Background

I am an artist working predominately with sound. My practice is concerned with the many ways people listen, specifically how listening environments can be constructed or explored using a diverse range of techniques and technologies. I have a background in recording sound and my practice is anchored in the creative use of field recordings. I use a variety of self-constructed technologies to playback and manipulate recordings to create complex sonic environments. I am interested in appropriating communication technologies to explore how these devices change the way we experience the world.

I am particularly interested in the relationships between site, sound and technologies. Presenting work through musical performances, installations, walks and site-responsive interventions my practice attempts to expose the mechanics of systems through sound to reveal the hidden aspects of environments and technologies. 

I present work at galleries, festivals, museums, through residencies and cultural events nationally and internationally. Collaboration plays a central role in my approach, I have been lucky enough to make artistic work with Chris Watson, John Bowers, Jacek Smolicki and Sébastien Piquemal. Recently my work has been presented at New Ear Festival, New York (2018), History of Bosnia Museum, Sarajevo (2018), ARC, Switzerland (2018), bb14, Linz (2017), Stereolux, Nantes (2016), Baltic, Gateshead (2017), FACT Liverpool (2016), Eastern Bloc, Montreal (2016) and The Wired Lab, New South Wales, Australia (2016).

Google Scholar: Click here.

Research

My practice-based and theoretical research interests include 

• How digital media practices are in dialogues around thinking through making and research through design
• How contemporary sound technologies affect listening practices
• How we can use various technologies to engage with archive content and digital technology as heterogeneous materials for the creation new art works
• How a creative approach to digital technology can value process over production 

Residencies

2018
Interarts, Malmö, Sweden
Arc Custom Made Residency, Romainmôtier, Switzerland

2017
bb15, Linz, Austria

2016
Arc Walk and Talk, Romainmôtier, Switzerland
The Wired Lab, Cootamudra, Australia
FabLab, Sunderland, UK
Stereolux, Nantes, France
Warmth Sauna, London, UK

2015
Uncanny Valley – LoveBytes, Sheffield, UK
FACT – Liverpool, UK
Discovery Museum – Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

2014
Pacitti Company – Ipswich, UK

2013
Pedra Sina Residency – Fungal, Madeira, Portugal

Selected Performances

2018
Berlin Sensor – w/ John Bowers – Spektrum (Transmediale / CTM Vorspiel) Berlin, Germany
Ring Network (Performance) – New Ear Festival, New York City w/ Phill Niblock and Katherine Liberovskaya
Beyond the Museum – w/ John Bowers – Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, UK
Disrupted Witnessing (Performance) – w/ Jacek Smolicki – History of Bosnia Museum, Sarajevo, Bosnia
Disrupted Witnessing (Performance) – w/ Jacek Smolicki – Volkskundemuseum Wien, Vienna, Austria
UK Tour with Phill Niblock – Cafe OTO (London), Bradford Fuse, NAWR (Swansea), Glad Cafe (Glasgow) and Attenborough Centre (Brighton)
UK Tour with Tetsuya Umeda and Dirty Electronics – Northern Charter (Newcastle), Centrala (Birmingham), IKLEKTIK (London) and Arnolfini (Bristol)

2017
Returning the Ear – Tim Shaw & Jacek Smolicki – Northern Charter, Newcastle, UK
Interpretation of La Jetée by Chris Marker – Glasgow Film Festival, UK
SPAN with Novak Collective, ItsNiceThat, Google Design and Ed Carter, BALTIC, Gateshead, UK
Ring Network (Performance) – Telematic Hacking, DMU, Leicester, UK
Into the Woods – w/ John Bowers – Allenhead Comtemporary Arts, Northumberland, UK
Amble – Tim Shaw & Jacek Smolicki – Arc Residency, Romainmôtier, Switzerland

2016
Mumurate – Tim Shaw & Sébastien Piquemal – FACT Liverpool, Stereolux Nantes, Eastern Bloc, Montreal
Remote – Tim Shaw & John Bowers – NEAR Festival, APO33, Nantes, France
Interpretation of La Jetée by Chris Marker – Edinburgh Entertainment Festival, UK
Returning the Ear – Tim Shaw & Jacek Smolicki – 4s, Barcelona, Spain
Intersect – Tim Shaw, FACT Liverpool, UK & Piksel Festival Bergen, Norway
A Midsummers Nights Drone – John Bowers and Tim Shaw, Allenheads, UK
Ambulation – Compass Festival, Leeds, UK

2015
Unfoldings – John Bowers and Tim Shaw, FACT Liverpool, UK
Murmurate – Tim Shaw & Sébastien Piquemal, Dumfries and Galloway Forestry Commission, Scotland
Fields – Tim Shaw & Sébastien Piqemal
Performed at Café OTO (UK), NIME (USA), ZDB (PGL), NK Project (DE).
Sound Mirrors –  Tim Shaw, John Bowers & Ben Freeth.
Great Hall, Discovery Musuem, Newcastle, UK
Carboniferous – Tim Shaw & John Bowers Sonic Pattern – Sheffield, UK

2014
Salient/Reentry – John Bowers & Tim Shaw Fort Process – Newhaven Fort, UK
Fields – Tim Shaw & Sébastien Piqemal, CTM Festival – HAU2, Berlin, DE (Music Makers Hack Lab)

Selected Exhibitions

2018
Jarrow Slake – Fri – Art, Fribourg, Switzerland
Self-Build Utopias – w/ Experimental Architecture and John Bowers, Northern Stage, Newcastle, UK
Moving Billboard – w/ Armando Lulaj, Various locations across Albania

2017
Collect / Diffuse – bb15, Linz, Austria
Between Stillness and Storm – w/ Aidan Moesby, Bluedot Festival, Jodrell Bank, UK
REACH (Radio Television) – Sanctuary Festival, Dumfries and Galloway, UK
Plain Changes – St. Andrews Church, Heckington, UK
Disruptive Witnessing – w/ Jacek Smolicki – Čolaković Legacy Gallery Belgrade, Serbia

2016
Ring Network – Newbridge Project, Newcastle, UK
Re-Render – w/ John Bowers, ISEA, Hong Kong
GUST – Tim Shaw – LGAC, Cwmbran, Wales
Lack – w/ Hyjei Woo – m20d, Salzburg, Austria

2015
Bergen Invocation – John Bowers & Tim Shaw – Piksel Festival – Bergen, Norway
SoundLines – Tim Shaw & John Bowers FACT, Liverpool, UK
Tuning In – Listening Back in Time – Chris Watson & Tim Shaw Discovery Museum, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

2014
Sounds and Guts – Tender Buttons & Tim Shaw Presented at Spill Festival and Live Theatre
Spillage – Tim Shaw – Hatton Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

2013
Sound and Seclusion – Tim Shaw – Victoria Tunnels, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
The Sonic Cosmos – Tim Shaw, Ryan Collins, Guy Schofield – British Science Festival 2013, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

Teaching

My approach to teaching involves a practical engagement with sound and technology and is informed by my own practice-lead research concerns and my artistic practice. 

I have taught programmes and run workshops in sound, listening and technology at Goldsmiths University (UK), Stereolux (France), Piksel (Norway), Music Hackspace (UK), Sussex University (UK), Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (UK) and FACT Liverpool (UK). 

I teach through a practical approach, allowing students to creatively explore sound within their own practice, and through doing so acquire an understanding of relevant historical work. 

Publications

• Shaw T. Ambulation. 2018. Multiple Venues Worldwide. Submitted.
• Shaw T, Piquemal S. Fields / Murmurate. 2018. Multiple Venues Worldwide. In Preparation.
• Shaw T. Ring Network. 2018. Multiple Venues Worldwide. In Preparation.
• Shaw T. Reach. 2017. Galloway Forest Park: Sanctuary Festival, 2. Submitted.
• Shaw T, Bowen S, Bowers J. Unfoldings: Multiple Explorations of Sound and Space. In: New Interfaces For Musical Expression. 2016, Brisbane, Australia.
• Bowers J, Bowen S, Shaw T. Many Makings: Entangling Publics, Participation and Things in a Complex Collaborative Context. In: ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems. 2016, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: ACM.
• Bowers J, Richards J, Shaw T, Frize J, Freeth B, Topley S, Spowage N, Jones S, Patel A, Li R, Edmondes W. One Knob To Rule Them All: Reductionist Interfaces for Expansionist Research. In: New Interfaces For Musical Expression. 2016, Brisbane, Australia.
• Shaw T, Piquemal S, Bowers J. Fields: An Exploration into the use of Mobile Devices as a Medium for Sound Diffusion. In: New Interfaces For Musical Expression. 2015, Baton Rouge, LA.
• Hudson M, Shaw T. Dead Logics and Worlds: Sound art and sonorous objects. Organised Sound 2015, 20(2), 263-272.
• Arrigoni G, Schofield T, Shaw T, Bowers J. Prototyping Heritage: Collections, Materials and Emerging Approaches to Engagement. In: Proceedings of the 2nd Connected Communities Heritage Network Symposium. 2015, Sheffield: Heritage Network project.
• Shaw T, Bowers J. Public Making: Artistic Strategies for Working with Museum Collections, Technologies and Publics. In: International Symposium on Electronic Art. 2015, Vancouver, Canada: ISEA.
• Bowers J, Shaw T. Reappropriating Museum Collections: Performing Geology Specimens and Meterology Data as New Instruments for Musical Expression. In: New Interfaces For Musical Expression. 2014, London.