Garth Paine is a musician, composer, installation artist, interactive systems designer and academic.
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Dr. Garth Paine received his PhD from RMIT University in 2003, examining Unencumbered Human Movement in Interactive Immersive Environments, which was some of the earliest multi-dimensional sonification of full body human movement via the use of video tracking. Along with Todd Winkler, Garth Paine was one of the first users of the Very Nervous System developed by David Rokeby. This research led to a number of interactive installation works, MAP1 in 1998, commissioned by the Next Wave Festival, MAP2 in 1999/2000 commissioned by the Musical Instrument Museum, Berlin for their millennium celebrations and Gestation, exhibited by RMIT Gallery, reviewed here. Gestation was the outcome of an Australia Council for the Arts, New Media Art Fellowship, and additional support from Cinemedia's Digital Media Fund. Gestation was also exhibited as part of the 10th New York Digital Salon. Further works include REEDS, commissioned by the Melbourne International Arts Festival, which sonifies local weather phenomena. The gallery version, PlantA has been shown at NIME03, Montreal, and ICAD 2004, Sydney Opera House.
Garth Paine is particularly fascinated with sound as an exhibitable object. In addition to the works listed above, this passion has led to a considerable body of work for dance generated through video tracking of the choreography, especially with Hellen Sky and Company in Space, which have toured internationally. Paine's development and use of interactive systems has earned him an internationally reputation as an innovator in the field of interactivity in new media arts. His immersive interactive environments have been exhibited in Australia, Europe, UK, Ireland, Japan, USA, Hong Kong and New Zealand. He is often invited to run international workshops on interactivity for musical performance and commissioned to develop interactive system for realtime musical composition for interactive dance and theatre performances. Recent works include, Darker edge of Night with Hellen Sky, and Thinking Through the Body
He has been part of the organising and peer review panels for the International Conference On New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) since it’s inception and twice invited as guest editor of Organised Sound, a pre-eminent international journal on music technology published by Cambridge University Press.
He has been selected as one of ten creative professionals internationally for exhibition in the 10th New York Digital Salon; DesignX Critical Reflections, and as a millennium leader of innovation by the German Keyboard Magazine in 2000. Dr Paine has been awarded the Australia Council for the Arts New Media Arts Fellowship at RMIT University in 2000, and The RMIT Innovation Research Award in 2002.
He is a member of the advisory panel for the Electronic Music Foundation, New York and one of 17 advisors to the UNESCO funded Symposium on the Future, a project focused on formulating an evolving set of principles (theory), that describes a taxonomy / design space of electronic musical instruments.
Dr Paine was the only Australian artist selected in 2004 for the Sonic Difference exhibition at the Biennale of Electronic Arts, Perth, where he premiered his work Endangered Sounds which questions the validity of patenting sound marks..
Garth Paine was a freelance sound artist for 18 years, during which time his company Activated Space designed permanent interactive and sound installations in the Melbourne Museum, Eureka Stockade Centre, The Jewish Museum of Australia, and the Immigration Museum, Melbourne, and composing music for film, dance and theatre.
Dr Paine moved into academia in 2002 as lecturer in Music Technology and Innovation at De Montfort University, UK. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Music Technology, and Research Associate MARCS Auditory Research labs and director of the Virtual, Interactive, Performance Research Environment VIPRE at the University of Western Sydney. He was also Head of Program - Electronic Arts (2003–2005) at the University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Dr Paine’s ensemble SynC, with Michael Atherton acts as a platform for research into new interfaces for electronic music performance. SynC has performed in, Paris (2006), New York (2007), Liquid Architecture (2007), Aurora festival (2006, 2008), and The Australian New Music Network concert series (2008). In 2009, Garth Paine performed at the Soundings Festival, Ireland, and the Ear to the Earth Festival in New York.
He is a member of the advisory panel for the Electronic Music Foundation, New York and an advisor to the UNESCO funded Symposium on the Future. Dr Paine is a Chief Investigator on several current Australian Research Council grants.
His work can be found at http://www.activatedspace.com
1. Ear to the Earth Festival, New York (2009)
2. The Soundings Festival, Limerik, Ireland (2009)
3. The Australian New Music Network (2008)
4. Liquid Architecture Festival (2008)
5. New York Electronic Arts Festival (2007)
6. Camden Haven Music Festival (2007)
7. Aurora Festival of New Music and ABC Classic FM live broadcast, 2006
9. Agora/Résonances Music Festival and NIME06, Paris, France, 2006
10. Intimate Excursions–performance with Ass/Professor Curtis Bahn, NIME 05 conference, Vancouver
12. Black Box, Brisbane, Feb 2005
13. BEAP04, Biennale of Electronic Arts, Perth, 2004
14. NIME04 conference, Shizuoka Uni, Hamamatsu, 2004 (Japan)
15. Songlines Festival, Blue Mountains, Sydney, 2004
16. ICAD conference, Studio Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 2004
Contributions to the broader research community including Editorial/Curatorial roles, and community engagement: