Control, collaboration and audience engagement in interactive sound installations

Harrison, L. 2018. Control, collaboration and audience engagement in interactive sound installations. PhD thesis Royal Holloway, University of London Music

TitleControl, collaboration and audience engagement in interactive sound installations
TypePhD thesis
AuthorsHarrison, L.
Abstract

This portfolio of sound installations represents a period of development and investigation through three interactive works staged between 2013 and 2016. It looks at how to engage audiences with electronic soundscapes through interactive staging and the challenge of artistic control versus the benefits of collaboration. Collaboration is considered both from the perspective of working with other artists and designers as well as placing the audience in a collaborative role within the installations. This is balanced with the question of how the composer can retain control and ownership of the creative output when the level of interaction and collaboration is increased.

The sound within this portfolio has been influenced the work of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Delia Derbyshire and Trevor Wishart in its form and approach. These sound worlds have been combined with staging and audience engagement techniques currently being used in event art and immersive theatre by companies such as Daily tous les jours and Marshmallow Laser Feast.

Installation 1, The Wind Singer, is an interactive work for schools and educational events based on the book of the same name by William Nicholson. The installation investigates how to introduce school groups to new sound worlds through exploration and play.
Installation 2, That I will do my best…, is a work commissioned by national youth organisation Girlguiding. It demonstrates techniques for crowdsourcing material from the potential audience and building interaction that can be integrated into an exhibition style event.
Installation 3, Let’s build a fort!, is the culmination of all the techniques developed within this portfolio. It includes elements of play, crowdsourced material and collaboration with other designers to create a fully interactive audience

Keywordsinteractive sound ; electronic music ; interactive music ; sound installation ; installation art ; Collaborative music ; Collaborative art ; audience engagement ; Audience Participation ; Control in music ; control in art
Year2018
Web address (URL)https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.792823

Related outputs

Where now for interactive sound and music?
Harrison, L. 2025. Forthcoming. Where now for interactive sound and music? in: Routledge.

Can we create an artefact of a piece of interactive audio?
Harrison, L. 2025. Forthcoming. Can we create an artefact of a piece of interactive audio? in: Routledge.

Is interactive sound and music ever finished?
Lucy Ann Harrison and Harrison, L. 2025. Forthcoming. Is interactive sound and music ever finished? in: Interactive Sound and Music: Beyond Pressing Play Routledge.

How can you make interaction a meaningful part of the work?
Harrison, L. 2025. Forthcoming. How can you make interaction a meaningful part of the work? in: Interactive Sound and Music: Beyond Pressing Play Routledge.

How do you compose for multiple possibilities?
Harrison, L. 2025. Forthcoming. How do you compose for multiple possibilities? in: Interactive Sound and Music: Beyond Pressing Play Routledge.

How do audience expectations change in an interactive space?
Harrison, L. 2025. Forthcoming. How do audience expectations change in an interactive space? in: Interactive Sound and Music: Beyond Pressing Play Routledge.

Is it actually interactive and does it actually matter?
Harrison, L. 2025. Forthcoming. Is it actually interactive and does it actually matter? in: Interactive Sound and Music: Beyond Pressing Play Routledge.

Introduction
Harrison, L. 2025. Forthcoming. Introduction. in: Interactive Sound and Music: Beyond Pressing Play Routledge.

Interactive Sound and Music: Beyond Pressing Play
Harrison, L.A. 2025. Forthcoming. Interactive Sound and Music: Beyond Pressing Play. Focal Press.

Still Lives
Lost Text/Found Space, Harrison, L., McCutcheon, R. and Rebellato, D. 2024. Still Lives. The Old Waiting Room, Peckham Rye 02 - 13 Jul 2024

Still Lives (Workshop)
Lost Text/Found Space, Harrison, L., McCutcheon, R. and Rebellato, D. 2023. Still Lives (Workshop). The Old Waiting Room, Peckham Rye 17 - 18 Nov 2023

Creating Interactive Sound
Harrison, L. 2022. Creating Interactive Sound. Lighthouse (ed.) Women in Music: Arte Sônica Amplificada. Online across Brazil Apr 2022

Bridging the Technical Divide: Techniques for effective communication with artists
Harrison, L., Britton, N., Chatterley, A. and Russell, M. 2021. Bridging the Technical Divide: Techniques for effective communication with artists. AES Spring Show. Online 25 - 28 May 2021 Audio Engineering Society.

Guiding Audiences with Sound: Techniques for interactive and games audio.
Harrison, L. 2021. Guiding Audiences with Sound: Techniques for interactive and games audio. AES Spring Show. Online 25 - 28 May 2021 Audio Engineering Society.

Music and Sound in Virtual/Augmented Realities-Questions, Challenges and Approaches A Multidisciplinary Roundtable
Summer, T., Cook, J., Famer, W., Ferrè, E.R., Harrison, L., Hemming, R., Nescu, A.I., Reed, L., Roberts, F., Stevens, R., Tatlow, S. and Whittaker, L. 2021. Music and Sound in Virtual/Augmented Realities-Questions, Challenges and Approaches A Multidisciplinary Roundtable. Journal of Sound and Music in Games. 2 (2), pp. 63-83. https://doi.org/10.1525/jsmg.2021.2.2.63

Teaching Principles of Interactive Sound
Harrison, L A. 2021. Teaching Principles of Interactive Sound. in: Stevens, B. (ed.) Teaching Electronic Music Routledge. pp. 90-102

Guiding Audiences with Sound
Harrison, L. 2020. Guiding Audiences with Sound. Lighthouse (ed.) The Space in Sound. Online Sep 2020

The Living Library
Seadog Theatre, Harrison, L., Bridges, L, Slade, E. and Trower, S. 2020. The Living Library.

The Living Library
Seadog Theatre, Harrison, L., Bridges, L., Slade, E. and Trower, S. 2020. The Living Library. Sinespace

Principles of gaming sound in interactive and immersive theatre
Harrison, L. 2019. Principles of gaming sound in interactive and immersive theatre. Ludo2019. Leeds Beckett 26 - 28 Apr 2019

Memories of Fiction: The Living Library
Harrison, L. 2018. Memories of Fiction: The Living Library.

Til We Meet in England
Lost Text/Found Space, McCutcheon, R. and Harrison, L. 2017. Til We Meet in England.

A Testimony and a Silence
Lost Text/Found Space, McCutcheon, R. and Harrison, L. 2016. A Testimony and a Silence.

Lives, loves and loss: Traces at Fenton House
Traces and Harrison, L. 2016. Lives, loves and loss: Traces at Fenton House.

That I will do my best...
Harrison, L. 2014. That I will do my best... Alexandra Palace 22 - 23 Feb 2014

The Wind Singer
Harrison, L. 2013. The Wind Singer. Girlguiding ICANDO, London Apr 2013

Mariam at Burford: Youth and Young Girlhood
Lost Text/Found Space, McCutcheon, R. and Harrison, L. 2013. Mariam at Burford: Youth and Young Girlhood.

Cary: The Mariam Cycles
Lost Text/Found Space, McCutcheon, R. and Harrison, L. 2013. Cary: The Mariam Cycles.

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