Emergent soundscape composition: Reflections on virtuality

As a synthesis of art and techno-scientific practice this thesis explores human-virtual interaction not as acoustic interface, but as resonant environment. The pervasive computer-mediated environment is argued to form a site for the creative expansion of the limits of human awareness through the creation of cognitive and cultural hypotheses. This thesis defines the concept of an emergent soundscape composition, through which virtuality is explored in two studies entitled Lost and Found. The results of this art research are presented as intersections in the disciplines of acoustic ecology, audible display and algorithmic composition in a discussion that frames the context, terminology and concepts engaged in such emergent soundscape composition. Design criteria for the evaluation of emergent soundscape composition in the computer-mediated environment are presented with reference to this frame and used to evaluate Lost. In a case study of Found the development of a subversive aesthetic substantiates a re-evaluation of the concept of the human-computer interface as resonant environment that engenders a diffuse awareness of the imaginal world.