Martyn Ware, Multimedia artist, 3D soundscapist and professor has teamed up with Eclectic Method to remix Dr. Strangelove. With relations between East and West at such an ambiguous point and the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight then it's been since the Cuban Missile Crisis what better time to revisit the Stanley Kubrick Classic.

"You can't fight in here this is war room"

On 29 June – 2 July 2017 Forest of Imagination will take root in Bath for its fourth year. 

Gabriel Ware, in collaboration with Illustrious, has composed a beautiful immersive orchestral 3D soundscape, featuring sounds of insects drifting around an beautiful ancient woodland glen.

Also children (and adults) can participate by wearing specially created 'insect hats' which will each have a unique insect sound of their own...

For the first time, imagine seeing and feeling the world from an insect's point of view! 

Last year we transformed the spaces around and inside Bath Abbey into a fantastical new world and welcomed over 10,000 visitors!

This year we creatively linked the urban edge of Bath to the prehistoric National Trust meadow of Bushey Norwood.

Illustrious will be creating a 3D soundscape in astoundingly beautiful Hercules Hall in Portmeirion village during Festival Number 6

The collaboration will feature Time Wheater and Cherub Sanson performing a long-form piece entitled Aurora Hum which will feature a seamless merging of electronic and naturally resonant sounds performing as a kind-of morning relaxation and healing ritual.

Illustrious has created sound design and music for CITY RUN LONDON, the first in a series of mobile games set in real world history launching December 2015. This Tudor-Noir adventure follows a freedom fighter AKA “The Moth” across the City of London circa 1600 through Priories to Madhouse, Theatres, Jail and on with a smokey, sonic soundscape illuminating an intoxicating era, of glory and danger.

Illustrious created a 3D soundscape for ‘The Crossing’, a shopping centre in the centre of Liverpool, in honour of Cunard’s 175th transatlantic anniversary celebrations. The soundscape transports you from one magnificent city to another using unique 3D sound techniques. It features new orchestral compositions by Martyn and his 17-year old son Gabriel Ware.

Martyn Ware created a soundscape for a exhibition by Blast Theory and two groups of random people who had never met, in a series of three workshops. It looks at different life experiences and what we can enjoy and learn from each other from different points in our lives.  As you walk around the centre of Manchester these shared revelations are set to specially commissioned soundscore by Martyn Ware.

It was presented as part of FutureEverything 2015.

For this three year anniversary event Martyn produced a 3D sonic installation using Syrian voices, sounds from the camps and music to create a highly emotive and immersive experience with the refugees voices leading the narrative.

Martyn's comments...

“The epic scale of human displacement in the refugee camps comes to life powerfully and emotionally when you can hear and sense the voices of the people affected. Our 3D soundscape creates a realistic impression of the thoughts and experiences of the refugees — the sadness, the happiness, the resilience, the hopes and the dreams of a peaceful return to the country of their birth — Syria…”

Illustrious helped to create a 3D soundscape featuring sounds created by Empire of The Sun, in collaboration with Australian production companies The Feds and Visual Jazz.

The Adventures Of Sky – The Reluctant Hero is an interactive one-person show. It is written and performed by Nikky Norton Shafau and directed by The Core’s Creative Director Chris Sudworth.

"Sky has not slept a wink for six whole months and appears to have lost everything. Having left her home town to begin a new life in the city, her success and her senses break down. 3am: another sleepless night. A sound from deep without. The Door opens. Sky steps outside… but the world doesn’t look, feel or sound the same as it used to. Nightmares, dreams and reality blur as Sky searches for heroic capabilities to find her way back ‘home’."

Nikky Norton

Illustrious created a huge 3D soundscape in the beautiful location of Tietgenkolegiet in Copenhagen to accompany the opening event for Strom Electronic Music Festival.

The spectacular hour-long immersive event featured The Danish Youth Orchestra, and Mike Sheridan's Band, performing a world-premiere work 'Drifting Through Time and Space', together with works by Gorecki, Arvo Part, Neil Gow and Sibelius.

Each of the building's 365 windows were independently lit as a 360 degree light show, accompanying the movement and dynamics of the live spatialized music.

Soundscape celebrating this year’s ‘road to the final’.

‘Heroes’ is an immersive soundscape based on great British Olympic heroes from games staged in London and elsewhere from 1908 to the present day. The 10 minute looping composition, situated beneath the Bobby Moore Bridge (directly outside wembley Park tube station), recreates the excitement of a variety of gold medal winning performances, and will provide the perfect anticipatory atmosphere to prepare the enormous number of visitors to the Wembley site during the 2012 Olympic period.

After the games, the location will become the site of a permanent soundscape installation, transforming to accompany different sporting and cultural events at Wembley.

Shown at the annual Sensoria Festival in Sheffield, Diaspora Magnet was a soundscape installation created by Illustrious Company alongside visual projections by graphic designer Malcolm Garrett RDI.

Part of the Echo City Project, Diaspora Magnet presented Sheffield as an exemplar of industrial cities everywhere, with the city acting as a vehicle to address ideas surrounding urban life and social dynamics.

The visuals created by Garrett ran on an infomatic 15 minute loop and were accompanied by Ware’s 3D sound installation.

Held as part of X Media Lab's annual summit Global Media Ideas, Soundscape was a 3D audio demonstration created and hosted by Martyn Ware of Illustrious Company.

Located within the iconic Sydney Opera House, Global Media Ideas was a two day event comprising a conference and a number of workshops exploring the cultural and commercial possibilities of new media. 

Performing to a packed conference of media and creative businesses and entrepeuners, Soundscape was a demonstration of the sonic architectural capabilities of the 3D AudioScape system. 

Curated by Illustrious’ own Martyn Ware alongside Karen Pearson of Folded Wing, ReAnimate was an evening of live music, sound art, film, performance, and philosophy within London's National Portrait Gallery (NPG).

Part of the regular Late Shift event, ReAnimate transformed the NPG into a giant creative and imaginative playground for the senses, featuring specially commissioned sonic soundscapes, artists panel discussions, DJ sets, book readings, film screenings, artist led drawing workshops and a bespoke perfume to capture the fragrance of the night.

Featured artists performing live on the night include Ben Westbeech, Andreya Triana, Di Mainstone, Sissel Tolaas and Marvin Ayres, with specially commissioned music from Martyn Ware, Brian Duffy, Mira Calix and Illum Sphere.

Located in the heart of Brighton city centre, West Street Story was an original 3D soundscape that transformed the atmosphere and ambience of the cacophonous clubbing area. 

Utilising both recorded and live sounds, the ambient piece was created in the centre of the city presenting residents, tourists and revelers a contrast to the raucous disharmony so frequently encountered in lively areas at night.

The piece was broadcast at the Sallis Benney Theatre in 3D sound, accompanied by live footage of people moving through the landscape provided by Driftwood productions. Entitled ‘Come Together’, the event included classes in body language, music and social territory from psychobiologist and communications expert Dr. Harry Witchel.

Held at London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall, 3D Soundclash was a live music event that saw DJs from Warp records and Ninja Tune battling it out using Illustrious Company’s 3D sound technology.

Warp records and Ninja Tune are two of Britain's seminal independent labels, consistently promoting new and exciting electronic groups and musicians. 3D Soundclash provided the opportunity for the labels to not only demonstrate the wealth of talent on their rosters but to also hear many of their pioneering releases in a whole new dimension via 3D sound provided by Illustrious. 

The event was organised by the Red Bull Music Academy, a worldwide traveling series of music workshops and festivals that provides a platform for the musical prodigy’s of the future.

Working alongside artist, musician and composer Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Illustrious provided spatialised 3D sound for an original original composition written by Zinner, which featured as part of The Creators Project World Tour.

Titled A.D.A.B.A., the installation consisted of a set of tall, black pleated fabric walls on which LED boards printed with Zinner’s photographs were hung. Within this closed off space, visitors were exposed to an 18 minute long composition by Zinner, with sound spatialised in three dimensions by Martyn Ware of Illustrious. 

Launched in New York, A.D.A.B.A. went on to tour across the globe as part of the The Creators Project, visiting London, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Beijing.

Working alongside artist, musician and composer Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Illustrious provided spatialised 3D sound for an original original composition written by Zinner, which featured as part of The Creators Project World Tour.

Titled A.D.A.B.A., the installation consisted of a set of tall, black pleated fabric walls on which LED boards printed with Zinner’s photographs were hung. Within this closed off space, visitors were exposed to an 18 minute long composition by Zinner, with sound spatialised in three dimensions by Martyn Ware of Illustrious. 

Launched in New York, A.D.A.B.A. went on to tour across the globe as part of the The Creators Project, visiting London, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Beijing.

Working alongside artist, musician and composer Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Illustrious provided spatialised 3D sound for an original original composition written by Zinner, which featured as part of The Creators Project World Tour.

Titled A.D.A.B.A., the installation consisted of a set of tall, black pleated fabric walls on which LED boards printed with Zinner’s photographs were hung. Within this closed off space, visitors were exposed to an 18 minute long composition by Zinner, with sound spatialised in three dimensions by Martyn Ware of Illustrious. 

Launched in New York, A.D.A.B.A. went on to tour across the globe as part of the The Creators Project, visiting London, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Beijing.

Written to commemorate the opening of The Hub, the world’s first permanent outdoor 3D Soundfield, Illustrious Company provided a 3D sound experience that utilised recordings made in and around Workington.

Designed to provide shelter as well as act as a new performance space, The Hub is large canopy suspended from surrounding buildings, and was designed by BASE Structures in Bristol incorporating 3D sound technology and lighting.

The first event of its kind, ‘Breath’ was a three dimensional outdoor soundscape composed to accompany the launch of Tim Winton’s novel of the same name.

Installed under Hungerford Bridge on London’s Southbank, the soundscape featured Tim Winton reading extracts from the book, while immersing the listener in an ultra-real seascape that utilised the sounds of crashing surf and breath.

In the two days that the event was held over 20,000 people visited the site to experience the soundscape.

Performed live in Pandora’s Playground at the Latitude Festival, this unique collaboration between La Prima Donna and Illustrious Company saw a new live performance of dance and 3D Sound.

‘La Prima Donna’ was an audio-visual performance installation by Hellcat Productions, which utilised characters from Caryl Churchill’s 1982 play ‘Top Girls’. Combining choreographed dance, performative gender and period-shifting costume the performance explored contorted ideals of feminine beauty.

Featuring live DJing, the sound was provided by Illustrious using 3D surround sound technology. 

Held as part of the Switched On London Festival, Creatmosphere: Breathing Trees was a large-scale immersive outdoor light and sound installation that transformed two enormous trees located next to Potters Field Park into living, breathing lungs.

The two 20 metre high trees were illuminated using LED color changing technology to give the impression of ‘breathing with light’ while simultaneously the sound of breathing was played in 3D sound. 

A recreation of Breathing Trees, a work which was originally performed in 2006 at the Festival Arbres et Lumieres in Geneva, the restaging was a collaborative effort between Illustrious and Laurent Louyer of Creatmosphere. 

Commissioned by the CEO of a famous Italian leather wear brand, Illustrious created the world’s first private 3D sound installation.

Working in collaboration with Bernard Frischer and the University of Virginia, Illustrious created concept 3D soundscapes to accompany the 3D visualisation Rome Reborn.

Rome Reborn was an international initiative whose goal was to create 3D digital models illustrating the urban development of ancient Rome from the first settlement in the late Bronze Age (c. 1000 B.C.) to the depopulation of the city in the early Middle Ages (c. A.D. 550).

A multi-media, audio-visual spectacular, Future of Sound at Future Sonic was conceived by Martyn Ware of Illustrious Company and combined a hands-on demo with a unique 3D clubbing experience.

A stuning showcase of “future music”, the event combined 3D DJ and VJ sets as well as live music with performances from artists such as the Modified Toy Orchestra, The Sancho Plan, Luciana Haill, Tal Rosner and Squidsoup.

Created as part of the Rome Reborn interactive learning tool and installed at the 2008 Siggraph Conference in Las Vegas, Virtual Rome was a 3D digital model of the anicent city that featured sound and music by Illustrious Company.

Installed by designer Sebastijan Jemec, Virtual Rome was part of an international initiative called Rome Reborn, whose goal was to create 3D digital models illustrating the urban development of ancient Rome from the first settlement in the late Bronze Age (c. 1000 B.C.) through to the depopulation of the city in the early Middle Ages (c. A.D. 550).

Transplanting the theoretical musings of the International Conference For Digital Live Art into a practical setting, (re)Actor3: This is LIVErpool featured an evening of installations, digital live art, and performances using ‘augmented instruments’.

Using 3D immersive sound technology installed by Illustrious, the event featured work from Martyn Ware, Future of Sound, The Sancho Plan, Luciana Haill, Sarah Nicolls, and Nick Rothwell (a.k.a. Cassiel) amongst others.

Created as part of the the V&A's late event ‘Who‘s Afraid of the Dark’, Ghost Machine was an immersive 3D audio installation exploring the paranormal through sound.

Performed in the darkened and atmospheric Cast Court, the three dimensional visitation used strange sounds and shards of human and subhuman speech to elicit forgotten ancestral memories.
 

Working in collaboration with Skrapic Consulting, Illustrious created a series of immersive 3D soundscapes to accompany an experiential brand installation featured at the launch of Kenzo’s ‘Tokyo’ fragrance for men.

The launch combined visuals and light installations by Skrapic with ambient electronic compositions and three dimensional sound technology from Illustrious, to provide an immersive experience for visitors reflecting the cutting edge metropolitan style of the fragrance and Kenzo brand.

Installed in the glamorous Parisian department store Galleries Lafayette, ‘La France C'est Renversant’ was a series of artistic interventions through 3D sound.

Under the artistic direction of Hilton McConnico, Illustrious created a 3D soundscape that reinvented the spirit of the Pigalle district for the 21st century,  taking visitors on a journey through French design, creation, innovation and tradition.
 

An exhibition of five artists and designers whose work with glass, lighting, sound, mixed media and animation all focused on the elusive qualities of light in their practice, Trip the Light Fantastic featured a three-dimensional composition by Martyn Ware of Illustrious.

Working in collaboration with lighting designer Pip Rhodes, Ware created a three-dimensional synaesthetic soundscape to accompany a room immersed in pure monochromatic colour, that swept through the spectrum over a one hour period.

For the project, multiple digital projectors were used to cast light upon a glass sculpture specially designed by Illustrious and created by the glass artists from the museum itself.

Composed by Illustrious in collaboration with artists at Fabrica, ‘Remote’ was a live three-dimensional responsive soundscape performed in the Triad Media Gallery at the Seoul Biennale.

Exploring the relationships between the artists and the audience, between the audience and the artwork, and among the audience themselves, the piece was featured as part of an exhibition called ‘I’ve Been Waiting For You’, and was a interactive/generative installation that used real time input from webcams all around the world to create constantly evolving audio loops and patterns.

Funded by the Benetton group, Fabrica is a unique research institution that encourages the creative development of selected young professionals from all over the world, with activities ranging from graphic design to cinema.
 

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of i-D Magazine, the Fashion and Textile Museum launched an exhibition using images, short films, graphics, scents, and 3D sound from Illustrious to provide a multi-dimensional tour of the magazines history as well as the wider concept of ‘identity’.

Directed an curated by the the magazine’s founder, creative director and editor-in-chief, Terry Jones, the exhibition sought to capture the essence of i-D, whose premise from its conception has been to empower people to express their own ideas and their individual identity.

As part of this multi sensual experience, Illustrious provided a three dimensional immersive soundtrack, which used musical compositions and voice recordings to create an audio collage charting the history of the magazine.

Organised to mark the unveiling of the Bill Brown Cutlery Collection, ‘Shine’ saw Illustrious compose a three dimensional soundscape using field recordings taken in the metalwork factories of Sheffield as source material.

Working in collaboration, Martyn Ware and Vince Clarke of Illustrious Company spent two days in the factories recording the sounds of machinery hammering, grinding, and buffing, before mixing them with various other sounds and oral narratives of people from the light metal industry, to create a unique composition.

Launched to coincide with the Newcastle Gateshead Tall Ships Race and River Festival, Fathom was a major exhibition of works by leading video and sound artists that featured a specially composed soundscape from Illustrious.

A ground breaking cultural event for the region, the Hatton Gallery exhibition examined the various ways in which those artists featured explored the relationship between man and water, focusing on its primal psychological and physical lure. 

For the project, Martyn Ware and Vince Clarke of Illustrious contributed their three dimensional sound installation ‘Blue (you are underwater)’, with this piece exhibiting alongside such international artists as Bill Viola, Janet Biggs, and David Cotterrell.

Created to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, Sound Oasis showcased especially commissioned site and time specific work from twelve international artists.

Playing twenty four hours a day seven days a week over a two month period, the purpose of the installation was to create a Sound Oasis that interacted with the surrounding urban context and lush South American climate.

For the project, Illustrious teamed up with Arup acoustics to install the three dimensional audio system as well as spacialise the soundscapes created by the twelve artists.

Hosted by the Science Museum’s DANA Centre, The Dark was a specially created three-dimensional audio environment with haunted soundscapes provided by Illustrious.

A unique experience, The Dark gave visitors the opportunity to discover how hearing and other senses stimulate their imagination as well as alter their perception of reality, testing their senses with the echoes of virtual ghosts.

Working in collaboration with Braunarts, Illustrious provided three dimensional sound for the show helping to deliver the immersive paranormal experience.

Commissioned by the New Sound New York festival, Martyn Ware and Vince Clarke of Illustrious created a three dimensional soundscape that played in Charles Morrow’s immersive audio installation Sound Cube.

Illustrious’ composition was one of twelve to be played in the Sound Cube, alongside such other artists and composers as Olivia Block, Shelley Hirsch, Miya Masaoka, Steve McCaffrey, Charles Morrow, Phill Niblock, Michael J. Schumacher, Scanner, Stephen Vitiello, and Pamela Z.

The installation was curated by Charles Morrow, Stephen Vitiello and Christina Yang, and featured as part of New Sound New York, a citywide festival of performances, installations and public dialogues featuring new works by sound artists who are exploring fresh connections among music, architecture and the visual arts.

Produced by the Science Museum, London, Sparking Reactions was an exploration of the debate surrounding nuclear power and electricity generation in the UK, featuring a soundtrack and sound design from Illustrious.

The exhibition features a purpose built observatory with a panorama of the Sellafield site, a digital viewing gallery charting the development of BNFL and Sellafield and an international area where visitors can learn about the global operations of the company.

Commissioned for the Venice Film Festival, Illustrious created a 3D sound installation for La Rotunda del Cinema Italiano, one of the festivals main venues.

The unique 3D sound field comprised ambient electronic music composed by Illustrious especially for the event and was interspersed with famous Italian film soundtrack music, that had been digitally remastered for the performance.

The soundscape lasted three hours with the beginning and end blended to provide a seamless continual loop of sound.

Working in collaboration with Cathy De Monchaux, Illustrious provided the three dimensional soundscapes for Sweetly The Air Flew Overhead an exhibition of visual, sculptural, and sonic art. 

A Turner-Prize Nominated artist, Cathy De Monchaux’s work defies categorisation, and she has over a number of years exhibited extensively across the world.

For this innovative exhibition, Illustrious created a 3D soundscape composed of calls to prayer from around the world, layered together with recordings of Cathy reading extracts from her private diaries.

Featuring an original composition by Martyn Ware of Illustrious, Knot's was a performance of contemporary dance choreographed by Vanessa Fenton for the Royal Ballet company.

The piece itself explored the circular poems of R.D. Laing re-imagined as mobile phone text messages, with compositions from Illustrious reflecting the major theme of the work using simple themes interweaving in an increasingly complex way to eventually lead to an untangling and circular resolution.

Featuring incidental musical compositions from Vince Clark and Martyn Ware of Illustrious, ‘The Club’  was a comedy play about Australian rules football, written by David Williamson and directed by Jonathan Guy Lewis.

Featuring music composed by Martyn Ware of Illustrious, Michael Owen’s Soccer Skills was a series in which then Liverpool and England soccer star Michael Owen shared his footballing skills with aspiring youngsters.

The series was produced by Chrysalis Television North and broadcast on the BBC.