Giga-Hertz-Award 2011 – Walter-Fink Prize of the ZKM

ZKM, together with the SWR broadcasting network’s EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO, will award the fifth Giga Hertz prize for electronic and acousmatic music.

The Giga-Hertz Prize is directed at composers with works in the area of electronic and acousmatic music. The international jury of experts concisting of Peter Weibel (Director, ZKM | Karlsruhe), Ludger Brümmer (Chair, ZKM | Institute for Music and Acoustics), Detlef Heusinger (Chair, EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO des SWR), Björn Gottstein (Journalist, Chair, INM Berlin e.V.) and Rainer Pöllmann (Deutschlandradio Kultur) gives an annual prize for a great work plus four production prizes. Pierre Boulez will be awarded the Giga-Hertz Main Prize for his influential work. The jury, comprised of Peter Weibel (Director of ZKM | Karlsruhe), Ludger Brümmer (Chair, ZKM | Institute for Music and Acoustics), Detlef Heusinger (Chair, EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO des SWR), Björn Gottstein (Journalist, Chair, INM Berlin e.V.), Rainer Pöllmann (music scholar and journalist) especially recognizes the pioneering work that Boulez has accomplished in the métier of electronic music. In honor of Boulez, this evening will feature performances of three of his compositions which reflect the diversity of his creative oeuvre: a purely instrumental work; an instrumental work with live electronics and an acousmatic composition.

The Giga-Hertz Production Prize goes to Argentine composer Horacio Vaggione. Vaggione lives in Paris, is music professor at Université de Paris-VIII, and also heads the doctoral program for music and technology. Through this distinction, the composer is given the opportunity to dedicate himself at ZKM to composing. Due to the great talent, especially among the younger generation of composers, the jury this year has decided to award more prizes than usual, and thus to offer more extensive support to emerging artists. The Giga-Hertz Supporting Prizes go to: Aaron Einbond (USA), Madjid Tahriri (Iran), Anthony Tan (Canada), Eric Lyon (USA), Benedikt Schiefer (Germany) and Andrea Vigani (Italy).
 

Walter-Fink Prize of ZKM

In 2011, the Walter-Fink Prize for Dance, Electronic Music, and Media will be awarded. The Production Prize for the technically innovative combination of choreography and sound and is directed towards teams comprising composers, choreographers, dancers, and set designers.

Innovation has often resulted from the combination of sound gestures and physical movement. Dance and contemporary music have been prominent examples of innovation, at least since Igor Strawinsky’s »Sacre« or John Cage’s works for the »Merce Cunningham Dance Company«. Yet, how can the relationship between dance and contemporary music be redefined in light of interactive media of the twenty-first century? This question is being addressed by music patron Walter Fink, who founded the Walter-Fink Prize for Dance, Electronic Music, and Media of ZKM | Institute for Music and Acoustics (IMA). Electronic and electroacoustic music, new media, and dance thus enter a symbiosis and foster an accord between creative movement and advanced sound production and performance technology. Within this organization, the body becomes the creative element that, through its choreography, recreates and drives the artwork in the act of performance.
This year’s Walter Fink Prize for Electroacoustic Music, Dance, and Media goes to the Canadian duo Mireille Leblanc and Åke Parmerud.

The 2011 jury comprises: Ludger Brümmer (Chair ZKM | Institute for Music and Acoustics), Walter Fink (music patron), Achim Heidenreich (Chair, musiktheater intégrale | Hochschule für Gestaltung / University of Arts and Design Karlsruhe) and Thomas Neuhaus (Institute for Computer Music and Electronic Media, Folkwang Universität der Künste Essen).

The awards ceremony, with renowned presenters from the fields of art and politics, is surrounded with excellent concerts. The prelude event heads off the afternoon with EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO des SWR’s live electronic works by Detlef Heusinger, André Richard and Marc André, followed by the awards ceremony and concerts by this year’s prize winners. The closing event premiers the exciting new work by the interactive dance-music-performance by the Walter-Fink prize winner of 2010, Pipo Tafel and Daniel Berwanger in the Foyer of ZKM. Subsequently, the Giga-Hertz Prize Winners of 2010 will be presented on the 47-channel surround sound system »Klangdom« at the ZKM_Cube by Robert Normandeau of Canada and composer Orestis Karamanlis of Greece.