Well, the tender for the installation has been awarded to MOD Productions, which is wonderful news for me. MOD were the creative and technical minds behind the incredible ACO Virtual that allowed visitors to interact with a virtual performance by performers from the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Today we had our first production meeting and all of a sudden the installation feels like it’s very soon! So I need to complete my sketching and work out a timeline for the recording.

MOD have some really clear new ideas about interactivity, which is great for me. There will be an opportunity to create some multi-track electro-acoustic pieces and have the tracks cued by sensors in the installation – for instance to respond to the presence of a person, the touch of a button, or a sound that is made.

It does look like the hardware budget is no longer going to stretch to the surround sound that I was hoping to compose for – at least in key spaces – but at least this is balanced by new creative and technical aspirations. The incredible Michela Ledwidge is coding a bespoke interaction system to be installed on the vessels, so I can’t wait to put it through its paces!