Negotiating Entanglements in the Composition and Curation of an Ultrasonic Art Installation

Nicole Robson, Andrew McPherson, and Nick Bryan-Kinns

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

This paper explores the entangled activities of composing and curating the sound installation 'Sonographies' at a contemporary art gallery. The installation extends our work with an ultrasonic technology that sonifies and magnifies the physical entanglement of a listener with a spatial sound field to produce rich movement-sound interaction without the use of sensors. Taking a research through practice approach, we examine the process of creating 'Sonographies' while deliberately allowing the nonhuman influences of site and technology to inform creative ideation and decision-making. We propose that an attunement to entanglement foregrounds the co-production of aesthetic qualities by the entire musical assemblage and fosters a sensitivity to fragile and changeable qualities of NIMEs, contingent on specific technical, material and social situations.

Citation

Nicole Robson, Andrew McPherson, and Nick Bryan-Kinns. 2025. Negotiating Entanglements in the Composition and Curation of an Ultrasonic Art Installation. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15698992 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@article{nime2025_94,
 abstract = {This paper explores the entangled activities of composing and curating the sound installation 'Sonographies' at a contemporary art gallery. The installation extends our work with an ultrasonic technology that sonifies and magnifies the physical entanglement of a listener with a spatial sound field to produce rich movement-sound interaction without the use of sensors. Taking a research through practice approach, we examine the process of creating 'Sonographies' while deliberately allowing the nonhuman influences of site and technology to inform creative ideation and decision-making. We propose that an attunement to entanglement foregrounds the co-production of aesthetic qualities by the entire musical assemblage and fosters a sensitivity to fragile and changeable qualities of NIMEs, contingent on specific technical, material and social situations.},
 address = {Canberra, Australia},
 articleno = {94},
 author = {Nicole Robson and Andrew  McPherson and Nick  Bryan-Kinns},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.15698992},
 editor = {Doga Cavdir and Florent Berthaut},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 numpages = {8},
 pages = {635--642},
 title = {Negotiating Entanglements in the Composition and Curation of an Ultrasonic Art Installation},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2025/nime2025_94.pdf},
 year = {2025}
}