and has worked with artists such as Yoko Ono, Olafur Eliasson, Susan Philipsz, Nick Cave, Peter Liversidge and Matthew Herbert.

In 2020 Conde Ruiz founded the E Ensemble, an online ensemble of singers from all over the world. Together with the ensemble she is exploring ways to compose music specifically for performing online in the digital space and exploring the sonic qualities of technology and voice.