Kerem Ergener

Kerem Ergener is an electronic music composer and multimedia artist known for his architectural approach to sound, melding minimal, glitch-driven electronics with spatial audio, light, and atmosphere to create immersive performances and installations. His artistic output and research interests focus on embodiment through sound and the phenomenology of atmosphere, shaping space and place by developing holophonic and immersive listening experiences through Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) and advancing the democratization of music-making through live coding.

He earned his undergraduate degree in Mechatronics Engineering at Bahçeşehir University, where he helped establish the BAU Stanford Robotics Research Project Laboratory and conducted research on advanced robotics applications. He continued his graduate education at Istanbul Technical University MIAM, where he received his Master of Arts in Sonic Arts. From 2019 to 2022, he lived in Bangkok, Thailand, where he served as a lecturer at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Institute of Music Science and Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Experimental Music and Digital Media at Louisiana State University, with a graduate minor in Architecture. He studied electronic music and composition with Reuben de Lautour, Jeremy Woodruff, Brian Raphael Nabors, Jesse Allison, and Stephen David Beck, and architecture with Paul Holmquist.

Ergener's artistic philosophy revolves around the exploration of light, shadows, deconstruction, decay, the human condition, and atmosphere, which is influenced by phenomenological studies and thinkers such as Merleau-Ponty, Baudrillard, Derrida, Pérez-Gómez, and Böhme. Rooted in both architecture and sonic arts, his works aim to create immersive experiences where the audience becomes part of the space, leaning toward minimalist design, with an industrial, brutalist sonic palette. Using space and place as a vital element, Ergener integrates light, fog, and sound to shape an evocative atmosphere. His practice involves live coding tools and electronic gear, reflecting a belief that technological limitations fuel creativity. Ergener's works have been featured on numerous compilations, including the Music from SEAMUS series, and he has released solo work under his name and the pseudonym Le Horla. His works have been performed internationally in concerts and conferences, including Electric LaTex, NYCEMF (New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival), SEAMUS (The Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States), and ICMC (International Computer Music Conference). He was honored with the American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for his visual work for David Walter’s Makrologos.

Ergener serves as an Assistant Professor of Music Technology at Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts. He is also active in academic service and community-building within experimental music and music technology. He chairs the Ethics Committee of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), was a founding member of Algorave Louisiana and Istanbul Coding Ensemble, and was part of the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (LoLs) and Algorave Istanbul. His current research focuses on holophony, immersive audio, and the future of spatial audio experiences. His work with Wave Field Synthesis includes The AURA, a 192-channel WFS system designed and built with Jesse Allison, which became a foundational project in his investigation of communal, embodied, and architecturally informed listening. At Virginia Tech, Ergener continues to develop research and creative work at the intersection of sound, design, architecture, and technology, exploring how holophonic audio can reshape the way listeners experience space, atmosphere, and place.