The field of sound and space has been the subject of intensive research worldwide, particularly in the last 30 years, and in relation to the environment, probably since the 1960s. In recent years, two major monographs have been published on binaural (Jens Blauert: The Technology of Binaural Listening) and ambisonic sound (Franz Zotter, Matthias Frank: Ambisonics). Both comprehensive publications provide insight into the technological framework. The tradition of research at the Department of Composition, on the other hand, seeks to find compositional starting points with an awareness of existing technological models and to postulate questions based on knowledge of musical composition, interpretation, performance, and intermedia aspects of contemporary composition. The interrelationships between sound, music, and space have become key topics in connection with technology (the study Touching Sound, 2015, the book Soundspace - Spatial Sound, 2018, GEANT conference 2019), in relation to the environment (Sound and Environment, 2019), or to the diachronic realities of contemporary music (the project Minulost v dnešku [The Past in the Present] together with the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, a historical study in the publication Zvukoprostor – prostorozvuk [Soundspace – Spatial Sound]). The research team of the Department of Composition has repeatedly gained and confirmed its research experience through the realization of practical compositional and installation outputs (Prostor v prostoru - Anežský klášter 2020, Orfeova zahrada - Národní galerie Praha 2020, Nový pavilon goril - Zoo Praha, 2020–2022), Zlín Mirrors – Zlín 2022, Imperial Spa Karlovy Vary 2023. The fact that this topic is currently resonating more widely is also evidenced, for example, by the virtual acousmonium project in Vienna. Above all, it is necessary to mention the latest published study, Sound Immersion of Public and Private Listening Spaces (ArteActa 2023), which attempts to use theoretical and artistic research methods to connect worlds that have been rather separate until now and to arrive at certain generalizing insights, recommendations, and compositional and technological ideas. The creation of two compositions for solo instruments with live electronics became the framework for a listening experiment involving a group of sixteen listeners/respondents. Using a psychoacoustic questionnaire, they sought answers to questions concerning the transferability of spatial expression across two formats of its spatial reproduction. The results of the experiment not only confirmed or corrected the initial assumptions, but also provided a number of other insights that can be useful to composers, intermedia artists, and sound designers in situations where their work (increasingly often) travels across real or virtual spaces.
