Marcus Maeder

Marcus Maeder is an artist, researcher and electronic music composer. He studied fine arts in Lucerne, philosophy in Hagen and is currently pursuing a PhD in environmental systems science at the ETH Zurich. After serving as an editor and producer for Swiss Radio SRF, he joined the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK in 2005 as a research associate. Currently, Maeder is a visiting scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Landscape and Snow Research WSL and a fellow at the Institute of Biology at Freie Universität Berlin.

Maeder's research explores eco-acoustic surveys of territories, communities, and organisms under the influence of climate change and other environmental issues. He connects his artistic and scientific work to the fields of acoustic ecology and artistic research.

At the invitation of French President François Hollande, Maeder presented his sound art installation trees: Pinus sylvestris at the UN Climate Change Conference COP21 in 2015. In 2017, Maeder presented his installation AmazonFACE: Ocotea at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington - the same year that he and Roman Zweifel received an award from the European Commission's STARTS Prize for their collaborative work titled treelab at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. In 2021 Marcus Maeder presented his installation Silva (commissioned by the Goethe-Institut Tallinn and in collaboration with Roman Zweifel) at the Estonian National Museum; Estonian President Alar Karis visited the exhibition and spoke at the opening.