Melody Chua

Komposition/System Design

Melody Chua is an international, transdisciplinary artist researching the relationality between improvisation machines and human performers. As an arts x technology polymath, she programs and designs her own improvisation machine systems comprising of various sensors that facilitate interaction across the mediums of sound and visual projections. She views her relational practices with machines as an artistic practice in asking, “How can we give voices to the ‘othered’ and give form to the invisible? How do we navigate the delicate borderlands where we are not only sovereign entities but also vulnerable extensions of each other?” Originally trained as a flutist, she explores how improvisations with traditional instruments are transformed by the addition of electronics (sensors, microcontrollers, music programming, light and visual projections). As an artistic researcher, her methods and output manifest primarily in performances and compositions with improvisation machines, in addition to collective collaborations in interactive installation settings.

Considered a “pioneer in the development of interdisciplinary performances with new technologies” (ZHdK Jahresbericht 2021), Chua’s work has been seen at the New Interfaces for Music Expression Conference (CHN), Zentrum für Kunst und Medien (DE), Zürich Design Biennale (CH), Geneva International Film Festival (CH), Radius Center for Contemporary Art and Ecology (NL), Network Music Festival, Immerse: Creative City Project (USA), among others. She received a Fulbright-Swiss Government Excellence award for her research and development of a sensor-augmented flute at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology in Zürich (CH).

As a conscious educator and thought-leader in her field, Chua has lectured at institutions such as the University of Chicago (USA), University of the Arts Bern (CH), University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart (DE), Zürich University of the Arts (CH), and the Atlantic Music Festival (USA), among others.

Chua graduated summa cum laude throughout her entire academic career: Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance (University of Illinois (UIUC)), Bachelor of Arts in Music Technology (UIUC), Master of Arts in Flute Performance (Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) with concentrations in sensor-augmented instrument research and electroacoustic composition), and Master of Arts in Transdisciplinary Studies (ZHdK).

Chua is currently a doctoral candidate at the Künstuniversität Graz and Zürich University of the Arts.

chua.ch


<< back