Moritz Simon Geist

Moritz Simon Geist – Artist and Researcher in Robotic Music and AI Performance

Moritz Simon Geist is a pioneering media artist, musician, and researcher who explores the boundaries between robotics, sound, and algorithmic creativity. With a background in classical music and a diploma in electrical engineering, Geist’s work bridges the worlds of scientific research and avant-garde sound design. His instruments are robots—not samplers or synthesizers—but mechanical systems physically producing sound, making his approach to electronic music uniquely tangible, performative, and deeply human.

After starting his academic career at the Fraunhofer Institute, Geist pivoted to art in 2012, debuting the now-iconic MR-808, a large-scale robotic drum machine modeled after the TR-808. This viral piece established his vision: building musical machines that celebrate imperfection, materiality, and the randomness of physical sound. Since then, he has developed numerous projects, such as the kinetic sculpture Tripods One, the AI-influenced vibraphone installation Vibrations, and the attention-reactive robotic entity Don't Look at Me.

His debut album Robotic Electronic Music (2018), produced with Andi Thoma of Mouse On Mars, is the first techno record entirely played by robots. It was lauded by outlets such as WIRED, Fast Company, and The New York Times for rethinking techno’s relationship to machine aesthetics and was followed by collaborations with artists like Robert Lippok and Tyondai Braxton.

Geist’s work has been featured internationally—from Venice Biennale, SXSW, Ars Electronica, to Philharmonie de Paris—and received numerous accolades including the ISEA 2024, Pop Music Prize 2022, and ZER01NE Grant Seoul 2023.

He sees his robotic instruments not just as tools, but as speculative machines: vehicles for exploring new sonic territories and commenting on AI, automation, and post-human creativity. His installations interrogate how we define instruments, performers, and audiences in an age of increasing machine autonomy.

In addition to his artistic practice, Geist runs a collaborative studio in Dresden, developing custom sound installations for brands, museums, and fellow artists. He taught at NYU Berlin (2015–2021) and continues to research the intersection of AI and sound as a driver for performative innovation.