Playces.
An award-winning series of interactive audiovisual sculptures promoting curiosity, exploration, and play.
Through the use of recycled cardboard, reactive sound design, low-cost embeddable sensors, and MIDI messaging protocol - Playces ultimately establishes a ludic environment that provides individuals who identify as "non-musical" with new opportunities to create, perform, and experience non-linear music soundtracks.
"I don't think I've ever seen MIDI be so human before." Tim Exile, MIDI Innovation Awards 2021.
Playces was funded by the Arts Council of Wales to support my exploration of the mechanics of 'artwork ownership' and 'artwork approachability' within the public domain. The fusion of interactive microprocessor technology and traditional model making processes were the results of a conscious effort to generate artworks that would successfully appeal to both young children & generational audiences and unify them within traditional art exhibition settings via a shared & inclusive interactive public sound art experience.
The multimodal nature of these artworks is a reflection of my 'access inherent' approach to the design and development of interactive public art - whereby the audio, visual, gestural, and haptic modes all play an equally valuable role in the overall experience of these works - enabling an equitable level of engagement for as many individuals as possible.
The first series of sculptures for this project were produced mid-2019 and were first exhibited publicly in Wales at the end of 2019.
In 2021 - Playces won 3rd place prize in the International MIDI Innovation Awards judges vote.
A spin-off production to the Playces series - The Playce - has now entered a pre-production development in partnership with Theatr Clwyd.