Abstract The work focuses on environmental audio as a source of sustainable audio and simulacra; the representation of the real in the digital age of AI and algorithmic intervention. Its process involves using field recordings (or live mic input) fed into an instrument system centred around the Norns Shield, MIDIgrid and sample playground script to create a generative real-time, improvisational performance. Through live manipulation, the familiar environmental textures are intuitively glitched, stretched, and re-animated, evolving organically from the authentic 'real' into a new, hyperreal composition of rhythm and melody. This transformative approach explores the space between the natural world and its digital representation which has its roots connected to the concept of Simulacra by the French theorist and author Jean Baudrillard.
As an artistic practice it is an ongoing investigation into the space between the authentic 'real' of the natural world and its technologically mediated representations, building auditory bridges that allow us to perceive the hidden rhythms and silent communications of the more-than-human world. Within the performance space it invites the audience to join the composer on a deep listening exploration. The constant evolving sound and harmonically rich textures requires adaptability as the glitched, digital artefact becomes a new, hyper-real experience that questions our very perception of nature and our symbiosis as humans, with the notion that only distortion utilised in the right way can lead to harmony.