Personal Information
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Given name: Thomas









Surname: Grill









Email: grill@mdw.ac.at









I understand that by submitting this form, I consent to the use of my data for the purposes of the 2026 Forum on Artistic Research'.: Yes









I agree to the terms of service.: Yes













Your contribution
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Title: Conversing for Coexistence









Format: Project presentation (2)









Main language: English









Abstract:
"Conversing for Coexistence" is an electro-acoustic installation developed within the artistic research project "Spirits in Complexity – Making kin with Experimental Music Systems" (2024–). 
The work investigates sound as a medium for practising coexistence in adaptive, distributed systems.
Inspired by Donna Haraway’s notion of "making kin," kinship is conceived here as a non-hierarchical, multispecies practice enacted through mutual responsiveness and shared inhabitation rather than fusion or domination.

The installation consists of a distributed network of speaker-agents equipped with reinforcement learning capacities.
Each agent listens locally and adapts its sonic behaviour in relation to other agents, architectural resonances, audience presence, and ambient noise.
Instead of optimizing toward a fixed compositional goal, agents seek viable niches within a shared acoustic ecology.
Drawing on the acoustic niche hypothesis, niche-finding becomes both technical procedure and aesthetic principle: when the sonic field saturates, agents must retreat, transform, or radically alter their behaviour to persist.

The work recalls artistic approaches such as David Tudor’s Rainforest series, yet extends them through adaptive machine listening and synthesis.
The installation space functions as habitat and co-agent; each iteration is site-specific and irreproducible, shaped by contingent interactions and feedback loops.

"Conversing for Coexistence" stages an ecology of audible relations in real time.
It invites listeners to attune to patterns of emergence, friction, and alliance, reframing attention as a mode of cohabitation.
Making kin becomes both artistic strategy and ethical orientation: a speculative sonic sociality in which distinct entities maintain difference while sustaining shared worlds through continuous negotiation.











Link to the Exposition :  (https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/4204449/4204450)









Image: https://www.sar2026.ie/system/files/webform/submit_contribution/463/spectro.png









Short biographies of the presenter(s):
- Thomas Grill works as an artistic and scientific researcher on sound and its context. As a composer and performer, he focuses on concept-oriented sound art, electro-instrumental improvisation and compositions for loudspeakers. He holds a doctorate in composition and music theory and conducted post-doc research in machine learning and listening at the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI). Grill currently researches and teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where he heads the Certificate Program for Electroacoustic and Experimental Music (ELAK) and co-heads the Artistic Research Center (ARC).
- Marco Döttlinger is an Austrian composer, artist, educator and researcher in the fields of composition, generative art and sound art. He studied composition, computer music and music theory in Salzburg, Paris and Basel and is a Lecturer at SEM - Studio for Electronic Music at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and Artistic Researcher at the ARC, mdw Vienna.
  He performs with NAMES - New Art and Music Ensemble Salzburg. 
  His works are primarily concerned with micro-temporal shifts on the boundary between flow and stasis, mainly related to algorithmic, generative procedures in time based arts.
- Patrik Lechner (AT) is an artist creating experimental audio/video content since the mid 2000s. Developing custom software for these purposes, original content in abstract sound works and real-time 3D graphics arose through the exploration of technology without losing focus on artistic expression. Patrik Lechner held audio/visual performances in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Bulgaria, Germany, Canada, Dubai and MUTEK Mexico, Canada & Japan and regularly played at the Austrian Pavilion at the world exhibition in Shanghai 2010. He received an honorary mention at PRIX ars electronica 2019.










Previous presentations or iterations of the research:
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Requirements
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Additional information:
Our contribution is envisioned as presenting both theoretical and practical aspects.
The described installation will run and evolve during the presentation slot, adapting among itself and the environment.










Spatial and technical requirements :
We will bring a laptop with HDMI video output and minijack or USB-A audio output.
We will bring a number of sounding agents (objects ca 10x10x10cm) which we like to distribute in the room.
It would be helpful to have a couple of (min. 4) mic stands. If these are not available, we can use other horizontal parts of the space.










Potential risks or ethical concerns:
none










Create a user account for SAR 2026: Yes









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