M.A.R.I.N. will make a debut at ISEA2009 Belfast in August 2009. This first expedition, the “Irish Sea EcoLocated Residency”, will focus on Littoral cultures: how marine ecologies close to human settlements are perceived by scientists and local communities, and how our art & science research team will introduce new cultural strategies to interlace them.

The MARIN vessel in Belfast harbour.

This first collaborative residency aboard the MARIN craft, entitled...

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I’m a Nomad not a Drifter, being Adrift is of course a different kettle of fish, as it implies an active surrender to the vagaries of the elements, be they maritime or psychological ~ I usually go for both!

The Adrift project was conceived and realised for the Memory Flows exhibition at the CarriageWorks in Sydney and comprised of two sounding vessels. My trusty sea kayak “Siika” pressed into sonic-service, equipped with a “Solid-Drive” transducer that transformed the...

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Interface map

Catalogue Notes: The title is an ironic reference to the motto of submarine captains in WWII who knew that the silence of their craft was the key to remaining undetected. In contrast this artwork is a whole-hearted embrace of the richly sonic world deep within the ocean. The artist will be bringing this auditory world to the surface in an immersive surround-sound experience, which will be located within the gallery.

Prior to the exhibition, the artist...

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Listen to this space (well a space in Western Australia). 

AudioMaze is an interactive project for the new exhibition space at the WA Blind and Guide-Dog AssociationA development of the “Talking Stick” project commissioned by the “Exploratorium” Museum of Science and Human Perception” in San Francisco, AudioMaze presents the sonic experience of an imagioned architectural space.  Visitors may interact with the soundscape by using ‘sonic wands’.

...

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Quint de Loup II was exhibitied at the Tin Sheds Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Sydney ~ the show rounded up with a one day seminar on Sound, Art, Architecture and the Environment.
Here is my short presentation.

AudioNomadism or a description in plain English of how to do very complicated things with location sensitive spatial audio

The download is a bit slow ~ but it’s worth the wait!

Fictionalising Fiction! ~ Nigel Helyer.

In the...

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Be not afeared; this isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices
that, if I then had waked, after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me,
that when I waked, I cried to dream again.

William Shakespeare, The Tempest.

Prototype testing the mobile audio units...

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Syren for Port Jackson has recently plied the waters of Sydney Harbour, delivering a unique location sensitive, immersive audio experience aboard the M.V. Regal.

The Syren project is part of the AudioNomad R+D project ~ a collaboration between the Artist Nigel Helyer and the Scientists Daniel Woo and Chris Rizos of the University of New South Wales.

The Regal approaching Darling Harbour.

Visit the Gallery

Download an AudioNomad PR blurb

Narrative treatments

Also...

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‘Swarm’ is the latest development of a series of interactive ‘Theremin’ based sound sculptures (see ‘Ariel’, ‘Caliban’s Children’ and ‘Quint de Loup’).  ‘Swarm’ is concieved to operate out-doors and is the first of the series to be solar powered ~ the work is installed in the Werribbe Mansion Park as part of the Herlen Lermpriere Sculpture Award.

Swarm 2005 stainless steel, acrylic, audio electronics, steel rigging cable

Footprint = 8,000 cm x 8,000 cm x 3,500 cm X10...

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WHAT SURVIVES: SONIC RESIDUES IN BREATHING BUILDINGS

March 2006 at The Performance Space ~ Curator, Gail Priest.

Consisting of three major gallery-based sound installations and a program of commissioned works for two sound stations in the building, What Survives explores the real and imagined remnants of human presence in architecture.

The structures we build bear silent witness to human behaviour—what have the walls, beams and girders absorbed and what sonic secrets...

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“Lotus” is a recent commission for an environmental audio sculpture that is moored in the lake at ECU’s Joondalup campus.

Lotus on-site and talking poetry ~ November 2006

“Lotus” is a development of my previous solar powered environmental audio works and is directly based upon the functional components of “Haiku” but here deployed within a space-frame that acts as a floating sub-structure for deployment in the lake at Joondalup.  Floating the work is a...

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