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Richie Hawtin receives Honorary Doctorate for outstanding contribution to music technology
House | Tuesday 14th July 2015 | Annalisa
Richie Hawtin has been awarded the Honorary Doctorate of the University of Huddersfield for outstanding contribution to the world of music technology (Hon DUniv). The pioneering electronic artist, who recently completed his second music-educational tour titled CNTRL, is one of eight distinguished people from the worlds of media, science, enterprise, politics and the arts who received honorary doctorates from the University at an awards ceremony held at St Paul’s Hall. One of the UK’s most prestigious universities for technology, the University of Huddersfield was named Times Higher Education University of the Year in 2013 and is home to the largest community of music technology students in the UK.
Over the course of his illustrious career, Hawtin has founded seminal labels Plus 8 Records and M_nus, produced groundbreaking musical works as Richie Hawtin and Plastikman, collaborated with sculptor Anish Kapoor at the Grand Palais in Paris, performed at New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and toured the globe with his cutting-edge shows and events, performing to thousands every week. More recently, he created the music-technology platform for education titled CNTRL: a college campus tour in the United States, featuring a series of daytime lectures on technology, production and the business of electronic music.
Hawtin’s connection with the University of Huddersfield is intrinsically linked with this dedication to new technologies. It came around the time he formed Liine, a software development company designing Apps for the iPad and iPhone as a way to control DAW software and redefine the way people interact with sound. One of his fellow partners in the company, Nick Bougaieff, was studying for a PhD in electronic dance music at the University of Huddersfield at that time. Hawtin’s work as a producer and DJ featured heavily in that PhD, indeed as it has in a number of academic studies in that subject matter.
