ZiMMT Listening Session at Reforesters Laboratory co-presented by New Ear:: Spatial
ZiMMT Listening Session at Reforesters Laboratory co-presented by New Ear:: Spatial
ZiMMT – Zentrum für Immersive Medienkunst, Musik und Technologie – is an independent center for spatial sound and immersive art in Leipzig, Germany.
Its home is a former industrial hall equipped for multichannel listening. There, ZiMMT runs concerts, installations, residencies, workshops, and its annual sens-Festival. Over the years it has hosted a large number of international artists working with spatial audio, and it has become a meeting point for composers, sound artists, researchers, and listeners from around the world.
For one evening, ZiMMT brings this archive to Brooklyn. The listening session presents a selection of pieces by ZiMMT artists and by guests who have performed in its space. The works range from multichannel compositions and electroacoustic pieces to works shaped by field recording and sonic research, all played through the speakers of Reforesters Laboratory.
With works by Felix Deufel, Mariam Gvashnvilli, Jana Irmert, Paul Hauptmeier, Martin Recker and Portrait XO. Presented by ZiMMT (Leipzig) in collaboration with New Ear:: (New York).
Artist: Felix Deufel, Mariam Gviniashvili, Jana Irmert, Paul Hauptmeier, Martin Recker, Portrait XO, New Ear:: (New York)
Felix Deufel is a sound artist and sound ecologist working with spatial sound, spatial hearing and the role of soundscapes in society and the environment. His field research and expeditions explore ecosystems and human impact in the Anthropocene, recording the Himalayas, tropical rainforests, the Greenland ice sheet and the Arctic underwater world. His work spans spatial installations, compositions, performances and interdisciplinary collaborations with dance, performance and film. Deufel founded Not a Number Studio, which produces 3D audio and develops the software Grapes 3D Audio Control. In 2020 he founded ZiMMT, the Center for Immersive Media Art, Music and Technology in Leipzig, a space for production, experimentation and presentation in immersive media art. He teaches artist workshops at institutions, universities and festivals worldwide.
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Mariam Gviniashvili works as a sound artist and composer, combining electronics, electroacoustics and 3D sound with visuals and live performance to delve deep into the physical and emotional essence of sound and space. Music has followed Gviniashvili through her life since early childhood. Growing up in Georgia, she sang and played piano, and gradually found her feet as a composer and visual artist while studying composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music. That explains her diverse and unexpected subject matter - distractions during online meetings, as in her piece DAYDREAMING (2022), the “strange cosmic ballet” (5:4) of the audiovisual REVELATION (2021) or the stereo/ambisonic DECONSTRUCTION (2020, honorary mention at Prix Ars Electronica) reflecting on a virus spreading patterns. Festivals, major venues and radio programmes have presented Gviniashvili's music, including the New York Electroacoustic Music Festival, BEAST FEaST, Transitions at CCRMA, MA/IN , ICMC, Mixtur Festival, ARD Radio Play Days at ZKM, BBC Radio, Ars Electronica, Klingt Gut, In Situ Festival, Heroines of Sound and Ultima Festival
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Paul Hauptmeier and Martin Recker are composers working in the fields of composition, sound, and multimedia art. Since 2009 they have been working together as an artist duo named Hauptmeier | Recker They studied composition with Robin Minard and Maximilian Marcoll at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar, as well as at UC San Diego with Katharina Rosenberger and Natacha Diels (Hauptmeier), and at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki with Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski (Recker). The duo works internationally across a wide range of formats. Their practice includes 3D audio live electronic performances, large-scale and often site specific sound installations, compositions for theatre and opera, as well as projects in radio art and electroacoustic composition. As co-founders and board members of ZiMMT (Center for Immersive Music and Media Art), they curate events and conduct research in the field of spatial audio. (www.zimmt.net).
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Jana Irmert is a Berlin-based sound artist and composer working across spatial composition, film and live performance. Her practice explores the liminal space between musical sound and noise, using extensive experimentation with field recordings to shape immersive sonic environments. Engaging with themes of temporality and impermanence—particularly in the context of ecological crisis—she creates atmospheric sound worlds that embrace dissonance and fragility as reflections of our reality. Her work has been released on labels including Shelter Press, Fabrique Records, Important Records, and Longform Editions. As a composer and sound designer, she has contributed to award-winning feature films, documentaries, VR experiences, and video installations. She has performed at international festivals and institutions such as Berlin Atonal, GRM (Paris), Extreme Chill (Reykjavik), and Elevate Festival (Austria).
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Portrait XO (she/they) is a transdisciplinary artist, musician, independent researcher and data activist. Her work with AI audio pioneers Dadabots has earned the jazzki award by ELBJAZZ (2023), Germany's first human-AI jazz prize, "Best Experiment" at the VUT Indie Awards 2021 and the Eurovision AI Song Contest jury vote for most creative use of AI (2020). She researches computational creativity and human-machine collaboration, and her work addresses bias and the impact of AI on creativity, identity, ecology and underrepresented cultures. She founded the sonic innovation archive SOUND OBSESSED and co-founded The IASAS and Refraction Festival DAO. Her latest work, "The Cost of Connection," an audiovisual performance sonifying data from the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, premiered at MUTEK Montreal and Gray Area Festival.
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Come Early to Elevate Your Experience with Adaptogenic Foods and Teas
Reforesters Laboratory is an experimental adaptogen cafe and sound clinic located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We utilize music – including spatial, sub-bass-centered, and organic instrumentation – along with breathwork, meditation, art, plant care and adaptogenic, nutritional foods + beverages to cultivate kindness—both physical and spiritual. We aim to create an environment that offers peace, space, and clarity, helping people understand the connections between themselves, their communities, and the world around them. To that end, we offer "pay what you can" ticket options on all events and classes.