Abstract
The focus of this interview is on curatorial influence on visitors’ experience, enumerating the most common steps of engagement with Edward Burtynsky’s images: (1) a burst of aesthetic wonder during the initial visual impact of the large-scale photographs; (2) a gradual recognition of the subject and meaning behind the photograph; (3) an intuition of the method’s complexity—how Burtynsky’s specific techniques and photographic tools are deployed to elicit these responses; and, finally, (4) the resulting causation—visitors engage with the underlying motivations, influences, and environmental concerns (sometimes the loop repeats itself from the beginning). The recent exhibition serves as an example.

Abstract
The sonic baton is a novel intelligent instrument that expands the practice of conducting by sonifying conductor gestures, with or without an ensemble. This paper reviews related sonic baton technologies developed over the past two decades before it introduces the sonic baton, an intelligent instrument using neural audio synthesis with Realtime Audio Variational autoEncoder (RAVE) models, applying practice-research in a series of performance experiments. These experiments highlight the baton’s potential for diverse sonic expressions. Reflections on performances reveal unique opportunities for conductors, ensembles, and composers. paper concludes that artificial intelligence can significantly expand conducting practices and augment musical ensembles’ sonic expressions, reinforcing the emergence of a new music-science paradigm.

Abstract
The authors discuss both practice-led research through making and the role of data in making by using a dialogic autoethnographic format. Picture Your Poisons is an intimate portrait of a cancer treatment journey, grounding viewers in the real-world material origins of systemic anticancer treatments through the specific lens of one patient’s course of treatment. Viewers are able to explore data that is usually presented in an abstract, clinical context through a striking visual medium that elicits an emotional as well as a cognitive response. The artwork encourages the viewer to explore aspects of the patient experience relating to bodily autonomy, selfhood, and dis/empowerment in medical contexts by confronting them with disembodied partial body casts of an affected breast. The material choices for this piece, using mainly glass as a hard but fragile material, add layers of subtle nuance and meaning.

Abstract
Since Baumgarten formally defined “aesthetics” in the 18th century, the term has been widely discussed in the fields of art and philosophy In the early 20th century Walter Benjamin argued that the mechanized modes of production introduced by the industrial revolution caused artworks to lose their “aura,” marking the first time aesthetics was subjected to scrutiny through the lens of technology The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) a century later develops the challenge further: Is AI art similarly devoid of an aura (i.e., aesthetics)? If not, what form does its aesthetics take, and does it differ from that of art produced during the era of mechanical reproduction? With these questions in mind, the authors embark on an exploration of the aesthetics of art in the age of AI, as well as recent trends in the development of artistic aesthetics.

Abstract
This paper analyzes the integration of East Asian literati traditions with contemporary multimedia through two artworks. It proposes a multimodal transcoding framework converting video frames into multisensory outputs via data-driven visualization and sonification. Using a modified turntable, the system interprets an artificial marble disc, created from the artist’s daily creation, to depict mental space using sumi ink. This aligns with literati traditions of expressing inner worlds through landscape paintings as contemplative practice. The study explores how translating these embodied practices into multimodal manifestations offers new perspectives in new media art while broadening the representations of landscape in an intercultural context.

Abstract
This paper explores the research, making, and performance of Sastrugi: Sounds of Antarctic Sea Ice. Combining the techniques of sonification, field recording, and musique concrète, Sastrugi orchestrates multisensory world building where immersive soundscapes, data-driven violin composition, and expansive visuals narrate the poignant tale of vanishing sea ice in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean. In the face of a record-breaking year for Antarctic sea ice in 2023, this project emerged as a vital testament to the Earth’s changing climate and highlights the power of creative approaches for engaging audiences with science and vast amounts of data.

Abstract
This paper presents an exploration of the integration of traditiona Chinese cultural elements, specifically the I Ching and Dunhuang musical scores, with modern music technology through the creation of the interactive electroacoustic music piece Fengshan—Chai Wang. The work employs sonification techniques to convert the “Gu” hexagram from the I Ching into audio, combining these transformed traditional elements with contemporary musical forms. The paper discusses the artistic background, technical implementation, and cross-cultural significance of the piece, emphasizing the balance between tradition and modernity. Through this innovative approach, the study seeks to preserve and systematically develop traditional Chinese music within the context of contemporary electroacoustic composition

Abstract
The author elaborates on her approach in conceiving LOL, a site-specific sonic intervention delivered through the public address system of Middlesbrough’s CCTV surveillance network. The three-part audio collage addresses sociopolitical issues at the heart of British politics post-Brexit, using plundering and détournement techniques. Each public address speaker acts as a disruptive-sounding body, an acousmatic voice standing anonymously above the town.

Abstract
Digital technologies are transforming the way in which composers conceive and efficiently communicate their creative ideas to performers. In this context, the development of virtual reality devices is shaping new compositional and performative affordances. This article focuses on the use of virtual reality headsets for reading digital scores in multimedia contexts through two case studies. First, the author explains the practical reasons leading the composers to incorporate these devices and the technical solutions for their exploitation. Second, and by means of surveys of performers who have taken part in these case studies, some challenging features of multimodal interaction are flagged. A final discussion opens the doors to future collaboration between musicians and the scholarly community.

Abstract
Generative art refers to art that is created in whole or in part using an autonomous system. This form of digital art dates back at least to the ise of computing machines in the 1950s. Recently, however, generative art has experienced a burst in digital creativity thanks to the emergence of blockchain technology and, in particular, of Non-Fungible Tokens. In this paper, the author explores the new forms of generative art that blockchain technology has brought to the field. Moreover, he embeds these new forms of blockchain-based generative art within Philip Galanter’s generative art theory.

Abstract
Software (1970) was one of the first exhibitions to bring together art and computers. In the decades following, this ambitious exhibition has been regarded largely through a lens of failure: It was beset with nonworking machines and conflict between exhibition organizers and artists, with blame placed on humans and their unsuccessful attempts at technological mastery. This essay presents a more expansive review by tracing the agency of the environment and issues of anthropogenic climate change in the technical and social breakdowns of the exhibition. Recent scholarship into other-than-human materialities helps lay the foundation for an understanding of the exhibition as a site of conflict between the immateriality of information and the active conditions of thermal media.

Abstract
Recent years have seen the emergence of diverse computational methods used to derive musical material from speech. While speech analysis, synthesis, and signal processing advancements have informed works, a review of computational methods is absent. This review addresses the gap, categorizing methods from 1980 to 2023 found in literature and contemporary music festival programs, identifying trends relating to live computation, automated compositional processes, use of acoustic-mechanical instruments, and themes including human-machine interaction, obscuring of semantic meaning, and highlighting geographical speech qualities. These approaches have broadened compositional palettes and fostered novel composer-performer-electronic interactions.