We’re pleased to announce that composer and sound artist James Dooley has accepted the artistic commission for our AHRC-funded Transforming Transformation project (working title “Integra Forms”). The aim of the project is to develop new ways of transforming sound through touch-free interaction. An important element of the project is an artistic commission allowing the project aims to be explore the project aims within a live performance context.

Rather than simply ask a musician or sound designer to use the prototype system we have developed in the creation of a new artistic work, we thought it would be interesting to ask a tech-savvy sound artist to develop their own system, which responds to the project goals without the constraints of needing to produce something generally usable. The commission text is shown below, and we’re very excited to see and hear what James produces:

The Integra Forms project aims to open up a new field of music technology research by exploring human-centred approaches to creative sound design. The project examines the idea that sound can be manipulated through hand movements as if it were an invisible 3D object, a kind of sonic scultpure. The aim is to enable musicians and sound designers to ‘think in sound’ when working with technology, catalysing a shift from technology-centric to human-centric systems.

The purpose of this commission is to elicit a sound artist’s response to these challenges. We are inviting the production of a sound-based artistic work which explores the themes of sound physicalisation, visualisation and tangibility. We particularly welcome explorations where the visual component of the system forms both the output from and the input to the system, and where visual space is strongly linked to acoustic space. Interactive works, installations and mixed media works are welcome