Swiss artist and scientist

Marcus Maeder (born 7 December 1971, Zurich, Switzerland) is a sound artist, acoustic ecologist and composer of electronic music. As an author, Maeder has written on a number of topics in the fields of sound art, artistic research and digital media.

Contents

• 1 Education
• 2 Career
  • 2.1 Science
  • 2.2 Art
• 3 Selected exhibitions and projects
• 4 Discography
• 5 Bibliography
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Education

Maeder studied Fine Arts at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, Philosophy at the FernUniversität in Hagen and currently pursues his PhD in Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zürich.

Career

Maeder co-runs the music label domizil, which he co-founded in 1996 with Bernd Schurer. Maeder has worked as an editor and producer for the Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) and has been working as a curator and researcher at the Ins*ute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) of the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) since 2005. Maeder works periodically as a visiting scientist at the Swiss Federal Ins*ute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) since 2016.

Science

In his research at the ICST, Maeder is working on acoustic ecology, ecoacoustics and data sonification of processes and phenomena related to climate change and environmental issues. Maeder uses metal probes equipped with sensors and pushed into the ground to detect underground noises, which can be amplified so that humans can hear them. Noises reveal a rich interplay of events, such as larvae chewing, worms crawling, plant roots growing and water moving. Sounds can be used to indentify creatures and their activities, including their communications. Quiet areas indicate decreases in biodiversity and less healthy soil. Maeder has organized a citizen science initiative in Switzerland in which people borrow acoustic sensors to record soil sounds in their neighborhoods, creating a national library of soil sounds that will provide a baseline for health of Switzerland's soil.

Art

On an invitation by French President François Hollande, Maeder presented his sound art installation trees: Pinus sylvestris at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference COP21.

In 2017 Maeder presented his installation AmazonFACE: Ocotea at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington. Also in 2017 Maeder and Roman Zweifel received an honorable mention from the STARTS Prize by the European Commission at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz/Austria for their works under the moniker treelab.

In 2021, Maeder showed his installation Silva - a commission by the Goethe Ins*ute Tallinn - at the Estonian National Museum. Estonia's President Alar Karis visited the exhibition and held the opening speech.

Selected exhibitions and projects

• 2021: Silva, Estonian National Museum, Tartu
• 2021: Earth Beats, Kunsthaus Zürich
• 2021: Landliebe, Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur
• 2020: Critical Zones, Zentrum für Kunst und Medien ZKM, Karlsruhe
• 2019: Perimeter Pfynwald, Eco-Visionaries, Laboral Centro de Arte y Creation Industrial, Gijon
• 2019: treelab, Of plants and People, Deutsches Hygienemuseum, Dresden
• 2018: treelab, Eco-Visionaries, Haus der Elektronischen Künste, Basel
• 2018: Sounding Soil, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
• 2018: Espirito da floresta/Forest spirit, Bosque da Sciencia, Manaus
• 2017: Espirito da floresta/Forest spirit, Inter-American Development Bank IDB, Washington DC
• 2017: treelab, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz; BOZAR, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles
• 2015: trees: Pinus sylvestris, UN-Klimakonferenz COP 21, Paris
• 2014: trees: Pinus sylvestris, SoundReasons Festival, Outset India, New Delhi
• 2014: trees: Downy Oak 2, Baum/Klang/Kunst/Mensch, Alpen Adria Universität Klagenfurt, mit Ch. Kubisch, B. Traubeck, W. Ritsch
• 2012: trees: Downy Oak, swissnex San Francisco, Workshop in Muir Woods
• 2011: Der Pfad zur linken Hand, Ein topografisches Hörspiel mit Jan Schacher/Jasch, Musikprotokoll Graz und Shedhalle Zürich
• 2010: Kuratierung der Ausstellung Milieux Sonores, Grey Area Foundation, San Francisco und Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich
• 2008: Sonifikationen und Kompositionen für das Nova-Lichtobjekt im Hauptbahnhof Zürich, ein Projekt der ETH Zürich
• 2008: Die Wunschmaschinen, Surround-Hörspiel nach Deleuze/Guattari's Anti-Ödipus, 40 Jahre 1968, Frankfurt und Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich
• 2007: Davos Soundscape, eine topografische Komposition mit Jan Schacher/Jasch, Davos Festival 2007
• 2004: Transient Travels, Installation und Kompositionen in einem Eisenbahnwaggon, World New Music Days 2004
• 2003: Electronic Music Archive, eine Ausstellung von Gianni Jetzer und Norbert Möslang (Voice Crack), Kunsthalle St. Gallen
• 2002: Musik und Sounddesign für die Expo.02, Expoagricole, Murten
• 1998: We Are Somewhere Else Already – Swiss Ins*ute, New York

Discography

• 2020: crepuscule, c*ette, domizil 48
• 2017: non-human, CD, domizil 45
• 2015: Progeny, CD, domizil 41
• 2013: topographie sinusoïdale, CD, domizil 38
• 2010: annex, Mini CD, domizil 33
• 2009: Wire Tapper, CD/The Wire(Compilation)
• 2009: subsegmental, CD, domizil 32
• 2008: Opera Calling, CD (Compilation)
• 2008: Die Wunschmaschinen, DVD, domizil 30/ZHdK Records
• 2007: This ship in trouble, CD/online, domizil 24
• 2005: Transient Travels, VA, CD, domizil 23 (Compilation)
• 2004: domizil vs. Antifrost life, - Live CD, domizil 19 (Compilation)
• 2004: Club Transmediale, CD, Data Error (Compilation)
• 2004: La Suisse, CD, SME (Compilation)
• 2003: Bees & Honey, Andrey Kiritchenko, CD, Zeromoon (Remix)
• 2002: Quiconque, CD, domizil 17
• 2001: Poisonhats, CD, Arts Centre Dublin (Compilation)
• 2001: Substrat CD, CD, Stattmusik (Compilation)
• 2000: Ins*ut für Feinmotorik: Verschiedene, CD, IFFM (Compilation)
• 1999: solipsistic_motion, LP, domizil 10

Bibliography

• Marcus Maeder (Hg.): Kunst, Wissenschaft, Natur. Zur Ästhetik und Epistemologie der künstlerisch-wissenschaftlichen Naturbeobachtung. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2017, ISBN:978-3-8376-3692-5
• Marcus Maeder & Roman Zweifel: trees: Pinus sylvestris, an artistic-scientific observation system at the COP 21. Zurich: domizil; ISBN:978-3-033-05381-6
• Marcus Maeder (Hg.): Milieux Sonores - Klangliche Milieus. Klang, Raum und Virtualität. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2010; ISBN:978-3-8376-1313-1
• Bruno Spoerri (Hg.): Musik aus dem Nichts. Die Geschichte der Elektroakustischen Musik in der Schweiz. Zürich: Chronos Verlag, 2010, ISBN:978-3-0340-1038-2

References

External links

• Official website
• Discogs entry
• Homepage
• Music label domizil
• Ins*ute for Computer Music and Sound Technology