SCCI academic works with BBC Young Composers for climate installation at UCL East campus

Angela McArthur, Programme Lead for Designing Audio Experiences: Art, Science and Production MA, facilitated a series of workshops with four of the BBC Young Composer 2023 competition winners. The workshops, which introduced the composers to cutting-edge sound software, took place online and in SCCI's new media studios The Black Box.

The Young Composers’ arrangements have been rendered specifically to respond to the audio qualities in the exhibition space and are presented using a revolutionary IKO 3D audio speaker with live recordings of the pieces performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra for the BBC Proms.

The compositions take inspiration from the Biome Health Project, a biodiversity and conservation research project, part of UCL’s People & Nature Lab. The resulting installation encourages young people to reflect on the intersection between climate issues and creativity, with a short film showing the Young Composers creative process being displayed alongside the sound works.

Angela is planning to hold some workshops on the IKO 3D audio speaker for UCL staff interested in sound.

Further information

Composing for the Climate ran 11^th – 30^th November, 2024 and is part of the UCL East Cultural and Community Engagement team’s Gaia Public Programme, which takes inspiration from Luke Jerram’s Gaia globe, a permanent artwork hanging in the atrium of the Marshgate building on our UCL East campus, which reminds us of our place on the planet and our collective need to protect it.

Designing Audio Experiences: Art, Science and Production MA - This practice-based MA will train you to understand how humans make sense of the world through sound, and to create compelling, convincing audio experiences for diverse audiences and contexts.