Talk by Wolf-Georg Zaddach (Macromedia Hochschule Berlin)

The lecture deals with a current topic that is highly relevant for perspectives of empirical aesthetics in the 21st century: Generative Artificial Intelligence in Musical Practice. I will first present the state of research including results of my own empirical research on the use of AI in composition/songwriting and improvisation contexts. It will become clear that a range of generative AI can now be detected in the field of music, which includes both concrete artistic collaborations of artists with AI and the complete generation of music and sound, without any necessary prior knowledge and experience in music theory, composition or music production. In addition, further examples of future formats of co-creativity, such as collaborative live performance with AI-based robots, will be examined in more detail. 

In the second part of the lecture, I would like to contextualize the topic more strongly and develop a more holistic approach to musicking, music reception and music research against the background of the findings presented. To achieve this, sociological, posthumanist and decolonial approaches will be used, as well as the relatively new research paradigm of artistic research, which is extremely relevant for music research in the 21st century. The resulting understanding of musical practice as spatially and temporally situated and fundamentally collaborative – in a network of actors and actants such as fellow musicians, instruments or Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) – should be further developed for the context of Gen AI. Such a perspective then allows it, on the one hand, to develop a broader understanding of creativity. On the other hand, this also enables a critical examination of generative AI, which is in the process of both converging with and disrupting previous practices of musicking as well as a growing self-referential autonomy – thus fundamentally calling into question the relevance and future form of musical practice and aesthetics.

Wolf-Georg Zaddach (PhD) is professor for music production and songwriting at Macromedia University Berlin. His background includes studies and degrees in musicology, music management, modern history, and jazz guitar. His research activities range from artistic research, music and ecological crises, jazz and heavy metal, music in State Socialism, to artificial intelligence in the creative process. He also works as a musician, composer and producer.