This article follows electromechanical technologies through different contexts of electronic and experimental music, sound art and kinetic art as well as through parts of their industrial development and application. The aim is to explore connections between these different fields which are often obscured by disciplinary and genre divides, and which are typically unrepresented by critical and historical accounts. The approach is influenced by the field of science and technology studies (STS, also science technology and society) where technical and cultural entanglements are seen as crafting particular truths, and where the method of following a technology across disciplinary boundaries is found. By taking this approach to identify connections between the areas of electronic music, sound art and kinetic art, new and rediscovered critical appraisals of the use of electromechanical technologies as tools in creative sound production are identified. These positions are then applied to a selection of contemporary practitioners who continue to work with and forefront electromechanical technologies within the fields of electronic music and sound art.

We live in a world full of data being generated in exabytes by citizens, devices, buildings and assets intricately embedded in our environments. Whilst there is potential for this data to improve many things, much of it is unused and invisible to the average citizen who in turn may have switched off through ‘data fatigue’. This paper introduces the concept of the data impression through data physicalisation as a way to engage citizens in their data. Like the art impressionists of the late 1800’s (who broke away from photo-realist painting), the authors of this paper want to break away from the rendering of detailed and complex dashboards of endless and graphs and statistics to create an engaging and meaningful impression through dynamic physical objects and systems. These ideas are explored through the detailed reporting and reflection on an 18-month data physicalisation project (Daptec) funded by the Welsh Government Smart Expertise (European Regional Development Fund). This project brought together a number of industry and academic partners around the problem of communicating environmental data relating to Flat Holm Island, a mainly uninhabited site of special scientific interest a few miles from the coast of Cardiff. The resulting physical smart technologies developed for the project were exhibited in Cardiff’s Techniquest science centre in spring 2022 with view to promoting dialogue around the island and its ecology, a more sustainable tourism and positive environmental practices for our smart cities.

Some HE institutions restrict students' choice of where to work which, in addition to students being in shared non-ideal environs, reduce their personal control over the physical factors of such spaces. This thrusts students into situations where they are required to be creative within challenging environs. Research shows an important role music plays in learning process which is determined by the complexity of task conducted while music played. This paper investigates personal private sound control via headsets, as a key element used by students in inadequate learning environs, to mitigate the perceived deficiencies of such environs; referred to as soundscapes. It analyses the result of an experiment conducted with number of design students from Immam Abdulrahman university (IAU) in Saudi Arabia as a form of Design Charrette. This Charrette was designed to investigate the effect of exposing participants by wearing headset to five different sound conditions on their creativity while completing a design task (Design a tool). The assessment was by a Design Jury with selected Jury members are experts in the field of design to evaluate the work. The result of the experiment showed that sound affects the individual's perception of their performance, possibly more than it affects their actual performance. That effect on perception could lead to better creative performance if utilized in proper way in educational spaces. This will outline plans for further investigation as part of a current PhD research project.

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