What inspired you to start designing or making as a profession?
Keeping my fingers in several ‘creative pies’ over the years is what’s kept me designing. I like to think ‘design’ goes further than how most refer to its definition. My past consists largely of dance/choreography (design of movement), percussion (design of rhythm) and Audio Engineering (the design of sound/music). My recent work – designing and building interactive installations for events – combines a combination of these skills which I have an on-going fascination for.
What inspires you when you are working on a project?
I find almost anything can be fuel for inspiration. Turning noise into music has often been a big inspiration for my work. An example of this is the story of dancing to the beat of the washing machine, something I couldn’t resist as a toddler. Years down the line I took this as inspiration to produce a music track completely out of sounds recorded from my washing machine and then worked in choreography for it to become a live performance piece.
What is your favourite element of the SoundScapes play activation and why?
My favourite element is the echo chamber! A huge ‘echo’ or ‘reverb’ is an out of body experience which never gets old.
Tell us about someone that inspires you.
I have a group on ‘Whatsapp’ of the ‘Creative Lads’ I toured with in theatre show ‘Stomp’. We often bounce around and exchange ideas to help and encourage each other on creative projects from our various corners of the world.
About Simon Watts | Ideatorium Associate
Simon Watts has been working professionally in the entertainment industry since 2008, performing, choreographing, judging and teaching nationally and internationally. He is a qualified sound engineer and works on audio for advertising campaigns for film and social media.
Recent credits include:
Audio and visual interactive installation, Hopscotch – 2020 – Splore Festival
Theatre show ‘Circuit’ 2020 – Digital design, choreography, set design, audio design/music production. Featured in Perth Fringe Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Sydney Opera House.
Audio and visual interactive installation, Musical Chairs – 2019 – Splore Festival, MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology), Stellar Festival of Lights, Turama Festival.
STOMP (world tour) performance and workshops – 2013 to 2018 – Australia, Germany, Phillipines, Italy, France, Kuwait, Dubai, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, China, Turkey, Lebanon, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Malta, Brazil, Iceland.