Festival for Electronic Arts

Raffael Seyfried

Raffael Seyfried

Artist

Raffael Seyfried's work takes place at the border between acoustic and electronic material. He explores the dynamic processes and peculiarities that exist in both media. By subtly mixing these elements, he creates warm and unusual soundscapes, free from the constraints of a particular genre. At the centre of his live performances is the interaction between piano loops and modular synthesizers. Sounds that change and influence each other. The result of this manifold process is a sometimes planned, sometimes spontaneous and improvised multi-faceted sound world.
As a composer and orchestrator, Raffael Seyfried has also worked on many international film projects and his music was part of the works shown at the Whitney Museum and the MOMA PS1 in New York.

Artwork

Recursive Counterpoint Machines

“Recursive Counterpoint Machines” is an exploration of generative mechanism for live composition of algorithmic pattern-based music. The work is part of ongoing research into the possibilities of recursive music composition and live coding self-aware creative systems.

At the heart of the work lies the insight that all information is isomorphic to itself. Any piece of data can be interpreted not only in its own form but also in any other form if the notation is sufficiently strong. This creates a multitude of new avenues for treatment of data and processes. In fact, it demolishes the distinction between the two. Data becomes process and process becomes data. In this way one is able to devise systems that renegotiate the notions of being an “actor” or being “acted upon”.

The piece combines the powers of live coding for generating complex evolving systems with the tactile and immediate interaction with the modular synthesizer for sound creation.