Online application Giga-Hertz Award 2019

Since 2007, the Giga-Hertz Award for electronic and acousmatic music has been jointly awarded by the ZKM | Hertz-Lab (formerly Institute for Music and Acoustics) and the SWR Experimentalstudio.

The Giga-Hertz Award 2019 is endowed with a total of 20,000 € prize money. The main prize for the lifetime achievement, which is 10,000 €, is proposed by the jury and is not selected from the entries. The two internationally oriented Giga-Hertz Production Prizes, endowed with 5,000 €, serve to initiate and promote new projects. They are aimed at sound artists and composers of electronic and electroacoustic music as well as mixed music.

In 2019, the focus will be on »machine learning«.

Candidates will be judged on the basis of a composition no more than five years old and a proposal for a new planned work. The focus of the production prizes is on the awarding of a work and not of a person. The competition is open to the public annually and to composers of all ages.

All compositions submitted should meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Compositions using live electronics 
• Composition for fixed media
• Mixed music
• Concert installation
• Transmedial composition
• Experimental sound performance
• Interdisciplinary performance (with relevant music or sound components)

In 2019, the topic area of »machine learning« should be given particular attention in the selection of the working scholarship. In this context, artists should be motivated to apply in particular with musical works which have been realized through the use of machine learning. Alongside this, other works which have been realized with digital or electronic technology can also be submitted.

Prize Money

The Production Award consists of a project realization grant with which the award winners realize their submitted exposé at the ZKM | Hertz-Lab in Karlsruhe or the SWR Experimentalstudio. This includes technical support and guidance by the studio.

The realization grant covers the costs for travel to and from the location of realization, plus board and accommodation while working there. The scholarship is used to realize a work with electronics in a studio selected by the jury. The decision about where the work will be realized is taken by the jury on the basis of the aesthetic orientation of the composer and the specific details of the submitted project.

The working period should not be less than two months at the ZKM | Hertz-Lab or two to four weeks at the SWR Experimentalstudio respectively. It is envisaged that the new work will be premiered at the award ceremony of the Giga-Hertz Award the following year and also broadcast on the radio. However, recipients of the production awards have no legal entitlement to specific services from the ZKM or the SWR Experimentalstudio or to the performance or radio broadcast of their prize-winning works or the new works resulting from the realization grants.

Entry Details

• Beginning of the online applications: March 4, 2019
• Application deadline: June 14, 2019! 

Please read the following information carefully before you enter.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact: gigahertz@zkm.de.

The following are required for your application

• biography with details of artistic career (max. number of characters 1000 characters incl. spaces)
• portrait photograph of the artist (min. 300 dpi)
• description of the submitted work (work should not be more than five years old; max. 2000 characters incl. spaces), technical information on this work, and optional, the score and image files of the work 
• project exposé about a new, yet to be realized work at the ZKM | Hertz-Lab, as well as technical information about this work

Please note:

• The deadline for sending in the complete application is June 14, 2019.
• The work should not be more than five years old; it should not have already received any awards, or been previously submitted for the Giga-Hertz-Award competition.
• Employees of the organisers, sponsors, prizegivers, and patrons of the Giga-Hertz-Award as well as the members of the jury are excluded from participation.
• Please apply with only one piece regardless of the category!
• Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
• As soon as we have received all necessary documents, entrants will receive an email confirming their participation.
• All submissions are archived, with the participation the applicants accept the archiving.
• In the interest of all participants, the entrant (or a representative chosen by the entrant) should be reachable at the address stated on the application form.
• The prize winners guarantee that they will be present at the award ceremony on 23.11.2019 in order to receive their awards in person.
• If a work wins a prize, the material that was submitted will be used in the catalog, on DVD, CD, and/or the ZKM website. Therefore, we request participants to take great care in preparing the sound, image, and text material.
• The registered work should clearly make use of electronic/technical means. At least the use of electronic means should be documented.
• The awardees obligate themselves to realize the works produced within the framework of the award during a residency at the ZKM | Hertz-Lab or at the SWR Experimentalstudio respectively. The duration of the residency should not fall short of eight weeks at the ZKM or two to four weeks at the SWR Experimentalstudio respectively.
• The project proposal can be modified to match the production resources available at the ZKM | Hertz-Lab or the SWR Experimentalstudio.
• Works that do not comply with the above requirements will be removed from the competition and not presented to the jury!