Background

Tim Shaw is an artist working predominately with sound and new media. His work is concerned with the many ways people listen, specifically how listening environments can be explored and reconfigured using a diverse range of techniques and technologies. His work uses a variety of self-constructed technologies to playback and manipulate recordings to create complex sonic environments and by appropriating communication technologies to explore how these devices change the way we experience the world. Shaw’s background in recording sound led to his creative use of field recordings. ​

Particularly interested in the relationships between site, sound and technologies, Shaw presents work through electro-acoustic audio performances, installations, walks and site-responsive interventions. His practice attempts to expose the mechanics of systems through sound to reveal the hidden aspects of environments and technologies. His practice is situated within media art. ​

Collaboration plays a central role in his approach, he has co-produced work with Chris Watson, John Bowers and Phill Niblock. Shaw has presented work at galleries, festivals, museums, through residencies and cultural events nationally and internationally including: Novas Frequencias, Brazil (2019), SoundArtist.ru, Moscow (2019), CAMP, France (2019), Arnolfini, Bristol (2018), Experimental Intermedia, New York (2018), Cafe OTO, London (2018), Brighton Dome (2018), New Ear Festival, New York (2018), History of Bosnia Museum, Sarajevo (2018), ARC, Switzerland (2018), bb14, Linz (2017), Stereolux, Nantes (2016), Baltic, Gateshead (2017), Touch Radio (2016) 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 

Selected Performances

2019           Lixo no Lixo – MAM, Rio, Brazil w / Novas Frequências
Lixo no Lixo – Silo, Serrinha do Alambari, Brazil

Ambulation – CAMP, Aulus-les-Bains, France

Ambulation – Sonica Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Points of Failure – Garage MU, Paris

Points of Failure – ICCA, Moscow, Russia

Points of Failure – Le General, Paris

Sensing the Gap – Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, UK

Mythogeosonics – IKLECTIK, London, UK

Mythogeosonics – Reid Concert Hall, Edinibugh, UK

Still – Klub Spatif, Warsaw, Poland

Still – Sanatorium, Sokolovsko, Poland

Microstructure – Full of Noises, Barrow-in-Furness, UK

2018           Berlin Sensor – Spektrum (CTM Vorspiel) Berlin, Germany

Mythogeosonics – Experimental Intermedia, New York, USA

Returning the Ear – Folk Museum, Vienna, Austria

Returning the Ear – Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden

Returning the Ear – InterArts Centre, Malmö, Sweden
Beyond the Museum – Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, UK
Disrupted Witnessing – History of Bosnia Museum, Sarajevo,

Ring Network – New Ear Festival, New York City, USA

UniversalTransformationMachine – Piksel Festival, Bergen, Norway

         Sacrificial Floors – Arnolfini, Bristol, UK

            Sacrificial Floors – IKLECTIK, London, UK   

2017           Returning the Ear – Northern Charter, Newcastle, UK
                        Interpretation of La Jetée – Glasgow Film Festival, UK
                        SPAN – BALTIC, Gateshead, UK
                        Ring Network – DMU, Leicester, UK
                        Into the Woods –Allenhead Comtemporary Arts, UK
                        Amble – ARC, Romainmôtier, Switzerland

2016               Murmurate – FACT, Liverpool, UK                                      

Murmurate – Stereolux, Nantes, France

Murmurate – Eastern Bloc, Montreal, Canada
            Remote – NEAR Festival, APO33, Nantes, France
            Returning the Ear – 4s, Barcelona, Spain
            Ambulation –    FACT Liverpool, UK

Ambulation – Piksel Festival, Bergen, Norway

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. Fields. 2018. Multiple Venues Worldwide.
• 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: NIME 2015: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. 2015, Baton Rouge, LA: The School of Music and the Center for Computation and Technology (CCT), Louisiana State University.
• 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.