WORK
Frontline/Sidelined
A pandemic in watercolour
WATERCOLOUR DRAWINGS
When Covid hit and we were locked in I needed something light and new to keep my brain ticking over without extra pressure. Inspired by seeing rainbows celebrating the work of workers on the frontline and NHS, I enjoyed making small, repeating gestures that build up over time to make something oddly 3 dimensional.
Garden
A game to grow music
GAME DESIGN, SOUND DESIGN, VISUAL DESIGN
The Garden is a first person adventure set on luminous alien worlds where- to save the planet- you must build a sustainable ecosystem by growing musical plants, changing the player to composer. In Garden every plant is an instrument and each world is a song that unique to the style of each player growing it. Explore and rescue the worlds of a dying solar system-discover beautiful plants in stunning abstract environments with new challenges, life forms and original soundtracks.
Hello World
Birth of a new museum
COMPOSITION, SOUND DESIGN, LIGHTING DESIGN
An 8 minute audio visual spectacular was the culmination of an evenings celebration to welcome the new V&A Museum in Dundee, designed by Kengo Kuma. Recordings of sounds from all over Dundee and within the building itself- as well as greetings in 30 languages from the local community- were used to compose the “voice“ of the new building, and the music that followed. Projectors were not used to light the building, instead dynamic lighting rigs were synchronised to the music through MIDI. The event was broadcast live on the BBC.
Shpeel
A space to talk/ play
GAME DESIGN, SOUND DESIGN, VISUAL DESIGN, MUSIC
Shpeel is an immersive interactive experience and musical instrument that starts a conversation about mental health and well being. The 360 virtual environment was created for the London Design Biennale to show how the tool allows young people to express themselves without using verbal communication. The installation investigates whether video games can help to start young people talk about their mental health. Shpeel invites individuals to share their emotions via gaming techniques and 360-degree sound and animation. The technology then produces an avatar that imitates these feelings, giving people an alternative communicative therapy to words. Biome Collective was commissioned to represent UNESCO City of Design Dundee at London Design Biennale.
Killbox
A game about drone warfare
GAME DESIGN, SOUND DESIGN, VISUAL DESIGN, MUSIC
Killbox is a two player online game and interactive installation that critically explores the nature of drone warfare, its complexities and consequences. It is an experience which explores the use of technology to transform and extend political and military power, and the abstraction of killing through virtualisation. Killbox was an international collaboration with artist and Guggenheim Fellow Joseph DeLappe, and was nominated for BAFTA Scotland game of the year, 2016.
Killbox is part of the permanent exhibition at the V&A Design Museum Dundee.
OTHER
An alternate reality game
CONCEPT, GAME DESIGN, VISUAL DESIGN, SOUND DESIGN, MUSIC
other is It is a modern day self portrait of a place and its people experienced through an award winning location- based augmented reality sound game. It is played on the streets in the real city of Dundee. Players perceptions and preconceptions of reality are slowly twisted as they uncover hidden layers and stories as they search for a clues and a way through the other Dundee. other was created in partnership with the National Theatre Scotland as part of a large scale transmedia project incorporating local community workshops, game and film jams, promenade theatre, installation pieces, and the game itself.
Out of Ice
Visualising ice formation and dissolution
DESIGN, CODE
Generative graphics commissioned by Elizabeth Ogilvie- a digital animation and projection for her exhibition "Out of Ice", portraying the psychological, physical and poetic dimensions of ice and water in a large, immersive installation. Out of Ice was originally exhibited in the subterranean spaces of Ambika P3, and is currently showing at Contemporary Art Space Osaka in Japan.
Imprint
Architectural acoustic installation
CONCEPT, SOUND DESIGN
Imprint renders a message- in this case the english alphabet- into morse code played by 26 individual light and sound modules. These are distributed through a space. Letter sequences and silences create emergent patterns “words” and sentences are randomly generated never to be repeated. Decoupling and distributing the letters transforms the letter/word framework from a single source linear communication to a diffuse, multiplied and environmental one.An alphabet is used as a framework for organising and collecting symbolic sounds into words- discrete packages communicating thoughts and ideas. The introduction of the printing press in the 15th century revolutionised the distribution of information .
I/O
3D animation
DESIGN, 3D, SOUND
A short film exploring perception, movement, form, and change
Tin Forest-commonwealth games
PROMENADE THEATRE AND INSTALLATION
SOUND DESIGN, COMPOSITION
"There was once a wide, windswept place, near nowhere and close to forgotten
that was filled with all the things that no one wanted..."
The story of the Tin Forest by Helen Ward, is about the creative transformation of a post industrial environment into a thriving forest and used as an allegory of Glasgows transformation. During the Glasgow Commonwealth games, this became the basis for community projects and events all over Glasgow produced by the National Theatre Scotland.
Sound design and musical score for the light up event at the park
Location based sound design and composition for the promenade theatre in the beautiful but unkempt Victorian flower gardens
Several sound pieces to accompany videos at the the Puppet show Finale at the Rotunda.
Gloam
AMBIENT SPATIAL INSTRUMENT
COMPOSITION, INTERACTION DESIGN
Gloam is an “ambient“ sound sculpture and giant musical instrument that is triggered by people moving through space, inviting participation that can be intentional or mistaken. First used at the Pianodrome at Edinburgh International Festival, Gloam monitors and segments an area and when an object moves into it, plays a sound. This can be used passively for when audiences walk through the monitored field or actively by a dancer or other, and can be combined with live instrumentation. Sounds for Gloam were recorded with the Mantra Collective in Edinburgh.
Metamorphosis
MOTION SculptureS
CAPTURE, DESIGN
Sculpting motion through time using footage recorded from dancers movements traced from single points on their bodies. A history of movement to be used for composition, reference and as sculptural form.
SOIL MATRIX
DATA Sculptures
DESIGN, MODELLING
A commission from National Soil Association researcher to communicate scientific data to the general public. Soil research shows different amounts of each component affect overall soil health and the soils ability to promote and sustain plant growth. These models show relationships between mycelium, water and organic matter.
Witch’s Blood
Factory promenade theatre
LIGHTING DESIGN, SOUND DESIGN, COMPOSITION
In 2016, a proposal was put forward to celebrate the triumph of Witch's Blood 30 years before, and to explore opportunities to create a new treatment for contemporary audiences. Members of the original production team joined with digital artists, musicians and designers from Dundee- based Biome Collective. They laid out plans for a one-off event that would combine the old with the new.
Members of the original cast joined with new talent for a spectacular evening of stories, memories, songs, and sound held in the extraordinary space of the old Print Works factory in Dundee. It ws a night to remember.
Dundee Design Festival
Audio Ident
SOUND DESIGN
Dundee hosted the International Design Festival to celebrate the city being awarded UNESCO City of Design status. Sounds of local choirs, and machinery specific to Dundee's traditional industrial heritage accompany the visual identity and celebrate the cultural/ historic and contemporary attitudes of the city. Played throughout the festival. Ident design and animation by Lyall Bruce of Sooper Double D.