Nik Rawlings

Background

About Nik Rawlings

I am a singer & composer based in Bristol, UK. With a background in choral singing, queer club music and sonic arts, my work addresses voice’s relationship with technology, queer embodiment and collectivity through spatial sound performances and system design. In 2021 I received Bristol + Bath Creative R+D’s Expanded Performance Prototype grant, leading the project ‘breathing.systems’ developing prototype wireless, wearable multichannel sound systems. This work was showcased with a performance piece at Bristol’s Trinity Center in August 2021 with 10 performers drawn from Bristol’s queer community; whose movements spatialised live, processed singing. The work formed a collective body of sound for my voice, on & between the bodies of performers. I have presented this system and practice at IRCAM Forum at New York University, University of the West of England, and Sampad Arts, Birmingham. In 2022-23, I was resident on the Down The Wire Live residency with Egyptian artist Ghada Eissa, creating a work dealing with episodic experiences of time while living with Bipolar. This project concluded with immersive exhibitions & performances in Glasgow and Egypt. I previously taught spatial sound composition at UWE, and in 2022 won an Arts Council England DYCP grant to open an immersive sound studio in Bristol - which is now B-Form Studio, aiming to become Bristol’s key independent spatial & ambisonic audio R&D studio. I have shown earlier work at LUMA Westbau at the invitation of Serpentine, Guest Projects & The Surrounding in London. I DJ extensively around the UK and Europe, and have hosted shows on NTS, Noods Radio and Threads.