Where: Veröld, room VHV-103 (Map here)

When: Friday, June 20th, 3-5 pm

Facebook event

Kajetan Enge: Open Your Ears and Take a Look

Kajetan Enge is a freelance postdoctoral researcher working at the intersection of sonification, soundscape studies, and virtual acoustics. He worked as a researcher at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences and completed his PhD at the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) in Graz, Austria. Kajetan focused on integrating data visualization and sonification into unified audiovisual displays. With IIL, Kajetan is developing an ‘extended autographic sonification instrument’ for the auditory display of rain data.

In his talk, Kajetan will present his PhD research on the integration of sonification and visualization, discuss his interest in the soundscapes of public urban spaces, and explain how this connects to his relationship with La Strada Graz, a festival of art in public space in Austria.

Majella Clarke: Sonic Baton V2: Performative Composition and New Material-Ensemble Agentalities in Conducting Practice

This presentation reflects on the evolving trajectory of the Sonic Baton, an artistic research project exploring how conducting can be expanded as a compositional, performative, and materially entangled act. Since its first iteration in 2023, the Sonic Baton has featured in commissioned performances, prestigious venues and international conferences including The Living Art Museum in iceland, Harpa Concert Hall, xCoAx, the 50th International Conductors Guild at the Royal College of Music London, COST Action 23158 on Artistic Intelligence Portugal, and Nordic AI Days. Foundational concepts from the project have been published in Leonardo, xCoAx proceedings, the Iceland University of the Arts journal ÞRÆÐIR, and my Master of Music thesis. Recently, Sonic Baton Version 2 was redesigned in collaboration with Krisjanis Rijnieks at FabLab Aalto University, Finland. This presentation explores the similarities and differences between the two iterations—focusing on changes in sensors, communication protocols, and fabrication—and previews recent and upcoming performances. These include Spherical Harmonics with Peter Østergaard, May the Whole Universe by Bergþóra Ægisdóttir (with cellist Adele Xiang), and Loxodrome with UKAI Projects.

Looking ahead, the project centers on performative composition, wherein I, as an instrumentalist, perform and record audio datasets using the oboe (in nature) and the Magnetic Resonator Piano, to be trained through the RAVE model. These “dataset albums” become compositional materialities that I use via the Sonic Baton in performance, creating new ensemble agentalities, aesthetics and further expanding the practice of conducting. Future research includes integrating the Sonic Baton with Somax2 for machine-listening, predictive learning improvisation and deepening inquiry into posthuman embodiment and entanglement in the conductor’s performative process.

Bio

Majella Clarke (MMus, MBA, MSc) explores the intersection of art, science, and technology through experimental conducting, in addition to traditional orchestral conducting practices. Her research focuses on compositional materiality, the expansion of conducting practice, and aesthetic implications for ensembles and performance. She is also a scientist with experience in teaching and applying AI/ML in both scientific, business and artistic practice. Her latest projects include: Conducting Water (2025–), an experimental exploration of the material agency of water through embodied conducting, using computer vision, multimodal synthesis, and improvisation for new media, composition, sound art, and performance; The Sonic Baton Project (2023-), a gesture-controlled neural audio synthesis tool developed with the Intelligent Instruments Lab Iceland , spanning performances, compositions, sculpture, and dataset albums; and Aromasonics (2025), a system of olfactory notation and aromatic scoring that translates scent properties into musical compositions, premiered on a Magnetic Resonator Piano, integrating improvisation, sound art, and chemical principles.

We look forward to seeing you!

Free entry, accessible to all.