Deepwood - Wild Tree Listening

In this Lunchtime Talk, Tom Bailey and Danilo Oliveira Vaz will talk about Deepwood, a new immersive audio project by Bristol-based company Mechanimal, currently in prototype stage and supported by Digital Catapult in partnership with Knowle West Media Centre.

Drawing from their expertise, they will explore how plant biosensors, machine learning, and spatial audio can create a deep-listening experience—an audio-based encounter with a tree, based on real-time plant data. Can machine learning help develop an experience where the tree orchestrates the sounds we hear? How can we transform tree data into emotive, imaginative soundscapes around the tree?

About the speakers

Tom Bailey is the creative director of Deepwood and a performance artist, working with his award-winning company, Mechanimal. Danilo Oliveira Vaz is an independent researcher, exploring plant biosensors and machine learning to develop new ways of interacting with the more-than-human world.

About the Pervasive Media Studio

The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. Lunchtime Talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region.