59

STEPHEN

SUMMERS

LENS

for a Masters in electro-acoustic

composition. Pretty much everything we

use is acoustic-found sounds, so contact

microphones – I love ’em. They’re an

endless source of fun.

HACKSPACE How have things changed

over the years you’ve been running

Noisy Toys?

SS We’ve got better at it! It’s evolved.

When we started Noisy Toys, we had

little boxes and theremins and light-

sensitive boxes on tables. One of our

first big gigs was in Newcastle at the

Discovery centre and it was literally that.

We had them on tables and had a bit of a

talk, “this is de-de-de.” When we started

doing music festivals, we got more of a

performance element. At Glastonbury, we

had to build it all into a large console and

make it look a bit more steampunk and

think about it visually.

HACKSPACE What did you do when you

were at Glastonbury?

SS That was our first interactive

experiment. It was in the Bassline Circus

tent. Not a tent, it was a geodome – it

was Europe’s largest geodome at the

time. Bassline Circus do night-time

cabaret, sort of techno-drum and bass

shows, but nothing in the daytime. It’s a

huge space.

We knew a couple of those guys, and

we spoke with them and said, “can we

come and do some family shows in

that amazing space in the daytime?”

We did a combination of the interactive

installation, which is large consoles of

hard drives, contact microphone stuff,

and controllers. Things that people

can just come up and play with no

explanation – we might help them if

they don’t know what to do, but there’s no

signs. No ‘do X’, or written explanations.

It’s fun, it’s creative, it’s exploration. We

also had a performance going on at the

same time.

We also got given a load of lab coats.

We were wearing the lab coats and

because of the photos from that, some

science events booked us. I had no idea

what science communication was. It all

happened because we got given some

lab coats! We’ve ditched them now

(we’re in boiler suits), but that just sort

of happened.

HACKSPACE Casting your mind back, do

you have a favourite event?

SS There’s lots. I really like Maker Faire

[Newcastle], we do it every year. I really

like seeing what everyone else does –

the makers exhibiting, and the hobbyists.

The Festival of Thrift in Middlesbrough

• they’re in a good place ethically. What
  puts me off about mainstream music
  festivals is that they’re very much
  money-making events. Festival of Thrift
  is a small one, but it’s one to look out for.
  I like doing STEM events – I haven’t
  done any music festivals for several
  years now. I would consider doing some
  smaller ones again now, but I really like
  doing these STEM events.

HACKSPACE Do you have any

advice for people getting started in

performance science?

SS It’s hard to say because I didn’t start

out doing science. I have no science

background – I’m a musician and a

music teacher. I’ve learned the science

before I started doing this because I was

interested, but I’m self-taught. I only

found out that science communication

was a thing – and a job – about three or

four years ago. I don’t know. I feel like

I’m someone who’s come from a creative

background in performance and music,

with a lot of experience there, and I’ve

come across into the science world, and

that gives us a different angle.

I see a lot of really good content at

science events and STEM events. Often,

what people in that field could learn

from the arts and the performance side

is engagement. Often, people with an

arts background, that’s what they think

• that’s what it’s all about. It’s about how
  to engage people on an emotional level. If
  you combine those two, I think it works

Left

It’s all about the bass