The premise is gesture as conduit to narrative. The language of the body becomes a visual stream for communication. How might sound influence this process? Participants will be guided through a series of movement tasks to create choreographic studies which extend the body in space and demonstrate a conductor-receiver relationship. We will look at how the emerging work can be captured in camera, and begin to look at the use of sound in a supporting role for moving image. We will discuss the language of physicality including sound and acoustic environment for the screen space. This process will involve motion graphics and sound in tandem with the physical presence of the performers. The outcomes will be short film and sound explorations, which utilise simple geometric animation templates, live and prerecorded sound. Guided by Daniel Belton, these 'investigations' will be created and curated by the student participants: Yu Meng Ting, Liew Kongmeng, Turoman Nora, Luo Shenshen, Yang Jing, HASHIM ZURIANAH, Chen Rachel, Hartono Patrick G., Jon He, and Dias de Almeida Berger Carolina. They will be producing short experimental films, to be showcased at the “Showcase” at ArtScience Museum on Sunday 23 August.

With support from New Zealand Art Council, Creative New Zealand, and School of Art, Design, Media (NTU).

When We Collide is a collaborative and generative sound installation by Joyce Beetuan Koh, PerMagnus Lindborg, Andrián Pertout, Seongah Shin, Stefano Fasciani, and Dirk Stromberg. The idea for When We Collide sprang from Douglas Hofstader’s metaphor of creativity as the meeting between records and record players, appearing in his 1979 book "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid". In our case, the records are soundfiles, whilst the record player is a generative system. The player analyses, selects, mixes, transforms, and spatialises the material created by the composers (monophonic and quadraphonic soundfiles). The system negotiates between algorithms that tend towards monotony (in terms of loudness, spatialisation, and frequency spectrum) and algorithms that tend towards variability (in terms of soundfiles, transformations, and scenes). In a nutshell, the installation is a space where sonic ideas collide and co-exist.

• Creative Director: Joyce Beetuan Koh 
• Interactive Sound Design: PerMagnus Lindborg
• Sound Engineer: Yong Rong Zhao

With support from the National Arts Council of Singapore.

Soundislands Festival proudly present four invited artist performances, two scientific keynotes, a commissioned sound installation, an afternoon of public talks, an internet panel, two pedagogic workshops, two concerts with young performers, a special 'brunchmusic' performance, more than fifty artworks and scientific papers in numerous forms and formats selected from the open call, and social events.

Sound is a medium that acts as a glue between the senses. Hearing is deeply intertwined with vision and movement. Beyond that, researchers and artists are mapping out crossmodal associations with touch, smell, feel, and taste, leading to new and fascinating interaction designs, architecture, and culinary experiences, as well as a veritable coral reef of artworks. The interaction, “~sound:senses”, is the core theme of both the festival and the symposium. Keynote speakers are interaction design specialist Stefania Serafin and crossmodality researcher Charles Spence. The invited artists are audiovisual performer Ryoji Ikeda, film-maker and choreographer Daniel Belton, and electronica duos CLUBbleu and Black Zenith.

The Soundislands Festival is organised in close partnership with ArtScience Museum. THe Si15 2nd International Symposium on Sound and Interactivity received core funding from CLASS, something which allowed the project to take off more than fifteen months ago. The School of Art Design Media at Nanyang Technological University, the National Art Council, Bollywood Veggies, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the New Zealand Art Council all contributed directly to event production and outlays. Last but not least, we are pleased to acknowledge peer support from the Asia Computer Music Project and the International Computer Music Association.

The core organisation team consists of PerMagnus Lindborg, Suzy Styles, Joyce Beetuan Koh, and Stefano Fasciani. We wish to extend our thanks to all the individuals who have made this project possible. Invaluable work was provided by our closest collaborators Ross Williams, Dirk Stromberg, Liew Kongmeng, and Yong Rong Zhao. Thanks to CLASS director KK Luke for trusting that the Sound & Interactivity project should continue. The ASM team, Honor Harger, Anna Salaman, Nina Ernst, and Stacy Lim, are great partners in crime and passion (or was it science and art?) and pushed us to go further than initially imagined. Invaluable support was provided by ADM chair Vibeke Sorensen and faculty Michael Walsh and Lucas Jodogne, and staff Poh Zhuang Yi, Hong Bee Kuen, Lim Pheng Yew, Muhammad Mustajab Bin Mohamad, Lau Kheng Hock, and Bharat Singh. Thanks to the Proceedings session chairs, Naotoshi Osaka, Lonce Wyse, Sara Lenzi, Stephen Lim, Mark Wong, and Randall Packer, who also acted as peer reviewers, together with Renick Bell, Anders Elowsson, Emma Frid, Nicolas Jaquot, Joleen Loh, Antonio Pessotti, Seongah Shin, and Lindsay Vickery. We appreciate the careful attentiveness shown by Michelle Tan and Magdalene Lim at CLASS, taking care of budget and online registrations. Thanks to the CHASS students Issac, Sandra, Fei Ting, Jinpei, Valentia, and other helpers for their engagement. Last but not least, our gratitude goes to staff at NTU, NAFA, and ASM who have helped in various fashions along the way.

When We Collide is a collaborative and generative sound installation by Joyce Beetuan Koh, PerMagnus Lindborg, Andrián Pertout, Seongah Shin, Stefano Fasciani, and Dirk Stromberg. The idea for When We Collide sprang from Douglas Hofstader’s metaphor of creativity as the meeting between records and record players, appearing in his 1979 book "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid". In our case, the records are soundfiles, whilst the record player is a generative system. The player analyses, selects, mixes, transforms, and spatialises the material created by the composers (monophonic and quadraphonic soundfiles). The system negotiates between algorithms that tend towards monotony (in terms of loudness, spatialisation, and frequency spectrum) and algorithms that tend towards variability (in terms of soundfiles, transformations, and scenes). In a nutshell, the installation is a space where sonic ideas collide and co-exist.

• Creative Director: Joyce Beetuan Koh 
• Interactive Sound Design: PerMagnus Lindborg
• Sound Engineer: Yong Rong Zhao

Joyce Beetuan Koh (Singapore) writes concert music, works in dance collaborations, creates sound installations and multimedia production. Her music has been performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Magyar Rádio Orchestra, Australia Song Company, Nieuw Ensemble, Ensemble Reconsil Vienna, at major festivals, notably, Birmingham Frontiers Festival, Biennale Musiques France and Concertegbougw Netherlands. Her multimedia highlights are ‘Future Feed’ (site-specific dance, 2014, Arts Fission Company at Singapore Design Centre), ‘On the String’ (Lindborg, Khiew, 2010, multimedia, Singapore Arts Festival), ‘The Canopy’ (Lindborg, Yong, sound installation, at 2013 World Stage Design, UK) and ‘Hearing Lines’ (audiovisual, 2013 International Computer Music Conference, Australia). Two piano works are published by the Associated Board Royal Schools of Music. Since 2014, she joins as Vice Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore. 

PerMagnus Lindborg (Sweden/Singapore) sound artist and researcher, is assistant professor at School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore since 2007. A member of the composer societies in Norway (since 1995) and in Singapore, his creative work has been released on ECM Records, Daphne Records, and Ash International. Featured composer at WOCMAT 2012 in Taiwan and a member of ‘freq-out’ collective, he has made sound installations at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Stockholm Museum of Modern Art, and Niemeyer’s French Communist Party headquarters. His research focuses on psychoacoustics, spatial sound, interactive performance and perception. Notable publications include IRCAM-Delatour - a chapter by Lindborg in the OM Composer’s Book 2008; peer-reviewed articles have been published in Applied Acoustics, LNCS-Springer Verlag, eContact, NASS, and in proceedings of SMC, ICMC, ICME, ICMPC and ICAD. 

Andrián Pertout (Australia) has received numerous prizes, notably, Betty Amsden Award, Louisville Orchestra Prize (USA) and Oare String Orchestra Judges’ and Audience Prize (UK). His music has been performed widely by Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria, Louisville Orchestra (USA), Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (Israel), Orquestra Petrobrás Sinfônica (Brazil), Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México (Mexico), Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (Vietnam), Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico), Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile (Chile), Logos Foundation Robot Orchestra (Belgium), University of Hong Kong Gamelan Orchestra (China), La Chapelle Musicale de Tournai (Belgium), Oare String Orchestra (UK), Noah Getz (USA), Phyllis Chen (USA), Michael Kieran Harvey (Australia), Ensamble Contemporáneo (Chile), Ensemble MD7 (Slovenia), Quinteto CEAMC (Argentina), Sonemus Ensemble (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Ensemble TIMF (Korea), Omni Ensemble (USA) and Ensemble für Neue Musik Zürich (Switzerland).

Seongah Shin (Korean), composer and sound designer, works in the field of performance arts and computer music. Her music has been performed in Seoul International Computer Music Festival, International Computer Music Conference, June in Buffalo, EMS, SEAMUS, ACL, Seoul Performance Arts Festival, Seoul Experimental Film Festival and many others. Seongah worked as resident sound designer in Missouri Repertory Theatre and Aspen Music School and Festival and residency composer at RPI. She served as a regional director of Asia/Oceania of International Computer Music Association. She holds the position of composition professor in Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea. 

Stefano Fasciani (Italy) designs, crafts, composes and performs with electronic machines that generate sounds. A member of the Arts and Creativity Lab at the Interactive and Digital Media Institute of the National University of Singapore, his research interests include technologies for sonic arts, sound and music computing, artificial intelligence in human-computer interaction, sound synthesis and analysis, and real-time embedded systems. In his performances and compositions, he experiments novel practices and musical genres on the edge of the modern club culture and multichannel audio.

Dirk Johan Stromberg (USA/Singapore) improviser, composer and music technologist, explores dynamic interaction between performer, technology and performance practice, often questioning how performers interact and perceive technology in improvisation. Designing electronic instrument hardware and software is an integral part of the process and has led to the development of several instruments. His music has been performed in Europe, Asia and the United States including; Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Manila, Bucharest, Istanbul, Amsterdam and New York City. He has released two albums with the Turkish improvisation group Islak Kopek as a performer and engineer and his music appears on a number of compilations. His 2008 album, ‘Islak Kopek’, was in the top 20 albums in Turkey for 2009. In de Knipscheer released a two CD set of his composition, ‘Tropendrift’ in 2006, a collaboration with Dutch poet Albert Hagenaars. He was composer in residency at STEIM (Studio for Electronic Instrumental Music) and Brooklyn Center for Computer Music.

With support from the National Arts Council of Singapore.

Described by the media as a 'knock-out' and 'utterly universal' Daniel Belton and Good Company's latest work ONEONE has captivated festival audiences throughout their homeland New Zealand, in Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Bangalore and Prague. This is the first time Belton's work comes to Singapore. The live set for this event will consist of an AV mix incorporating digital cinema, projection, and electronics with the potent sound of natural hollow stone flutes and rattles from the Maerewhenua River. To accompany ONEONE, Belton will also perform live AV interpretations of his internationally acclaimed works LINE DANCES (after Klee), and SOMA SONGS. 

In association with NTU, Creative NZ, and Asia NZ Foundation, New Zealand artist Daniel Belton performs a series of film and sound collages where the human form is the instrument through which digital manipulation is used to investigate themes of mathematical scale, history and connections to topography. The body is the agent for inquiry; figures are removed from traditional, earthbound settings and juxtaposed on film using graphic design invoking the laws of physics and geometry. Dancers are dwarfed on screen, then brought back to full-bodied life, sometimes as fanciful characters. Through these mysterious journeys Daniel Belton illuminates the enduring cycles that connect and bind us. Four distinctive works pay homage to the drawings of Bauhaus Master Paul Klee; the pioneering chronophotography of Étienne-Jules Marey; the theorems of Pythagoras; and the ancient knowledge of ocean navigators from the Pacific.

Daniel Belton originates from a visual arts and contemporary dance background.  He is a scholarship graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance.  Daniel performed extensively in New Zealand and Europe during the 1990’s including with Douglas Wright Dance Company, Kim Brandstrup and Arc Dance Company, Irek Mukhamedov, Lindsay Kemp Company, Compania Vicente Saez,  Aletta Collins Dance Company, Tanz Company Gervasi, Royal Opera Covent Garden, and Glyndebourne.  Daniel has established an international reputation for his choreography and film.  His visionary projects for dance, theatre, opera, cinema, galleries, building facades and digital spaces have made selection to many international arts festivals - receiving finalist nominations and awards.  Daniel has directed over 30 projects with Donnine Harrison since the foundation of Good Company Arts.  As an independent artist he has been commissioned by the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Black Grace Dance Company, New Zealand School of Dance, Body Festival, Filmaka USA, Channel4 UKTV, Dance Films Association New York, Waikato University, AUT, Genius Loci Weimar Video Mapping Festival, Zentrum Paul Klee, CINEDANS, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, and the Attakkalari India Biennial, among others.  Continuing to work as a choreographer, performer and pedagogue, Daniel began photographing and editing dance for film from 1997.  In 2003 he was awarded New Zealand Arts Council’s first Choreographic Research Residency at Otago University.  He was appointed Media Artist in Residence at Massey University in 2008 to continue this research, and in 2010 was awarded the Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellowship.  Invitations for Daniel to teach and present his work have seen him attend and participate in the Prague Quadrennial, Festival Internacional de la Imagen, the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec, Bauhaus University Weimar, Ryerson University, Leeds Metropolitan University, Codarts, xm:lab and NOW DanceSaar Festival, Romaeuropa Festival, Millennium Performing Arts London and the World Stage Design Festival. 

With support from New Zealand Art Council and Creative New Zealand.