Research / 2026—ongoing
Performance,
Voice & Artificial
Intelligence
An artistic investigation into how the processes of live performance might inform the development and critical understanding of artificial intelligence.
Concept illustration / replace with research photograph
01 / The enquiry
My doctoral research investigates the relationships between artificial intelligence and the cognitive, dramaturgical and improvisational processes of live performance. It asks how the practices through which performers listen, interpret cues, respond to uncertainty and negotiate agency might inform the design of computational systems.
Situated between contemporary performance, visual art and computational experimentation, the research approaches artificial intelligence not simply as a means of generating content, but as a system whose behaviour can be rehearsed, tested and critically examined through performance.
Voice provides a central point of enquiry: its relationships to breath, embodiment, language and memory, and the differences between the presence of a human performer and the apparent responsiveness of a machine.
02 / Research question
What parallels exist between the cognitive and dramaturgical processes of live performance and the operations of artificial intelligence, and how might these relationships inform new approaches to performance-making?
The aim is not to equate human intelligence with computation, but to explore the artistic and critical possibilities that emerge from their differences.
03 / Practical investigations
Experimental platforms
Four evolving investigations examine memory, vocal patterns, synthetic speech and the accumulation of language within a performance environment. Each operates as both an artwork-in-development and an instrument of enquiry.
Manifestation of the Glitch
Examining the discrepancy between an event and its recollection, this visual and textual experiment approaches the glitch as a disturbance in memory: the difference between what happened and how it is remembered.
Prosody Echo Chamber
A live voice-responsive system processing rhythmic and acoustic qualities of speech. Repetition, vocal loops and algorithmically generated language form a shifting exchange between performer and computational response.
WITHOUT
BREATH
The Voice Trying to Remember It Is Human
A scripted experiment with a synthetic voice that speaks about theatrical conventions, scenery and perspective. The work considers how vocal expression can suggest a performer’s presence without sharing the bodily conditions of speech.
PERFORMER
REMEMBERED FROM THIS ROOM
Polari Performer
A responsive language platform that translates recognised English speech into Polari and accumulates fragments of spoken material within the performance environment. It investigates cultural language, computational memory and the agency of the live performer.
04 / Methodology
Practice as research
The project follows an iterative practice-led approach. Computational prototypes are constructed, encountered in the studio, tested with performers and revised in response to observation and reflection. The resulting works are both performances and methods for investigating machine behaviour.
Questions of authorship, consent, human accountability and the environmental cost of computational systems remain integral to the process.
05 / Artistic context
Continuities in practice
The doctoral enquiry extends a practice spanning live art, installation, digital imagery, sound and the shifting relationship between performer, object and audience.
Earlier work, including the MFA research project The Internal Division, investigated the performative possibilities of synthetic operatic voices, spatial sound, instruction and the technologies through which a voice appears to become present. The PhD develops these investigations towards responsive systems and their role within rehearsal, devising and live performance.
Selected earlier works06 / Research record
Writing, publications
& documentation
Documentation of workshops, studio investigations, public performances, writing and research presentations will be added as the project develops. This page serves as a public record of an ongoing enquiry rather than a summary of completed findings.
Doctoral research at Federation University Australia. Supervisory team: Dr Jill Orr, Professor Rick Chew and Dr Kim Percy.