This academic paper investigates the integration of real-time, data-driven sound design and construction within the context of first-person view (FPV) drone piloting. The objective of this study is to enhance the sense of embodied telepresence experienced by FPV drone pilots. The paper addresses several research gaps and questions, including the potential for shared experiences between the human body and the drone machine, the impact of different sound designs on the overall piloting experience, and the influence of new ocular and aural feedback on the pilot's understanding of aerodynamic position and movement. Additionally, the paper examines the limitations of current human-drone sensory overlay and emphasizes the necessity for a widely applicable methodology for aural sensory stimulation in drone operation. The research methodology encompasses the development of a physical prototype and the exploration of flight controller data sonification. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the prototype and the identification of areas that require further research and improvement, laying the foundation for integrating sound design into FPV drone control systems and opening up new possibilities for creating immersive and dynamic airborne art.

Laboratory investigations into mixed reality (MR) technology predominantly concentrate on time-critical and location-specific image augmentation. In contrast, creative practices perceive the MR environment as a fostering space that expands our temporal and spatial experiences. Embedding digital ele- ments into physical objects prompts tactile engagement and provokes us to reflect on the world we inhabit. In sound and music computing, MR presents a novel performance space for the design of new musical expressions. Musicians and their instruments can be networked, co-creating alongside acoustic instruments and mutually influencing one another. The “musicking” emerges as a product of the ecological resonance between musicians, their tools, and the surrounding environment. In this talk, I aim to broaden our understanding of MR in creative applications. Specifically, I emphasise how mixed reality, as a meditative platform, can stimulate considerations of mindful musical interaction. Situated within an interdisciplinary field, I encourage a holistic perspective on human-technology relationships and an ecological approach to creating MR tools and works. In retrospect on existing MR musical expressions, I will present three projects that encompassing experiences as a performer and creator in collaboration with others. I conclude with insights into how this knowledge can contribute to the fields of sound and VR/AR art.

Vector Synthesis has emerged as a prominent and effective creative medium for communicating audio and visual correspondence as a unified experience. It is a form of simultaneous sound and vision generation whereby a discrete stereo sound signal is developed to form the x and y axes on a visual Cartesian plane. Interestingly, the images appear based on phase and frequency relationships across the stereo field. Therefore the moving image presents snapshots of the sound generation based on multiple temporal perspectives. The medium, however, currently does not adequately visually reflect the way sound behaves in acoustic spaces. My research therefore investigates whether a form of audiovisual synthesis could be developed that will allow a more intelligible understanding of the intricacies of sonic experience. I will consider modes of extending the Vector Synthesis form through utilising Cymatics as a reference as well as through innovative technological approaches. This practice led research must consider significant works in the medium as well as the nature of perception. Human-machine compositional approaches will be discussed and create a framework by which the potential of this synergistic collaboration can be evaluated. This research is therefore increasingly relevant with the emergence and prevalence of machine-learning in creative works. This artist talk will include a presentation of iterative works completed by the artist.

There is no denying that across all continents and industries, we are living with climate change and that systemic change needs to happen in order to minimise the impact of the Anthropocene. The interactive multi-art experience Hot & Heavy explores queer new worlds where domesticity has been made strange, appliances are defamiliarised, and the casual horrors of human production lines and capitalist consumption are vividly transformed. Hot & Heavy emerged out of a creative research process guided by Theory U as a theoretical framework. The creative practice project aims to make visible issues of transnational labour, heteronormative individualism, and the ecological impacts of consumerism. In Hot & Heavy, we use digital technologies, projection, and digital instrument design to heighten the audience experience. The queer dance floor becomes a metaphor for community, diversity, inclusivity, and a safe space to explore new beginnings. Collective performance is used as a practice of shifting from ‘ego-systems to eco-systems’ – a trans-formational space where the audience moves from individualism to collectivism.

To speculate upon the nature of artworks that produce noise is to re-approach automation in more open-ended terms by subjecting oneself to that which is unknown. Machinic Paragenesis (2023) is a speculative fieldwork project that attempts to enact this “re-approach.” The exhibition documents a creative fieldwork methodology: a series of guerrilla field trips undertaken during a two month residency in Taiwan, where three automated warehouses that deploy biomimetic swarm technologies (automated swarming robots) were of primary focus. Using specific microphones, spatio-temporal frequencies and radio-waves that emanate outwards as noisy labour byproducts from these sites were captured, rendered tangible and channelled into a body of work. Constituting the “everywhen” nature of noise, this outcome seeks to chart points of tension and symbiosis, that are at once hyper-localised yet ubiquitous, between swarming and capital - two systems of organising nature and labour. This paper employs the Shannon-Weaver model of communication to discuss the emancipatory potential of noise in automated ecosystems. Reflecting on the successes and shortcomings of art that attempts to wield this impossible material, this paper questions: How can art’s apparent compulsion with aestheticising or making sensory the phenomenological character of noise possibly be of any use, given that noise is by definition, stuff that is unknown, de-organised, and illogical?