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Present

Sound design


Photo credit: Mia Niedojadlo

I compose soundwalks as a means of deepening engagement with my environment and for over 20 years have been using the medium as a tactical and critical tool in a collective re-imagining of the sonic and human landscape. My interest is in close observation of our surroundings, with the aim of exposing the irresistible processes of change at individual, societal and global levels. I apply augmented reality in the form of soundwalks, combining field recordings with archival material and time-shifting sounds absent from our contemporary soundscape (with a nod to R. Murray Schafer).

Soundwalks are relevant to local authorities, museums, heritage organisations, galleries, colleges, and community groups. I can either operate as a solo artist to produce bespoke soundwalks, or involve others in the creative process. My walks have been commissioned by organisations including:
* Nottingham Contemporary
* UK Young Artists
* Mobile Audio Fest (Aix-en-Provence)
* Bergen Academy of Art and Design
* The South Wingfield and Pentrich Revolution Group

As a founder member of the percussion-led group Left Hand Right Hand I have performed across Europe and the USA, with a particular interest in free improvisation and expanded cinema, composing live soundtracks as accompaniment to silent films, as well as contemporary dance.

Teaching


Photo credit: Allan Siegel

In addition to lecturing on the interdisciplinary Fine Art course at Nottingham Trent University for the past two decades, and running the Masters in Fine Art (MFA) there, I have taught students in Japan, Hungary, Norway, Germany, Sweden and France. In recent years I have been working with organisations that support refugees and asylum seekers, running workshops that use the media of sound and clay to draw out and enable the sharing of individual stories.

For further information on workshops and teaching get in touch

 

 

Research



I'm currently undertaking a PhD which is exploring the potential of soundwalking as a tool through which to engage with contested spaces.

My wider artistic research engages with several areas of enquiry, around thematics such as failed modernist utopias and resonant ruination.
I have presented papers and soundwalks at  international conferences and participated in artistic research residencies, and contributed to journals and publications, such as Dance Theatre Journal. I am co-author of Trial: A Study of the Devising Process in Reckless Sleepers' ‘Schrödinger's Box.
A list of my publications can be found here, also a bibliography containing texts that have informed my research.
Alongside my sound/walking practice, I have produced the following research outputs