UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute (QI) Composer-in-Residence Miller Puckette, renowned for designing and developing two of the most widespread programs for computer music, will perform as part of the Initiative for the Digital Exploration of Arts and Sciences (IDEAS) series. RSVP to ideasqi@ucsd.edu.

The performance will include a sampling of musical compositions by Puckette and composer and researcher Kerry Hagan, working together as “the Higgs whatever,” and by Puckette and percussionist Irwin as the duo “øther.”

the Higgs whatever

Kerry Hagan is a composer and researcher who explores both acoustic and computer-based mediums. She focuses on creating real-time techniques for spatialization and employs stochastic algorithms in her musical endeavors. Hagan strives to achieve aesthetic and philosophical goals, drawing inspiration from mathematical and natural processes. Her work uniquely merges art, science, and technology across diverse domains.

In her role as a researcher, Hagan delves into real-time algorithmic methods for music composition and sound synthesis, as well as spatialization techniques for 3D sounds and electronic/electroacoustic musicology. She has showcased her music and research at SEAMUS, ICMC, SMC, EMS, and various conferences and festivals dedicated to electronic and computer music.

Working as “the Higgs whatever,” Kerry Hagan and Miller Puckette have developed a sound installation called Remnant that explores our ability to sense that someone is standing close to us, solely through the way we hear ambient sounds reflecting off them. Remnant has been presented both in Brooklyn and in Birmingham, England. Hagan and Puckette have also collaborated on several musical compositions, of which they will be presenting a sampling in concert on Thursday, January 11, 2024. One such piece, “Who Was That Timbre I Saw You With,” uses Leap controllers to make hand-gesture-to-sound translators. 

øther

Irwin has engaged in the fields of music, production, composition, and sound design since the 1990s. Additionally, he has served as a supporting musician for numerous music tours across various genres along with contemporary solo live electronic performances.

Miller Puckette and Irwin are the duo “øther.” They use a pair of hand-built percussion instruments, each with a piezoelectric pickup, to drive a variety of computer processes, both as control sources and as activation for different types of nonlinear resonators. 

About IDEAS

IDEAS aims to encourage interdisciplinary performing, visual and literary-artists, as well as engineers and scientists, to take advantage of QI’s advanced audio-visual facilities, services and personnel in staging performances and presentations of new and experimental works and research. To learn more about the program and to see a full lineup of future performances, visit the website.

How to get here:

Atkinson Hall is located at 3195 Voigt Drive, between the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering and the Computer Science and Engineering Building on UC San Diego campus.

Visitors   Visitor parking (“V”) is available at Hopkins Parking Structure. There is a ticket-dispensing machine near the elevators on each level or download the ParkMobile App on your phone to pay for parking.

UCSD Employees   The nearest parking is at Hopkins Parking Structure and lot P510.

Public Transit   Atkinson Hall is a short, 5 to 10 minute walk from the UC San Diego Central Campus stop on the MTS Trolley’s blue line. Visit this page for a map of the trolley stops.