Elementor #34

Degendering via perspective-sharing: the ethics of breaking binaries through spatial practices

ARTEC residency at NTNU, Trondheim, Norway

all online

Soundstack 2019 focused on the aesthetics of sound as space, to tackle this under-developed concern

There is no substitute for hearing IKO. None. Premiering it in the UK, Gerriet K. Sharma and I presented concerts, workshops and lectures to introduce our work, and the speaker itself

Sonic explorations with the IKO icosahedral speaker instrument, in Graz

Exhausting and exciting, full of empty spectacle and interesting themes

a cinematic 360 film collaboration with Alia Sheikh @ BBC R&D. Premiered at Ars Electronica 2019 in Linz, Austria. 3rd order ambisonic sound

Re:Sound brought together practitioners and theorists of contemporary sound art

I installed the Xingu Ensemble spatial audio at the Tate Modern, for the People’s Palace Projects (sound recorded by Nathan Mann)

Sundowning uses interactive synthesis and 3rd order ambisonic sound. This cinematic VR film explores what it may be like to experience Alzheimer’s from a first person perspective

installation at Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent, for three rooms with 5.1 surround sound and projection-mapping, and eye-tracked sonification of a graphic score

I was invited to talk about all aspects of my work (unusual for a multi-cross-inter-trans-disciplinarian) by Mariana Lopez at the University of York.

I presented work about the syntax people use to describe distance in spatial sound

Using granular synthesis, and sampled spoken word, Porcelain Heart attempts to forge form and content, taking as its raw materials the elements of porcelain’s biography, and colliding them together

Binaural and multichannel audio, spatial audio for interactive applications, VR, AR, installations and performance work.

Loud un-clear: marine acoustic pollution everyday listening (a performative presentation using spatial audio and headphones)

I was kind enough to myself to take a break recently, and record in the field just for fun (is getting up for dawn chorus fun?)

a sonic composite of liminal moments somewhere between east and west London, somewhere between sleeping and dancing.

One highlight of the Audio Mostly / Web Audio 2017 conferences was Norbert Schnell’s audience participation app during a piece using santoor ’88 Fingers’

V&A – digital learning I worked with the V&A’s Head of New Media Arts Development Irini Papadimitriou to deliver a VR workshop with Shivani Hassard

I delivered a workshop at VRUK entitled ‘I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship: How three siblings (theatre, film and sound) finally learned to share’

In 2018 I presented work about the accuracy of auditory distance perception, in cinematic VR, at the 2nd AES AVAR (audio for AR & VR) conference in Redmond, Washington.

South of the River a short cinematic VR film which uses dynamic binaural sound. It explores painter Barry Bish’s connection to the Thames River. Born and raised in south-east London to working-class parents, he represents (in work and life) a slice of London culture which is fast disappearing. Sounds of the Thames, opposite the iconic Tate & Lyle factory, pervade his studio and thoughts. He is a window into a dimension which signals authenticity, whilst appealing to a fetish-like commodification of its symbols.

Liquidscapes – conference. I presented the context surrounding [re]Sounding Balloon in Dartmouth June 2018

I presented a paper about distributed directing and the feminine, based on producing Sundowning with two other women. The paper celebrated the non-position of 'not knowing'.

[re]Sounding Balloon is a sculptural installation using spatial audio. A helium-filled weather balloon, attached to a weighted pulley system, determines the listener’s sonic experience, via an ultrasonic sensor. Expending effort, the listener can hoist the balloon – counterintuitively – upwards, to hear the piece in dynamic binaural reproduction. This installation was inspired by infrasound recordings of the ocean collected from weather balloons at high altitude. Its sonic materials are hydrophonic and found recordings, alongside infrasound taken from actual ocean monitoring by marine biologists.

Part of the 'Exaggerated Value' series – mixed media on canvas

Pompeu Fabra University visit to present a poster

Demonstration of an eye tracking device designed to highlight the surprising lack of fine voluntary motor control we have over our eyes.

documentary of a perfomance-tech collaboration. A recent documentary I co-produced about tech-performance collaborations

video series exploring the intimacy of close-range eye contact in a mediated age through sound-image synchresis

From the 'neon ghosts' series – mixed media self portraiture

While recording for 'South of the River'

I presented a paper about [re]Sounding Balloon at the EVA (Electronic Visualisation & the Arts) conference July 2018. All the technology that could fail, failed

Working with a 360 panoramic (acoustically transparent) screen and 16-channel speaker system to re-purpose cinematic VR content and make use of the space's unique affordances

I visited Imperial College's Dyson School of Design Engineering in April 2018 where I tested out my response time and accuracy in localising sound sources positioned using VBAP. It's always humbling when you do a spatial sound test that doesn't go well, if you are a spatial sound gal. This one went well though!

In an effort to reach non-academic publics and have research be more representative, I put my PC, a Vive headset, and miscellaneous cables into two suitcases, and wheeled them to a local gallery. I had signs, money to incentivise, and, well… VR. No dice.

installation from the 'Invisible Me' series

miscellaneous early video works