Immersion: An Immersive Digital Application for Creative Interaction with Sound Art Archives

My research involves a study of historical and contemporary sound art from a digitized postmodern perspective. Previous theorizing of the field has proved problematic, reliant as it has been upon natural language, the silent page and a passive listening experience. Sound as a medium remains ephemeral, site-specific, connective and immersive.

My work proposes that in a post-literate society, possibilities suggested by immersive digital technologies offer an alternative understanding of creative practice and associated discourse. It is an intention that theory and practice coalesce in an open digital space that embodies the divergent and dispersed nature of historical and contemporary sound art.

A significant output of the project is a demonstration of the immersive digital computer application ImmApp that offers a unique presentation of sound art. A digital research methodology makes it possible to assemble, interrogate and manipulate primacy and secondary sources, and within the context of performance, to explore the spaces inside and between digital artifacts.