DRESDEN.- The internationally renowned composer and visual artist Esmeralda Conde Ruiz, 2022 resident artist at the Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden, is now presenting the results of her artistic research on artificial intelligence as part of the festival “Dresden Days of Contemporary Music” (April 19 to May 7, 2023) at HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts.

Advances in information technology represent some of the most decisive ethical challenges of our time. During Esmeralda Conde Ruiz’s 2022 residency at the Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden, dealing with artificial intelligence and sound led her to explore the places where personal data is stored, the vast and often hidden server farms which contain the sonic traces of our digital footprints. Institutional server farms are usually inconspicuous, industrial-looking buildings whose outer shell reveals nothing about their interior. However, their infrastructure is complex and the servers work incessantly, their smooth operation only possible with sophisticated ventilation systems maintained by dedicated staff. Our data is invisible and not physically tangible, yet at the same time the data centers buzz, hum, and groan around the clock seemingly “24/7”. As part of the “31. Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik” (Dresden Days of Contemporary Music) (April 19 to May 7, 2023) at HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts, Conde Ruiz is now presenting a new audiovisual installation with accompanying performance entitled “24/7”.

The installation occupies the usually private subterranean orchestra pit of the Festspielhaus and centres around the relationship between humans and technology. “24/7” amplifies and draws attention to the overwhelming volume of personal data which is generated daily when we all interact online. Visitors are invited to explore the orchestra pit and physically experience the strange sounds of server farms combined with recorded human voices. On May 7 there will also be a unique live event featuring operatic singer Arturo den Hartog, the Buergerchor Dresden Philharmonie and members of the E Ensemble which will take place within the Great Hall at HELLERAU.

Esmeralda Conde Ruiz (born 1980 in Spain, lives in London) has directed choirs around the world, including the 500-piece amateur choir that performed at the opening of the Tate Modern extension in London in 2016. Conde Ruiz also composes for performances in concert halls and theatres, has written award-winning film soundtracks and developed a multi-year project with refugee Syrian children for the United Nations. She has worked with Yoko Ono, Ólafur Elíasson, Susan Philipsz, Nick Cave, Peter Liversidge and Matthew Herbert, among others. In 2020, Conde Ruiz founded E Ensemble, an online ensemble of singers from around the world that collaborates to develop music specifically for performance in digital space, exploring the sonic qualities of technology and voice.

The Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden - a project of the Technische Universität Dresden and THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION - is a lively forum for a forward-looking dialogue between science, art, and society. In line with TU Dresden's Excellence Strategy, the Lab serves as both platform and location for transdisciplinary research cooperation: artists and young researchers join across disciplinary boundaries to question current technologies, their origins, and their impact on our modern world.