Johannes Goebel

Founding Director

Johannes Goebel joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as founding director of the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) in July 2002 and retired in November, 2022. He holds a tenured position as professor in the Arts Department and in the School of Architecture. He came to Rensselaer at the beginning of the design process for EMPAC to ensure architects and consultants would meet the vision of the building as an optimal bridge between the physical world of human experience and interaction and the potential of the digital domain. Parallel to the design and construction of the building, he developed the program of EMPAC by building the technical, curatorial, and operational teams, and initializing the artistic and research productions, residencies, and events.

Between 1990 and 2002, Goebel served as founding director of the Institute for Music and Acoustics at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany. With its studios, artist-in-residence program, productions, commissions, and festivals, ZKM is one of the leading production environments worldwide for music and technology. For ZKM’s new building, which opened in 1996 and comprises two museums, two research and production institutes, studios, and performance venues, Goebel coordinated the overall demands and specified the requirements and infrastructure of its performance spaces and the Institute for Music and Acoustics. Under his directorship, more than 90 international artists produced roughly 200 works, ranging from compositions with live and interactive electronics to pure sound synthesis, interactive operas, and radio plays, sound installations, ballet music, and music films with live orchestras. A continuous performance program and co-productions with other festivals established ZKM as a center for new practices in music.

During his tenure at ZKM, Goebel lectured and published internationally on aesthetics, technology, and music, co-directed 1996 Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), taught a summer course at the Catholic University Porto, Portugal in 2000, and was a guest professor at the Music Academy Graz, Austria in 1992. His lectures, essays, and radio broadcasts from 1979 to 2001 on aesthetics, music, and technology were published in a collection as part of the edition ZKM with Schott publishers.

One of the two key research projects at ZKM during Goebel's leadership is the establishment of the International Digital Electro-Acoustic Music Archive (IDEAMA). This endeavor was also led by Max Mathews, the "father of music compilers," and Patte Wood from Stanford University. After an extended collaboration between Stanford and ZKM, the first digital archive of electronic music up to the 1970s was complete and became a major resource of early electronic music. The archive holds nearly 550 works and is currently available in 23 libraries and music institutes around the world. The next key project Goebel conducted, as principal investigator with a team of experts, was development and application of hardware and software to record and transcribe the music for the Balinese shadow play Gender Wayang. The final publication with transcriptions, data, and research reports is forthcoming.

As consultant to Schott Musik International, one of the largest music publishing houses worldwide, Goebel conducted the overall changeover from traditional music engraving to electronic music printing in 1988 through 1990.

In cooperation with the German avant-garde record label Wergo, Goebel initialized the first audio CD series utilizing this new digital medium for Digital Music Digital in 1986. As producer, coordinator, digital audio editor, and editor-in-chief, he published in collaboration with Max Mathews and CCRMA Computer Music Currents, a 13-volume CD series focused mainly on computer music of the 1980s. The final volume, The Historical CD of Digital Sound Synthesis, is a collection of the very first computer-synthesized pieces from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Between 1977 and 1990, Goebel's activities stretched between the United States and Europe. In 1977, he started in the field of computer music at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) with a two-year grant from the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD. As a visiting composer, he was a regular guest at CCRMA until 1990 and he initiated several major projects. In Europe, he worked as composer, teacher, instrument designer, curator, and musician. He was instrumental in furthering a basis for computer music in Germany, including at the Technical University in Berlin.

In the 1970s, Germany was the only country of the Western industrialized nations that did not have a center or studio for music with computers. This slowly changed in the 1980s. Goebel was at that time the only composer moving continuously between Silicon Valley and Germany trying to create a bridge between technical advances and the German contemporary music attitudes. In 1983, he conducted the first workshop for German composers at Stanford. His lectures on the topic of computer music were slowly accepted and he continuously strived to establish a German artistically-based approach to computer and music application. ZKM provided the basis for establishing a studio with international relevance.

While composing music with computers in the US, Goebel designed and constructed wood and metal instruments in Europe, including mallets with non-traditional tuning systems, a large walk-in organ pipe, etc. Between 1970 and 1990, he was active in the field of free improvisation with non-traditional instruments. As member of a group including his mentor Gunter Lege, Goebel conducted more than 450 workshops with free improvisation for students ranging from kindergarten to university age.

Goebel began teaching music at public schools and colleges at the age of 21 in very diverse environments. This included teaching computer music to professionals, free improvisation to children starting at the age of 3, adults up to 60+, and conservatory students. He also taught music theory, conducting, and interdisciplinary artistic production as professor at the University Hildesheim and worked intensively with children with disabilities.

In 1975, he began his work as a curator by establishing the Hohe-Ufer-Konzerte in Hannover, Germany. At that time, it was a major initiative to establish a platform for a program that integrated composition, improvisation, literature, theater, dance, and visual arts. He collaborated with Gunter Lege and Guenther Christmann. Goebel has since been active in programming and collaborating with festivals and institutions. In 1989, he was founding curator of ZKM's media-festival MultiMediale, initiating its artistic activities.

Having previously been a composer, Goebel wrote pieces for traditional instruments, his own instruments, computer synthesis, and the live and electronic environment of the experimental studio at the Strobel-Stiftung Freiburg. He collaborated in numerous intermedia projects and interdisciplinary performances with dancers, actors, architects, performance, and visual artists.

He continues to be involved worldwide in the intellectual exchange on art, science, and technology, pursuing the questions of political, cultural, educational, and aesthetic relevance of the field.

Events and Residencies

2023

March 9–19, 2023
Music/Sound, Commission, Residency
Bora Yoon

2022

October 10–21, 2022
Music/Sound, Commission, Residency
Bora Yoon
April 21, 2022 at 7:00 pm
Dance/Theater, Music/Sound, Commission
Nina C. Young
April 11–22, 2022
Dance/Theater, Music/Sound, Commission, Residency
Nina C. Young
April 11–16, 2022
Music/Sound, Residency
Patricia Alessandrini & Jack Quartet
March 4, 2022 at 3:00 pm
Music/Sound, Commission
Miya Masaoka, Bora Yoon, Nina Young, and Pamela Z
January 24–28, 2022
Music/Sound, Residency
Mivos Quartet
January 7–18, 2022
Music/Sound, Commission, Residency
Bora Yoon
January 7–May 31, 2022
Season

2020

February 20–March 20, 2020
Music/Sound, Commission, Residency
Nina C. Young
February 10–March 27, 2020
Music/Sound, Residency
Mivos Quartet
January 23–May 8, 2020
Season

2019

November 14, 2019 at 8:15 pm
Performance
Kurt Hentschläger
November 14, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Performance
Kurt Hentschläger
November 4–18, 2019
Music/Sound, Performance, Residency
Kurt Hentschläger
October 9–13, 2019
Music/Sound, Commission, Residency
Yarn / Wire
September 17–27, 2019
Music/Sound, Residency
Mark Fell
September 4–December 7, 2019
Season
July 19, 2019 at 8:30 pm
Music/Sound
Natasha Barrett
July 18–20, 2019
Music/Sound, Workshop
Spatial Audio Summer Seminar 2019
July 8–17, 2019
Music/Sound, Commission, Residency
Natasha Barrett and Marc Downie
May 1–3, 2019
Music/Sound, Residency
Cenk Ergün and JACK Quartet
March 22, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Film/Video, Music/Sound
Carlos Casas, Chris Watson, and Tony Myatt
March 20, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Music/Sound
Chris Watson and Tony Myatt
February 22, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Music/Sound
Hans Tutschku
February 15, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Talk, Performance
Johannes Goebel
February 9–10, 2019
Music/Sound, Residency
andPlay
January 29–February 1, 2019
Music/Sound, Residency
andPlay
January 22–April 18, 2019
Season

2018

December 17–21, 2018
Music/Sound, Residency
Marilyn Nonken and Steven Marotto
December 4–7, 2018
Time-Based Visual Art, Installation
Laurie Anderson
November 13–17, 2018
Music/Sound, Residency
andPlay
November 1, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Talk, Workshop
Chris Chafe
November 1, 2018 at 6:00 pm
Talk, Workshop
Chris Chafe
October 13, 2018 at 8:00 pm
Music/Sound
International Contemporary Ensemble
October 13, 2018 at 4:00 pm
Talk
Johannes Goebel
October 11, 2018 at 7:00 pm
Music/Sound
Formosa Quartet and the Four Venues at EMPAC
October 11–13, 2018
Festival
Celebrating 10 years of Experimental Media and Performing Arts
September 6–December 22, 2018
Season
10th Anniversary Season
July 10, 2018 at 8:00 pm
Music/Sound
Okkyung Lee, Markus Noisternig, and Rama Gottfried
March 20–22, 2018
Series
Chris Watson, Carlos Casas, and Tony Myatt 

2017

March 27, 2017 at 6:00 pm
Film/Video
Directed by Sam Hobkinson, Intro by project architect William Horgan

2016

May 10, 2016–December 31, 2020
Music/Sound, Installation
Johannes Goebel
April 21, 2016 at 4:00 pm
Music/Sound, Talk
Modern 3D Audio Technologies and the Relationship Between Sound and Space
April 20, 2016 at 2:00 pm
Talk
Art and Science: Pushing the Limits of the Creative Process in Media Art
February 11, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Talk
A Conversation with Johannes Goebel and Hui Su

2015

November 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm
Talk
Johannes Goebel
April 22, 2015 at 7:00 pm
Talk
Behind the Scenes of Production and Research

2014

December 12, 2014 at 8:00 pm
Film/Video, Music/Sound
Laurie Anderson
November 12, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Workshop
Laurie Anderson

2013

November 20, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Film/Video, Music/Sound, Talk
Laurie Anderson
October 1, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Talk
Laurie Anderson
May 2, 2013 at 8:00 pm
Film/Video, Music/Sound, Performance
with special guest Pauline Oliveros
May 2, 2013 at 5:00 pm
Film/Video, Music/Sound, Performance
with special guest Pauline Oliveros
April 4, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Talk
Johannes Goebel
February 14, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Music/Sound, Talk
Laurie Anderson
January 16–September 20, 2013
Film/Video, Music/Sound, Residency
Laurie Anderson

2012

December 1, 2012–September 23, 2013
Film/Video, Music/Sound, Residency
Jaroslaw Kapuscinski & The OpenEndedGroup
June 13–December 13, 2012
Music/Sound, Residency
Laurie Anderson
May 13, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Music/Sound, Performance

2010

November 3, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Music/Sound, Talk
Mark Changizi, Johannes Goebel, & David Rothenberg
April 21, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Commission
Mark Changizi
March 5, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Music/Sound, Performance

2009

December 15, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Performance

2005

September 8, 2005 at 6:30 pm
Performance, Commission
On Site + Sound

2004

October 2, 2004 at 6:00 pm
Music/Sound, Performance
The San Francisco Tape Music Center
October 1, 2004 at 7:00 pm
Music/Sound, Performance
The San Francisco Tape Music Center
April 20–May 24, 2004
Music/Sound, Installation
EMPAC plus ZKM

Articles / News / Press

Article

Paper presented at the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics, 2019
Sound American

Events and Residencies

Wednesday / October 26, 2022 at 7:00 pm

EMPAC Fall 2022

Johannes Goebel
Wednesday / November 3, 2021 at 6:00 pm

EMPAC Fall 2021

Jonas Braasch and Johannes Goebel
Saturday / October 13, 2018 at 4:00 pm
Johannes Goebel
May 10, 2016–December 31, 2020
Johannes Goebel
Thursday / February 11, 2016 at 7:00 pm
A Conversation with Johannes Goebel and Hui Su
Thursday / November 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm
Johannes Goebel
Wednesday / October 15, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Johannes Goebel
Wednesday / November 3, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Mark Changizi, Johannes Goebel & David Rothenberg
Saturday / March 21, 2009
Johannes Goebel
Tuesday / April 24, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Johannes Goebel