Gerriet K. Sharma

sound artist, composer, artistic researcher // founding member of spæs

Gerriet K. Sharma is a sound artist, composer, and artistic researcher. He studied Media Art at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and composition, sound installation & computer music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. In October 2016, he completed his doctorate “Composing with Sculptural Sound Phenomena In Computer Music” at the scientific-artistic doctoral school Graz “summa cum laude.” He works and lives in Berlin.

Since 2004, he is specializing in sound spatialization, in media utilizing Ambisonics and Wave-Field Synthesis, and in transforming spatial sound into 3D sound sculptures.

His works were presented i.a. at SPARK Festival for Media Art Minneapolis, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Int. Conference for Spatial Audio (ICSA) 2011/15/17, SESC Pompeia Sao Paulo Brasil, Paco des Arts Sao Paulo Brasil, Centre Pomidou Paris, Kunsthaus Graz, steirischer Herbst, House of Architecture HDA Graz, K21 Düsseldorf, European Media Art Festival (EMAF), New Musical Interfaces Conference (NIME), Oslo, 2011; HAU Berlin, Akademie der Künste (AdK) Berlin, PACT Zollverein Essen, Kaserne Basel, Rote Fabrik Zürich,Tesla Berlin, CTM, transmediale, Ars electronica Linz, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, KONTAKTE Festival Berlin, Image & Sound Symposium London, UCL London, The Bartlett School of Architecture London, Abrons Art Centre and National Sawdust Centre New York.

Sculptural works for the icosahedral loudspeaker (IKO) and loudspeaker hemisphere where presented i.a. at steirischer herbst 2018, Darmstädter Summer Courses 2014, Music Biennale Zagreb 2015, EPARM Festival 2015, and Fuhrwerkswaage Cologne 2019. He received numerous awards and grants, including scholarships by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in 2007 and 2009 and the German Sound Art Award in 2008.

In 2007 and 2010, he was Artist in Residence at Pact Zollverein Essen, working on his concept of sculptural sound projection and formation. In spring 2014, he was artist in residence at ZKM Karlsruhe/Germany. He was senior artistic researcher within the three-year project “Orchestrating Space by Icosahedral Loudspeaker” (OSIL) funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

He had been appointed as DAAD Edgard Varèse guest professor at the Institute for Audio Communication (AK), teaching at the historic Electronic Studio, TU Berlin in WS 2017/18. Since 2010 he is teaching and conceiving workshops and lectures in cooperation with over 20 different international organizations and institutions. In 2019 he initiated the Special Interest Group (SIG) for Spatial Aesthetics and Artificial Environments with members from from 10 countries within the framework of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR).

In 2020, he co-founded the spæs lab for spatial aesthetics in sound Berlin.

Key aspects of activity

Sound sculpting in Ambisonics and Wave-Field Synthesis and multichannel sound compositions
Site-specific sound installations
Int. concerts, workshops, installations and performances at several festivals for (electro-acoustic) music and sound art
Conceiving and teaching workshops and courses in the field of “spatial aesthetics in sound”
Composition, production, and performance of radiophonic ‘Hörstücke’ (ars acoustica) with focus on the equitable combination of speech, text, and sound
Artistic research and practice in the field of sound-picture relations in audio-visual installations film, tv, and theatre