Pervasive Media Studio

The sounding of and listening to voices is increasingly mediated by artificially intelligent machine listening and conversational systems (such as Amazon's Alexa). These systems profile voices to surveil, analyse and understand people in ways which are normative, over-simplistic and ultimately harmful to those who are marginalised within society. In this event, Amina Abbas-Nazari will present their PhD research that investigates these issues and propose ways to reveal and resist voice profiling in and by AI, through an expanded understanding of the sounding of voice. Amina Abbas-Nazari is a practicing designer, researcher, and vocal performer. She has researched the voice in conjunction with emerging technology since 2008 and is now completing a PhD in the School of Communication at the Royal College of Art, investigating the sound and sounding of voices in artificially intelligent conversational systems. She has presented her work at the London Design Festival, Design Museum, Barbican Centre, V&A, Lisson Gallery, Milan Furniture Fair, Venice Architecture Biennial, Critical Media Lab, Switzerland, Litost Gallery, Prague and Harvard University, America. She has performed internationally with choirs and regularly collaborates with artists as an experimental vocalist. This talk is part of "Other Minds", a season of work exploring different kinds of intelligence: animal, mechanical, collective. Throughout September Watershed is sharing projects that ask what it means to work with minds that are utterly unlike our own, and how "AI" can be part of a wider conversation about intelligence, labour, and creativity. The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between the Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. The lunchtime talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region. Watershed is supported by Arts Council England.

In recent years, artificial intelligence(AI) research has made significant advancements. However, there are still many elements that remain lacking, such as autonomy, embodiment, evolvability, and sustainability. These are characteristics typically seen in life. Takashi Ikegami lab at the University of Tokyo researches on artificial life(ALife) from this perspective. ALife is a field that studies the principles of all life phenomena aiming to redefine life by creating it in computational systems. In this lunchtime talk, ALife researchers Itsuki Doi (Senior Researcher at Alternative Machine, Inc.) and Takahide Yoshida (PhD student) will present their latest scientific research and art projects utilizing Alife. One of the key projects is the humanoid robot Alter3, which has been under development since 2016. By combining Alter3 with large language models (LLMs), Alter3 can autonomously perform a diverse range of actions. Additionally, they will present an art project conducted at Alternative Machine Inc. One of the company’s aims is to implement the autonomy and evolvability important in artificial life research into society. Here they will share artworks and prototype products they have created based on this idea. These projects are examples of R&D through a loop between art and science. Through such practices that trace the connections between art and science, we propose new possibilities for symbiosis between humans and AI, as well as new forms of life. The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between the Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. The lunchtime talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region. Watershed is supported by Arts Council England.

Dave Evans is an artist based in Liverpool. His work explores the complex entanglements that he finds himself in, and attempts to make these entanglements momentarily tangible, working across different media, often bridging the gap between the physical and digital. Recently, his focus has been on exploring the home, in particular the audibility of domestic labour and its associated devices, through sonification and experimental broadcast. In this talk, Dave will present research that builds on work made during Pervasive Media Studio's Winter Residency in February and March 2024, during which he considered the live audio streaming assemblage as a speculative vocal system that could ‘give voice’ to domestic space. Dave will present new works that extends this research into voice more towards song, to consider what a non-human polyvocal assemblage might look and sound like. These recent works use generative methods and live audio processing to ‘songify’ signals from mundane objects that are often silent and overlooked. He will also talk about what the function of this process of metamorphosis accomplishes, and present other examples of non-human vocalisation. The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between the Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. The lunchtime talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region. Watershed is supported by Arts Council England.

Predicting the future has been a human pastime for as long as humanity has had a future. From Roman augury to the I Ching, divinatory practices have been a mainstay of human culture and political cosmology. As the practical applications of predictive AI models take hold in banking, policing, and climate policy, this talk presents prediction as a narrative process that strengths political belief. Viewing AI this way reopens space to wrestle with our malleability as individuals and collectives; to reassert what Mark Fisher termed “the plasticity of reality”. Howard Melnyczuk is an artist, writer, and researcher investigating the way sociopolitical structures are maintained through technology and collective narratives. His practice uses software and film to explore technology as a set of cultural products that embody historical decisions and shape patterns of thought. His research centres on narratives around technology that intersect with capitalism and colonialism, often by looking at folk practices that account for alternative histories and open space for communal perspectives from the bottom up.

Harry Willmott is an interdisciplinary Immersive Maker. In 2023 Harry was one of Watershed Fellows in Residence as part of the MyWorld Ideas programme. He spent six months in residency with Zero Point Motion focusing on designing and conducting Playtests using VR enriched with finger tracking and physiological monitoring, to understand how these features impact the user’s presence and immersion in the experience. For this Lunchtime talk, Harry will speak about his experience and findings from his Fellowship. The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between the Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. The lunchtime talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region. Watershed is supported by Arts Council England.

Jake Gaule is a freelance composer and sound designer working primarily on indie games. His background in sound design and editing for TV, before moving into working in sound and music for games, audio drama and interactive experiences, lends a holistic, playful and perpetually curious approach to composition. He is passionate about working with like-minded people, on projects that will challenge him to learn new skills, explore fresh musical ideas and indulge his natural enthusiasm for trying to make stuff he's never made before! Previous clients include BBC NHU, Sun & Serpent, Idoz Games, Soundcuts, Meteor Pixel, Coney, Tamasha, Idle Friday, igame.audio, National Trust, Rising Arts Agency, etc. In this talk, Jake will give a whistle stop tour of how sounds actually get into games, giving an overview of what software is used, how sound implementation works, some of the technical aspects of playback and the vast amount of variation that is present in the tools used in the game audio space. He'll show 3-4 (depending on time) real world examples of projects he's worked on, and break down some examples of implementing music, setting up a footstep playback system, generative music systems and mixing game audio. This talk will include some technical language, but he'll demystify the process as much as possible, and no previous game audio experience will be necessary at all! The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between the Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. The lunchtime talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region. Watershed is supported by Arts Council England.

Can sound help us imagine and create better futures? There are many people and projects thinking about possible futures, and how we might design or write ourselves into them. With its immersive and ambiguous qualities, and its ability to tap directly into our emotions, how might sound impact the way we think about and influence the future? Recently, Duncan Speakman has been working with the theatre company Uninvited Guests, alongside DEFRA, to explore sound and the future of our freshwater systems through a series of collaborative immersive sound performances. In this talk, Duncan will present this project, alongside a range of other international future sound projects and practitioners, exploring the theory, practice and possibilities of this exciting new field. Duncan Speakman is an artist and composer who has been resident at the Pervasive Media Studio since its inception. Since 1999 he has been creating narrative experiences that engage audiences emotionally and physically in uncontrolled spaces. From intimate in-ear stories to large scale performances, his award winning projects range from sound installations on Guangzhou tram networks and loudspeaker symphonies in Christchurch, to performative audio walks in Saitama and radio works for the BBC. His recent audio augmented reality project ‘Only Expansion’ won Best Immersive/XR experience at London Film Festival and the Special Jury award for Immersive Non-fiction at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam. He recently led the MA in Virtual and Extended Realities at UWE and is currently a senior researcher at University of Bristol working on sonic futures. The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between the Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. The lunchtime talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region. Watershed is supported by Arts Council England.

‘I am your mirror’ is an interactive multimedia installation using creative technology & movement to create social connection. This experience activates our mirror neurons — the part of the brain that enables us to intuitively understand the emotional states of ourselves and others, helping us feel seen, heard and connected. Narrative Designer & XR Storyteller Ruth Mariner, alongside Artist and Creative Technologist Pod Bluman, brought together a team of creatives & thinkers with expertise in dance, neuroscience, interaction and experience design, to respond to the question 'How can we activate our mirror neurons through movement and play? Future development includes combining real-time body-tracking technology & avatars to create a work of ‘neuroart’ — an artistic experience that changes the body, brain, and behaviour in ways that enhance emotional health and wellbeing. The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between the Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. The lunchtime talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region. Watershed is supported by Arts Council England.

Writer and theatre maker Elinor Lower will discuss the process of developing their in-progress work ‘we meet in the woods’, an interactive theatre game exploring collective storytelling and more-than-human intelligences. They will explore their attempts at untangling “player agency”, connections they are drawing between devised theatre processes and choice-based gameplay, and creating things that are intended to be broken. Eli was one of the Pervasive Media Studio’s 2024 Winter Residency artists. Their work wrestles with / celebrates text, archive, risk, tenderness, environment, control and joy. The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between the Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. The lunchtime talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region. Watershed is supported by Arts Council England.