This essay by Nigel Helyer and John Potts listens to the sound of place: of Bundanon, a three thousand acre property in the Shoalhaven river valley in rural NSW, Australia. Bundanon is today an artists’ colony and education centre, following the gift to the Australian people in 1993 of the entire property—including homestead, artist studio […]
Read More →The Sound of Place; Environmental Artworks at Bundanon.
on October 6, 2020in Articles, arts and science, environmental project, Essays, interactive new media, public art, sound sculpture, Textstags: arts and science, critical writing, environmental project, sound sculpture

A Dissimulation of Birds
on September 26, 2017in Projectstags: arts and science, environmental project, public art, sculpture, sound sculpture

Our capacity to communicate, and more so our ability to sing is directly related to our intimate evolutionary relationship with the acoustic genius of birds. Our species has internalised and evolved the trills and warbles of birdsong to form language and music. A Dissimulation of Birds pays homage to the virtuosity of our feathered friends […]
Read More →The Biological Mixer
on April 27, 2017in Projectstags: arts and science
By Sarah Moss. Dr Nigel Helyer, also known as Dr Sonique, has a fascination with data sonifications. “I’ve done quite a lot of projects where I build a really big audio library, maybe in certain categories,” he said. “It might be environmental sounds, local music, aural history archival sounds or from early radio in that […]
Read More →CultCult – audio illumination from the Ocean
on July 29, 2016in Projectstags: arts and science, bio-art, sound sculpture
All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail […]
Read More →BioPod
on November 3, 2014in Projectstags: arts and science, environmental project, installation, public art, sculpture, sound sculpture
The BioPods project was developed for the Bundanon Trust annual Siteworks 2014 festival but is also the debut project of When Art meets Science a three year ARC (Australian Research Council) project conducted between the artist and cultural and environmental researchers at Macquarie University; with The Bundanon Trust and the Australia Council for the Arts […]
Read More →Eine Kleine GeneMusiK
on August 26, 2014in arts and science, interactive new media, Projectstags: arts and science, sound sculpture
GeneMusiK rides Again! <scroll to the end of this page for new stuff> The GeneMusiK project had its origins in 2003 during a three month Artist in Residence hosted by the SymbioticA lab at the University of Western Australia. At that time I worked in the Department of Agricultural Sciences with Dr Gary Cass on […]
Read More →Architecture for Bees; Bees for Architecture
on June 29, 2014in Projectstags: arts and science, environmental project, public art
Architecture for Bees and Bees for Architecture is a three day workshop at the Kaisanemi Botanical Gardens, Helsinki, Finland offered by Australian artist Dr. Nigel Helyer as part of the ongoing Melliferopolis urban bee project. Architecture for Bees and Bees for Architecture is a project that considers the architectural capacities and potentials of colonial bees […]
Read More →Float like a Butterfly; Sting like a Bee
on July 18, 2013in Projectstags: arts and science, installation, sculpture, sound sculpture