The dissertation project focuses on the omnipresence of technology in pop musical processes.The aim is to pursue the aesthetic articulations and translations of technical innovations in pop, to analyze their influence on musical and political events; and to formulate a theory of the interplay of technical and aesthetic innovation. The focus of the project’s material-related analysis is on computer-influenced pop, starting approximately with the end of the 1980’s, and extending into the future. The project is geared towards selected pop musical protagonists, and uses these case studies to navigate through the fluid and ever-new network Pop.

Moritz Pisk studied Information Design at FH Joanneum in Graz and completed the Master’s Program Media Culture and Art Theories at the University of Art and Design Linz in 2016. He worked as a student assistant at the Department of Cultural Studies from 2014 to 2017 and co-organized the festival Zukunftsmusik in 2016. In 2018, he worked and taught as a research assistant at the at the University of Art and Design Linz, where he also is a Ph.D.candidate, researching into the interplay of technical and aesthetic innovation in pop since 2016.