Rebecca Collins

Rebecca Collins (she/her) is an award-winning artist researcher and lecturer working at the intersection between contemporary performance and sound. Her main research interests are in listening, performance, sound studies, and creative/critical writing. Rebecca’s practice focuses on the dynamics of the sonic operating within specific environments, and technologies, to explore methodologies of writing, and making contemporary performance. Her first album Stolen Voices 001 was shortlisted for a New Music Scotland Award in 2021 and her first book publication Sonic Detection: Necessary Notes for Art and Performance, collaboratively authored with Johanna Linsley, is under contract with Punctum Books (forthcoming 2023). Rebecca is co-organiser of Women In Sound/Women On Sound (WISWOS), a research network which tackles inequality and gender bias in the sonic arts. She shares her scholarship and practice through multiple forms including live performance, limited-edition vinyl, radio broadcasts, exhibitions, workshops, uncanny encounters, text scores, and academic/experimental publications. Rebecca is interested in how these critical, fictional, and performative interventions cultivate attention towards our contemporary condition and indicate levers for change. Since 2017 she was the lecturer in Contemporary Art Theory at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. She wrote and designed the course 'Gendered Soundings? Sound Art and Feminisms' which brings her interest in sonic practices into dialogue with critical feminist theory.

Key Research interests include:

Rebecca's main research interests are in the fields of sound, listening, performance and writing. Rebecca is particularly interested in practice-led research methodologies for investigating aural attention, affect, mood and atmosphere through listening, text and vocal delivery techniques. Rebecca's work is informed by situated transdisciplinary interests in gender, politics, site and aesthetics. Rebecca's work has featured on 'Ars Sonora' a sound art program broadcast on Spanish National Radio, Resonance FM, BBC Wales, BBC Newcastle and Radiophrenia. Her writing has been published in Contemporary Theatre Review, M/C Journal of Media and Culture and Bricks from the Kiln amongst others. She is currently making situated accounts of sonic-driven scientific experiments and eavesdropping on the first few minutes of the Universe for forthcoming publications and outreach endeavours.

Current and notable research projects/ publications:

• Parametres for Understanding Uncertainty (P4UU) is an artistic research project organised and led by artist researcher Rebecca Collins (2022-ongoing). The project investigates how methodologies used in creative practice meet those in the physical sciences. This project is funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh Early Career Saltire Fellowship. (ID. 1897). Links: Micro-documentary: Youtube
• Stolen Voices: Listening as Site-Specific Creative Practice On The East Coast Of The UK (2014-2019). Stolen Voices is an ongoing inquiry by Rebecca Collins and Johanna Linsley, with rotating collaborators, inspired by eavesdropping. The project takes a variety of forms, from participatory workshops to new music composition, experimental performance, community gig nights, an installation called the Eavesdropbox, an album (Stolen Voices 001 shortlisted for a New Music Scotland Award, 2021) and a book publication Sonic Detection: Necessary Notes for Art & Performance under contract with Punctum Books (forthcoming, 2023).
• Research In A Box: Activating Women In Sound (2017).  ‘Research in a Box’ is a loanable kit aimed at GCSE or A-Level school students that fits in with the appropriate curriculum and at the same time showcases resources used by researchers. The aim is to inspire the next generation of researchers and to aid in the transition of pupils from school to University. The loanable box contains a series of toolkits for would be noise makers to construct their own instrument, CDs of women composers and publications by female academics on sound and music technology, as well as open access live coding software to install on most operating systems. The online space also features interactive research spaces to explore the contribution of women authors to the fields of sound, music technology, audio arts, acoustics, music history, audio cultures, plus much more.