Biography
Lauren Sarah Hayes is a composer, performer and sonic artist from Glasgow who works with combinations of bespoke software, prepared piano, analogue monosynths, drum machines and live electronics. Her practice explores new strategies for live electronic performance by investigating the performer's physical relationship with the digital realm, and seeking to deepen this through the modality of touch. She is interested in exploring new collaborations and performing in unique spaces. Her background is in classical piano, mathematics and philosophy, all of which inform her creative work. She is a regular improviser, collaborating in duos/trios (Můstek, Monosynth Orchestra) and also performing with large-scale ensembles (Edimpro).
She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2013. Her research explored the relationships between sound and touch within the context of live electronic performance. She has taught at Newcastle University and is Visiting Assistant Professor in Sound Studies at Arizona State University, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts in 2015. In 2012 she directed the Inventor Composer Coaction, which facilitated collaboration between composers in Edinburgh and inventors of new digital musical instruments. She is a founding member of LLEAPP (Laboratory for Laptop and Electronic Audio Performance Practice), a yearly roving research forum for sonic arts.
She enjoys performing her music around the world, and recent ventures include BEAM (London), Sonorities (Belfast), NIME (Oslo), EarZOOM (Ljubljana), ICMC (Huddersfield), and EMS (New York). She has been supported by artistic residencies at EMS (Stockholm) in late 2011, in which she gave a live performance for Sveriges Radio P2, and also at STEIM (Amsterdam) in 2012. She is an associate of the London-based New Radiophonic Workshop for which she recently created a one hour radio piece that was broadcast on Dutch national radio.
