Open call to autistic individuals for immersive audio performances.

Application Deadline: 15th of June

The open call offers individuals who identify as autistic and/or who have been diagnosed as autistic the opportunity to take part in dedicated workshops & development sessions looking at spatial audio as a creative tool in the context of live performance. The sessions will culminate in a public presentation of the applicants work at experimental arts centre “IKLECTIK” as part of “The Sonic Microscope”, a spatial audio event focussed on Neurodiversity in the arts happening on the 28th of October 2023.

This invitation is to join an evening of sound performances challenging unidirectional, stage-oriented scenarios typical of stereophonic sound in favour of spatially inclusive, immersive sonic experiences.

Using multiple speakers across the walls and ceiling, spatial audio technology allows one to position & "sculpt" sound in three-dimensions. In this context, space becomes an instrument one can performatively play with.

The participants will receive support by a team of electracoustic musicians & performers:

Dr John Biddulph (Autism Spectrum Condition specialist)
Christian Duka (Spatial Audio specialist)
Lucie Stepankova (Free Improviser)

We will equally consider individuals that have an established practice and those that are interested in exploring the sonic arts. Theoretical and technical knowledge of music making & technology is not a necessary requirement to join this project. Individuals new to this practice will be given accessible tools & the know-how necessary to engage in live performance & sound spatialisation.

What we can offer

Free access to an event space (IKLECTIK) featuring an enveloping 16.4 sound system spread across the walls and ceiling to develop your performance in dedicated group or 1-1 sessions.
Neurodivergent-friendly free support and mentorship for what concerns sound performance and spatialisation using electronic & acoustic instruments and spatial audio technology in a creative way.
Production and delivery of a public event to present your performance.
Audio/visual documentation of the performance.

Workshop dates:

24th of July
8th of August
19th of August
24th of August

Please note that this is an unpaid opportunity.

The spatial sound system

^{Photo by Thomas Rosser}

Since 2018, we have facilitated & supported several artists working with sound in various ways. In the process, we have developed a comprehensive toolkit to work with spatial sound in the context of live music performance & composition, interactive sound installations, performance art and contemporary dance.

Within the 16.4 sound system, any sound source can be positioned in space and its trajectory controlled in real-time through a touch-based tablet app with an innovative approach that resembles tools used for electronic music composition.

The spatialisation can also be handled entirely via Ableton Live on the user’s machine (i.e. by using Envelop4Live). Using Open Sound Control, we are able to turn streams of data into positional information (i.e. to connect movement & distance sensors to sounds’ position). While our default spatialisation method is Ambisonics (up to 5th order), we can accommodate for virtually any other method if necessary.

How to apply

Submit a single PDF file containing the following information to info@amoenus.co.uk

1) Applicant/s Name/s, email addresses and city of residence.
2) A statement of interest elaborating on what you wish to learn/gain from this project.

We accept applications made as a collective.
No prior experience in the relevant fields is necessary.

In the making of your work, you will receive support by:

John Biddulph

^{Photo by Jason Dale}

John is a professional in the world of Autism and also an autistic person. He studies and explores sensory differences and flow states and that deep creative connection that neurodivergent people can achieve. John autism work includes working with colleagues to provide assessment pathways, training in a wide range of themes, and supporting autistic people and their families.

Of particular interest to John is the creation and performance of sounds that encourage the listener to listen through the prism of a ‘sonic microscope’ focusing on tiny changes in all the elements of sounds and especially tone quality (timbre) and position (spatialisation).

John is a regular performer of electro-acoustic music. Before retraining in the field of autism, he studied music at a UK Conservatoire and played professionally on clarinet and saxophone. John has performed in a wide range of music groups and an even wider range of styles in venues all over the world.

He has played alongside Jools Holland, performed in Berlin, Athens, at Café OTO and IKLECTIK in London, and performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in major concert halls. He now plays as a solo performer on electronic music instruments and uses field recordings and found sounds in his performing and composing.

Christian Duka

^{Photo by Alice Underwood}

Christian is a sound artist/designer, immersive audio specialist and higher education lecturer. Following a month long residency at MONOM 4D Sound in Berlin in 2018, he curated UR: Human Presence, an interdisciplinary immersive performance presented at Aures London. He has since been active as immersive art curator, sound artist/designer and more recently as a spatial audio enabler, educator & facilitator through his work at the Amoenus organisation, which he founded back in 2019. Christian has been teaching in higher education since 2016, lecturing on sound design and audio production in the Audio Production BA degree at SAE Institute, London. Through Amoenus, Christian has delivered several workshops exploring spatial audio as a creative tool, most recently to a group of 40 neurodivergent participants at Birmingham Open Media, and supported more than 50 artists in the process of learning in working with spatial audio, most recently at experimental art centre IKLECTIK.

Past works in immersive audio include collaborations with digital dance company Pell Ensemble and sound artist Jose Macabra (UR: Human Presence), free improvisers John Butcher, Lucie Stepankova and Aimee Theriot (Free Improvisation in Spatial Sound) and visual artist Nestor Pestana for an AV immersive piece exhibited at Porto Planetarium and an exhibition in Covent Garden aimed at raising awareness to worlwide issues related to mental health support. His solo work is focussed on inducing heightened states of awareness of one’s own internal physical and mental activity through spatial sound.

Lucie Stepankova

Lucie Stepankova (aka Avsluta) is a London-based sound artist, DJ, curator and educator. Her sound art practice revolves around free improvisation with found objects, raw materials and digital processing and closely relates to the practice of deep listening and new materialist theories. The outcomes are live performances, compositions and multi-media works including audio-visual pieces and installations. Over the past 8 years, Lucie has been producing ambient and downtempo as Avsluta and since the inception of her Introspective Electronics platform over 4 years ago, she started DJ’ing, playing music for chill-out rooms and dancefloors alike.

Lucie has been running workshops relating to free improvisation with objects and electro-acoustic live performance workflows in the past 3 years in collaboration with venues and institutions including 4DSOUND, Amoenus, Royal College of Art, Central Saint Martins, SHAPE Platform and others. In 2022, she became a co-director of Amoenus and this year she facilitated spatial sound artist residencies, aiding artists in gaining the necessary knowledge, skills and tools for performance in multi-channel audio in collaboration with Sova Audio and delivered a week-long course in spatial sound in collaboration with 4DSOUND.

About AMOENUS

https://amoenus.co.uk

This open call is organised by AMOENUS, an art organisation that facilitates, educates, curates, and promotes immersive art centred around 3D sound.

About IKLECTIK

https://iklectikartlab.com/

IKLECTIK is a self-funded creative platform founded in 2014 that showcases contemporary art, experimental music and artistic critical practice.