Interactive Digital Art in an Environmental Era with Leah Barclay
Time
14th August 2025 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm(GMT+10:00)
Location
Your computer
Event Details
12pm – 1pm Thursday the 14th of August 2025 This webinar invites artists to explore how interactive digital art can respond to the climate crisis and support meaningful environmental engagement. Led
Event Details
12pm – 1pm Thursday the 14th of August 2025
This webinar invites artists to explore how interactive digital art can respond to the climate crisis and support meaningful environmental engagement. Led by Dr Leah Barclay — an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and designer — this session offers practical insight into creating ecologically engaged work that combines creative technology, sensing environments and connection to place.
Drawing on over 15 years of environmental art practice, Barclay will share strategies for using field recordings, mobile technologies, and participatory experiences to connect communities with ecosystems. The presentation features three major projects: Sonic Reef, a creative response to threats facing the Great Barrier Reef; Biosphere Soundscapes, an evolving archive of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves; and River Listening, which integrates science and art to investigate the soundscapes of global river systems.
Artists will gain tools and inspiration to create immersive, site-responsive works that activate community dialogue, deepen place-based understanding, and contribute to environmental awareness through creative practice and emerging technologies.
What to Bring:
Please bring questions to discuss with Leah. Flying Arts also recommends having note-taking materials on hand.
Additional Information:
This online session will be held via ClickMeeting a webinar broadcasting room.
To discuss specific access needs, please contact program@flyingarts.org.au
Additional Information
Dr Leah Barclay is an Australian sound artist, designer, and researcher working at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Her research and creative work investigate new approaches to ecoacoustics, exploring the soundscapes of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to inform conservation, scientific research, and public engagement. She is a specialist in underwater sound with over 15 years’ experience recording marine and freshwater ecosystems across the planet.
Leah creates complex sonic environments and audio-visual works that draw attention to changing climates and fragile ecosystems. These works are realised through live performances, interactive installations, VR/AR, and site-specific experiences. Her work explores ways we can use creativity, new technologies, and emerging science to reconnect communities to place and inspire ecological awareness. Leah is the Discipline Lead of Design at the University of the Sunshine Coast, where she is also co-leading the Creative Ecologies Research Cluster, an emerging hub for interdisciplinary research that is shaping new approaches to creative practice.