Staff Profile

Artist and researcher Tim Shaw works with sound, light, and communication media to create performances, installations, and site-responsive interventions. His practice spans environmental sound art, digital media, media archaeology, walking, and installation making.

Previously, Tim has developed artistic mechanisms to listen into the sound-worlds of insects, created augmented soundwalks, designed performances for high voltage devices, broadcast radio through trees, listened to network latency through time stretched bells, and extracted musical material from rocks. He frequently presents his work at festivals, in forests, caves, warehouses, up mountains, and in museums and art galleries all over the world.

Collaboration is central to his approach and he has engaged in interdisciplinary partnerships with medieval musicologists, data scientists, anthropologists, geologists, architects and astrophysicists. He has been lucky enough to make artistic work with Chris Watson, Phill Niblock, John Bowers, John Richards (Dirty Electronics), Tetsuya Umeda, Jacek Smolicki and Sébastien Piquemal (among many others).

• In 2023/24 Tim was a Senior Fellow at the Collegium Helveticum in Zürich.
• In 2019 Tim was selected for SHAPE (Sound and Heterogeneous Arts Platform Europe).
• Tim is the co-curator of the Walking Festival of Sound.
• Tim holds a PhD in Digital Media from Culture Lab, Newcastle University.
• He is an associate artist at Wild Musuem

His artworks, recordings and writings have been featured in The Guardian, Arte Tracks, Neural, BBC Radio 3, Resonance FM, We Make Money Not Art, Touch Radio, The British Music Collection, The Field Recording Show, Alphr, Its Nice That, SHAPE and The Space.

SELECTED PERFORMANCES

2023

• Ambulation - Sool Sool Centre, Seoul, South Korea
• Points of Failure - Sool Sool Centre, Seoul, South Korea
• Beyond the Loudspeaker - Sound Forms Festival, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong w/ Dirty Electronics x 2
• Points of Failure - EAC Les Halles, Porrentruy, Switzerland
• Foward as One - Sonic Arts Week, Middlesbrough, UK w/ Auxiliary
• Netwalk - Auxiliary, Middlesbrough, UK w/ Industrial Coast
• Netwalk – Café OTO, London w/ Full of Noises & Soundfjord
• Netwalk - lokal-INT, Biele, Switzerland w/ Laurent Güdel
• drifts - Galley Augusta, Suomenlinna, Helinki, Finland w/ Jacek Smolicki
• Points of Failure - Cobalt Studios, Newcastle, UK
• Ambulation - ZHdK, Zurich, Switzerland
• Ambulation - Collegium Helveticum, Zurich, Switzerland
• Ambulation - To)pot Festival, Ljubijana, Slovenia
• Ambulation - Cobalt Studios, Newcastle, UK
• Ambulation - ESAAix, Aix-en-Provence, France
• Ambulation - Full of Noises, Barrow-in-Furness, UK
• Ambulation - Sonohr Festival, Bern, Switzerland
• Ambulation - Fellfoot Sounds, Cumbria
• Ambulation - Heugh Battery Museum, Hartleypool Headland, UK w/ Rob Smith
• Ambulation - xCoAx, Weimar, Germany
• Transmission Lines - Cafe OTO, London, UK w/ Dirty Electronics
• Transmission Lines - House of Arts, Brno, Czechia w/ Dirty Electronics
• Transmission Lines - Hudebni 3, Prague, Czechia w/ Dirty Electronics
• Transmission Lines - GAMPA, Paradubice, Czechia w/ Dirty Electronics
• Transmission Lines - Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria w/ Dirty Electronics
• Transmission Lines - DerBlödeDritteMittwoch @ Fluc, Vienna, Austria w/ Dirty Electronics
• Transmission Lines - A4, Bratislava, Slovakia w/ Dirty Electronics
• Points of Failure - ame, Huddesfield, UK w/ Phill Niblock
• Points of Failure - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle, UK w/ Phill Niblock
• Points of Failure - Glad Cafe, Glasgow, UK w/ Phill Niblock

2022

• Garage Sailing - Do a Front, Yamaguchi, Japan w/ Dirty Electronics, Kanta Horio & Tetsuya Umeda
• Raw Data Rough Mix - Soup, Tokyo, Japan w/ Dirty Electronics, John Bowers & Robin Foster
• Points of Failure - Port, Osaka, Japan w/ Dirty Electronics, Nakada Kayu & Yonago Tadashi
• Ambulation - CAMP, Aulus-les-Bains, France
• Ambulation - Acoustic Commons, Aix-en-Provence, France
• Ambulation - ESAAIX, Aix-en-Provence, France
• Ambulation - Bureau des Guides, Aix-en-Provence, France
• Ambulation - Symbiont, Basel, Switzerland
• Ambulation - Cervia, Italy w/ Elementi Festival
• Ambulation - German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven, Germany
• Ambulation - Dunston, Gateshead, UK w/ Dingy Butterflies
• Ambulation - SoundCamp, Breil-sur-Roya, France w/ Locus Sonus & SoundCamp
• Points of Failure - Boundaries Festival, Sunderland, UK
• Points of Failure - Cobalt, Newcastle, UK
• Points of Failure - Ravenglass, Cumbria, UK w/ RE-DRIFT and Full of Noises
• Ambulation - Ravenglass, Cumbria, UK w/ RE-DRIFT and Full of Noises
• Ambulation - Meyrin, Geneva, Switzerland w/ Konnekt
• Inner Voices - Altdorf, Switzerland w/ Christoph Brünggel
• Inner Voices - Luzern, Switzerland w/ Martina Lussi
• Inner Voices - Altdorf, Switzerland w/ Patricia Jäggi
• Ambulation - MUMUTH. Graz, Austria
• Points of Failure - Tresor, Linz, Austria
• Ambulation - Der Blöde Dritte Mittwoch, Vienna, Austria
• Heliophonic Workshop - Tusk North, Newcastle, UK

2021

• Ambulation - Jeanne Barrett, Marseille, France w/ Explorations Festival
• Points of Failure – Jeanne Barrett, Marseille, France w/ Explorations Festival
• The Rose Walks – Piksel, Bergen, Norway w/ John Bowers
• Ambulation – ZeitRäume, Basel, Switzerland
• RawDataRoughMix – Cafe OTO, London, UK
• RawDataRoughMix – Reactor Halls, Primary, Nottingham, UK
• Points of Failure – Sanatorium of Sound, Sokołowsko, Poland
• Ambulation – Sanatorium of Sound, Sokołowsko, Poland
• Objects at Hand – Cafe OTO, London, UK w/ Dirty Electronics
• Points of Failure – NNOI Festival, Bradenburg, Germany
• Ambulation – NNOI Festival, Bradenburg, Germany
• Points of Failure – Sonic Protest, Paris, France
• Ambulation – Sonic Protest, Paris, France
• Ambulation – LOKAL-INT, Biel, Switzerland
• Netwalk – British Council and Digital Arts Studio, Belfast, UK
• Netwalk – We’re All Bats, Online

2020

• Points of Failure – Cave12 – Geneva, Switzerland
• Points of Failure – LUFF, Lausanne, Switzerland
• Ambulation – LUFF, Lausanne, Switzerland
• LOOPS – PIKSEL Festival, Bergen Norway (Online) w/ John Bowers
• Konnekt – Duplex, Geneva w/ Martina Lussi
• H or the Audience – Fri-Art, Fribourg w/ Martina Lussi
• All Night Drone (8 hour drone) – dublab radio, LA (online)
• A Midsummer Nights Drone – Radio Bal, Paris (online) w/ John Bowers and Rob Blazey
• Points of Failure – IKLECTIK, London w/ Dirty Electronics
• Points of Failure – DAI Hall, Huddersfield w/ Dirty Electronics
• Points of Failure – Fuse Art Space, Bradford w/ Dirty Electronics
• Points of Failure – Star and Shadow, Newcastle w/ Dirty Electronics
• Points of Failure – Glad Cafe, Glasgow, w/ Dirty Electronics & Ewa Justka

2019

• 32 Waves – Fridman Gallery, New York w/ Phill Niblock
• 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
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2018

• Berlin Sensor – Spektrum (CTM Vorspiel) Berlin, Germany w/ John Bowers
• Ring Network- New Ear Festival, New York w/ Phill Niblock and Katherine Liberovskaya
• Beyond the Museum – Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, UK w/ John Bowers
• Disrupted Witnessing – History of Bosnia Museum, Sarajevo, Bosnia w/ Jacek Smolicki
• Disrupted Witnessing – Volkskundemuseum Wien, Vienna, Austria w/ Jacek Smolicki
• UK Tour with Phill Niblock – Cafe OTO, London
• UK Tour with Phill Niblock – Bradford Fuse, Bradford
• UK Tour with Phill Niblock – NAWR, Swansea
• UK Tour with Phill Niblock – Glad Cafe, Glasgow
• UK Tour with Phill Niblock – Attenborough Centre, Brighton
• Sacrificial Floors – Northern Charter, Newcastle w/ Tetsuya Umeda and Dirty Electronics
• Sacrificial Floors – Centrala, Birmingham w/ Tetsuya Umeda and Dirty Electronics
• Sacrificial Floors – IKLEKTIK, London w/ Tetsuya Umeda and Dirty Electronics
• Sacrificial Floors – Arnolfini, Bristol w/ Tetsuya Umeda and Dirty Electronics
• Returning the Ear – Illutron, Copenhagen w/ Jacek Smolicki
• Returning the Ear – Inter Arts Centre, Malmö w/ Jacek Smolicki
• Returning the Ear – Fylkingen, Stockholm w/ Jacek Smolicki
• Universal Transformation Machine - Piksel Festival, Bergen, Norway w/ John Bowers
• Mythogeosonics - Experimental Intermedia, New York, USA w/ John Bowers

2017

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

2016

• Mumurate – FACT Liverpool, UK
• Mumurate – Stereolux, Nantes, France
• Mumurate – Eastern Bloc, Montreal, Canada
• Remote – NEAR Festival, APO33, Nantes, France
• Interpretation of La Jetée by Chris Marker – Edinburgh Entertainment Festival, UK
• Returning the Ear – 4s, Barcelona, Spain w/ Jacek Smolicki
• Ambulation – FACT Liverpool, UK
• Ambulation – Piksel Festival Bergen, Norway
• Ambulation – Compass Festival, Leeds, UK
• A Midsummers Nights Drone - Allenheads, UK w/ John Bowers

2015

• Unfoldings – FACT Liverpool, UK w/ John Bowers and Phillip Jeck
• Murmurate – Dumfries and Galloway Forestry Commission, Scotland
• Fields – Café OTO, London, UK w/ Sébastien Piqemal
• Fields – NIME, Baton Rouge, USA w/ Sébastien Piqemal
• Fields – ZDB, Lisbon, Portugal w/ Sébastien Piqemal
• Fields – NK Project, Berlin, Germany w/ Sébastien Piqemal
• Sound Mirrors – Great Hall, Discovery Musuem, Newcastle, UK w/ John Bowers
• Carboniferous – Sonic Pattern, Sheffield, UK w/ John Bowers

2014

• Salient/Reentry – Fort Process – Newhaven Fort, UK w/ John Bowers
• Fields – CTM Festival – HAU2, Berlin, Germany w/ Sébastien Piqemal

RESIDENCIES

2023

• Wild Musuem, Dukes Hagg Wood, Prudoe, UK w/ Sneha Solanki
• Research Pavilion Uniarts, Helsinki, Finland w/ WFOS, Jacek Smolicki & Elena Biserna

2022

• Do a Front, Yamaguchi, Japan, Residency w/ Dirty Electronics, Kanta Horio & Tetsuya Umeda
• Tama University, Tokyo, Japan w/ Dirty Electronics, John Bowers & Robin Foster
• LocusSonus, ESAAIX, Aix-en-Provence, France
• Hotel Pupik, Scheifling, Austria

2021

• Raw Data Rough Mix, Allenheads Contemporary Arts, UK
• Digital Arts Studio – Belfast, UK w/ British Council

2020

• Fri-Art – Fribourg, Switzerland w/ Martina Lussi
• Topological Media Lab – Montreal, Canada (Cancelled due to CoVID19)

2019

• Silo – Serrinha do Alambari, Brazil
• South Walney Nature Reserve – Cumbria, UK
• Electronic Music Studio – Stockholm, Sweden

2018

• InterArts Centre, Malmö, Sweden
• Arc Custom Made Residency, Romainmôtier, Switzerland

2017

• bb15, Linz, Austria

2016

• Arc Walk and Talk, Romainmôtier, Switzerland w/ Jacek Smolicki
• 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 – Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2023

• drifts - Galley Augusta, Suomenlinna, Helinki, Finland w/ Jacek Smolicki
• Channel Hopping - Full of Noises, Barrow-in-Furness, UK

2022

• Garage Sailing - Do a Front, Yamaguchi, Japan w/ Dirty Electronics, Kanta Horio & Tetsuya Umeda
• Channel Hopping - LocusSonus, ESAAIX, Aix-en-Provence, France
• Path of Dependance - The Arches, Newcastle University, UK w/ Walking Festival of Sound
• Radio Fischli & Weiss, Art-Cade, Marsielle, France w/ TT node

2021

• Points of Failure – Sanatorium of Sound, Sokołowsko, Poland
• Signal/Bruit w/ TT-Node – Ancienne Halle, Paris, France
• Mixed Signals – LOCAL-INT, Biel, Switzerland

2020

• Qualities of Common Water – Seventeen Gallery, London (online)

2019

• Transmission Line – Sonica Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Words With Worlds – Arches, Newcastle University, UK
• Cyborg Garden - Matadero Madrid, Spain w/ Experimental Architecture
• You Cannot Step in the Same River Twice – Fuse Art Space, Bradford w/ James Davoll
• Ring Network – xCoAx, Milan, Italy
• Jarrow Slake – TRK Sound Club, Florence, Italy
• FLUX – Central Station, Newcastle, UK w/ Novak and Ed Carter

2018

• Rather Than To See – Globe Gallery, Newcastle, UK w/ Tess Denman-Cleaver and others
• Jarrow Slake – Fri–Art, Fribourg, Switzerland
• Self-Build Utopias – Northern Stage, Newcastle, UK w/ Experimental Architecture
• Moving Billboard – Various locations across Albania w/ Armando Lulaj

2017

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

2016

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

2015

• Bergen Invocation – Piksel Festival – Bergen, Norway w/ John Bowers
• SoundLines – FACT, Liverpool, UK w/ John Bowers,
• Tuning In – Listening Back in Time – Discovery Museum, Newcastle, UK w/ Chris Watson

2014

• Sounds and Guts – Spill Festival, Ipswitch w/ Tender Buttons
• Spillage – Hatton Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

2013

• Sound and Seclusion – Victoria Tunnels, Newcastle, UK
• The Sonic Cosmos – British Science Festival, UK w/ Ryan Collins & Guy Schofield

SELECTED WORKSHOPS / COMMUNITY / TALKS

• Artist Talk - ESAAix, Aix-en-Provence, France
• Artist Talk - Sool Sool Centre, Seoul, South Korea
• Spark Gap Workshop - Sool Sool Centre, Seoul, South Korea
• Spark Gap Workshop - Sound Forms Festival, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong w/ Dirty Electronics
• Soundwalking Workshop - ZHdK, Zurich, Switzerland w/ Hannes Rickli
• Environmental Listening - North Ormesby School, Middlesbrough, UK w/ Industrial Coast
• Masterclass - SONOHR, Bern, Switzerland w/ John Coburn (Wild Musuem)
• Environmental Listening - Cumbria, UK w/ Chris Watson
• Improvised Collective Site Specific New-media, Athens, Greece
• Out of the Woods - Chopwell and Duke Hagg Wood, UK w/ Wild Musuem
• Podcast Workshop - ANOB, Stanhope, UK w/ Wild Musuem
• Deep Listening & Improvisation (2019, 2021, 2022) - CAMP, Aulus-les-Bains, France
• DIY Podcast Workshop - HEK, Basel, Switzerland
• Journey and Rest - Prism Arts and Carlisle Cathedral, Carlisle, UK
• Experimental Environmental Listening - ESAAA, Annecy, France
• Listening as a Device - Langwathby School, Cumbria, UK w/ Wild Museum
• Wavelengh - Chopwell, Gateshead, UK w/ Wild Museum
• War Workings - Discovery Musuem, Newcastle, UK
• Fields - Piksel, Bergen, Norway
• Fields - Goldsmiths University, London, UK
• Fields - Stereolux, Nantes, France
• Fields - FACT, Liverpool, UK

• Articles

  • Richards J, Shaw T. Improvisation through Performance-installation. Organised Sound 2022, 27(2), 144-155.
  • Hudson M, Shaw T. Dead Logics and Worlds: Sound art and sonorous objects. Organised Sound 2015, 20(2), 263-272.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Shaw T, Bowen S, Bowers J. Unfoldings: Multiple Explorations of Sound and Space. In: New Interfaces For Musical Expression. 2016, Brisbane, Australia.
  • 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.
  • 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, 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.
  • 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.