Olivia Louvel

My practice is built upon a long-standing exploration of the voice, sung or spoken, and its manipulation through digital technology, as a compositional method. Exploring aesthetic principles through a cross-disciplinary approach, my research investigates the interplay of voice and sculpture, surveying three modes of relationship: (1) METAMORPHIC, the voice becoming sculpture with 3D printing, and 3D modelling; (2) SYMBIOTIC, a cooperative and hybrid partnership as a technological or acoustic encounter; and (3) ECHOIC, the agency of voice within a sculptural extended space.

The aim is to explore how, through the medium of sculpture, or through a sculptural approach, the voice becomes haptic – acquires tactile qualities. 

Research outputs include: ‘A generative sound mural: The Whole Inside. Sounding the body’ published in Leonardo Music Journal, MIT Press p.29-32 (2020); ‘The Whole Inside’ published in ‘Future Now, Aesthetica Art Prize 2021: 125 contemporary artists’, pp.148-149 (2021); ‘The Sculptor Speaks’, an audio-visual installation at The Hepworth Wakefield (2021); 'Doggerland Channels', a sound art installation at Phoenix Art Space (2022).