This final work brings together many of the aspects I have been researching over the past two years. I have been interested in how the role of play and participation impacts the development of my thinking around opening up an otherwise internal process of sound making, with a relationship to spatiality. It is reflective of a moment in my research where I am looking into what kind of materiality brings about the kinds of curiosity and intriuge needed to invite a spectator to discover not only a world for themselves, but one that they have had co-authorship in creating.

As a researcher and composer who experiences syneasthesia, this is about developing my methods with which to expose my internal creative world for others to experience and play a part in; but also as a way to further develop my techniques used when composing music. I will be gathering responses of these experiences to inform future Scenographic and compositional works.

Artist statement

Coming from a background in music and composition, I have used my time at HKU’s Master of Scenography to expand my existing practice and bridge it into the realm of the visual and spatial. My history as an itinerant musician having performed across the globe over the past twelve years, and many musical collaborations within different genres and artforms has informed my way to approach Scenography. This set the framework by which I begin to develop an artistic practice that allows me to encompass musical and scenographic worlds, while expanding the meaning of the term ‘Composer’. My research here has been shaped greatly by the pursuit to present the spectator with an invitation into a playful co-creative landscape, with a goal to de-centralise the composer, or in the very least share the excitement of creating sonic forms, through an accessible, tactile environment. I believe that the way I have applied my previous experience to the development of my Scenographic practice is valuable in my contribution to the current field of Expanded Scenography.

Ambitions

I hope to continue experimenting with materials that allow dramaturgical questions to be refined, as I develop further what being a musical composer and scenographer means to me. I would like to see these two worlds merge further in the next five years. I would like to continue researching technologies which enable us to trigger sounds and create spontaneous compositions involving the spectator; whilst also extending my musical career and skills. I plan to release more studio records, develop my performance that represents something of this search for the cohesion between visual-sonic-spatial worlds, and continue to collaborate with many artists and musicians.

Learned during the studies

The most valuable tool I will leave this study with is a more developed understanding of my artistic practice, what its different parts are, what it needs, and ultimately how to keep moving through it. I realised this through the continual process of reflection, of trying things out when I don’t know in advance what will work, discussion, gaining feedback and support. All of these elements have fed into a system that I hope to continue to develop in the coming years.

List of publications / exhibitions / prices / concerts / shows etc.

Awards

Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers 2018

Concerts (a selection)
Pianodrome Theatre (Edinburgh Fringe) – August 2022
Floating Castle Festival, Slovenia – August 2022
King’s Place, London – February 2020
Pianodrome Theatre (Edinburgh Fringe) – August 2019
Cambridge Folk Festival, Stage 2 – August 2017
Midsommar Festival Skansen, Stockholm – June 2017
WOMEX Chile, Santiago - February 2017
Umefolk, Umeå – February 2016
Celtic Connections, Glasgow – January 2016