Monica Bolles

Monica Bolles is a digital artist, audio engineer, and composer who brings together a curiosity of emerging technologies, science, and immersive design to create space for the exploration of human experience in an ever evolving and transforming world. Through juxtaposition of organic and digital, art and science, technology and humanity, the focus of the art produced continuously centers on what it means to be human in the current context of society.

Education:

2015 - 2017 M.S. Technology, Media, and Society, University of Colorado Boulder
2009 - 2011 B.S. (Magna Cum Laude) Music Technology, University of Colorado Denver

Exhibitions:

Élégie's Enigma: A Tale of Lost Souls and Digital Echoes

2024 - ATLAS B2 Creative Residency | ATLAS CU Boulder; Boulder, CO

Orbits

2024 - Fulldome UK | CultVR; Cardiff, Wales 2023 - Currents New Media Festival | Santa Fe, NM
2022 - Immerse! | Online
2022 - Dissolve and Bloom: Design Science Studio | Online
2021 - No Vacany | Denver, CO
2021 - ICAD | Online
2020 - IRCAM Forums | Online
2019 - TedX Mile High: Sound Bath | Denver, CO
2019 - Concordia Launch Pad (feat. Kat Jones) | Lake Oswego, OR
2019 - Data Driven: Cube Fest | Cube Moss Center; Virginia Tech, VA
2019 - Making Media Matter; Denver University, Denver, CO

Collision

2023 - Playground Ensemble: The Space Program | Gates Planetarium; Denver, CO
2022 - Playground Ensemble: The Space Program | Gates Planetarium; Denver, CO
2020 - Playground Ensemble: The Space Program | Otterbox Digital Dome; Fort Collins, CO

evoL sI sihT : This Is Love backwards

2022 - Cyber Vision | Raspberry Dreams; Online
2022 - Invisible Visible | Design Science Studio; Online

N/TOPIA (feat. Janet Feder)

Awards:
2020 - Kaleidoscope Virtual Noise Showcase Selection: VHRAM | Online (moved from cancelled SXSW 2020)
2019 - Immersive Multisensory Award: Cube Fest | Cube Moss Center; Virginia Tech, VA

Performances:
2019 - Cube Fest | Cube Moss Center; Virginia Tech, VA
2019 - Fort Collins Museum of Discovery | Otterbox Digital Dome; Fort Collins, CO
2019 - Conference of World Affairs | Fiske Planetarium; Boulder, CO

Other Select Exhibitions

2018 - Architect: Musica Prima (feat. Charles Wetherbee) | Dairy Arts Center; Boulder, CO
2018 - Sympathetic Resonance: NIME 2018 (feat. Zachary Patten) | Cube Moss Center; Virginia Tech, VA
2017 - Resonant | Colorado University ATLAS Black Box Theater; Boulder, CO
2016 - 3D Scan VJ: An Amalgamation of Art and Technology | Denver Startup Week; Denver, CO
2016 - Frequencies: CubeFest | Cube Moss Center; Virignia Tech, VA
2016 - Involution: IMERSA | Gates Planetarium; Denver, CO

Presentations and Panels:

2024 - Immersive Sound in Domes | Fulldome UK; Cardiff, Wales
2024 - New Visions for Spatial Audio | New Visions for Music and Sound; Berlin, Germany
2024 - Sound Experience Report | IPS; Berlin, Germany
2024 - 25 Years of Fulldome: Immersive Art, Live Performance, and Audio | IMERSA Day; Jena, Germany
2024 - Composing a Sonic Experience for Fulldome | Fulldome Festival; Jena, Germany
2024 - State of Play of Immersive Audio – Past, Present & Future | SXSW; Austin, TX
2022 - Changing the Game in XR Audio | FMX; Online
2022 - Our Deepest Dreams: AI for generating dreams | Regen.era - Design Science Studio; Online
2022 - Immerse! | Morrow Sound; Online
2022 - evoL sI sihT : This is Love backwards: On AI and Love | Invisible Visible: Design Science Studio; Online
2021 - Sound in Immersive Spaces: An Exploration of Immersive Audio Design | IMERSA; Online
2021 - Cycling through the Cords: Journey with Max MSP | Nuts and Bolts; Online
2021 - Art Installation, Immersive Audio, and Avant Garde Hip-Hop | Modern Music Production Symposium - AES; Online
2021 - Immersive Audio | Solid State Logic; Online
2021 - Spatial Audio w/ Max MSP | Max MSP Meetup - NOTAM; Online
2021 - Orbits: An exploration in spatial audio and sonification | IRCAM Forums; Online
2021 - Spatial Audio | Spatial Audio Meetup - NOTAM; Online
2020 - Creating Space | People in Arts and Technology - NOTAM; Online
2020 - Monica Bolles: Art in Domes | IMERSA Days; Online
2020 - Immersive Audio: Immersivity & Inclusivity | IPS; Online
2019 - Making Music through Movement and 3D Audio | Denver University; Denver, CO
2019 - Exploring Immersive Media and Creating New Social Experiences | German Haus, SXSW; Austin, TX
2019 - Do it in a Dome! The Planetarium as an Arts Medium | SXSW; Austin, TX
2019 - The Future of Immersive Audio | IMERSA Summit, COSI; Columbus, OH
2018 - Career Panel | Denver Youth Music Awards; Denver, CO
2018 - Universal Mind Control | IMERSA – COSI; Columbus, OH
2016 - Debugging the Gender Gap | Breck Film Fest; Breckinridge, CO
2016 - Designing Sound for 140 Channels | CubeFest; Virginia Tech, VA

Workshops & Teaching

2024 - Data Sonification, Immersive Audio, and Max MSP | ZIMMT; Leipzig, Germany
2022 - Applications of Immersive Audio | 40.4 - CU Boulder; Online
2021 - Understanding Immersive Audio | Sound Girls Virtual Conference; Online
2021 - Audio Production II, Spring Lecturer | CU Denver; Online
2018 - Ableton Loop; Los Angeles, CA
2017 - BlockyTalky: A Prototyping Toolkit for Digital Musical Interfaces | NIME; Copenhagen, Denmark
2017 - Creative ++ | Colorado University; Boulder, CO
2017 - Coding Adventure | TEDx Mile High; Denver, CO
2011 – 2013 - MIMA Music Program | Urban Peaks Youth Homeless Shelter; Denver, CO

Podcasts and Blog Posts

Residencies & Hackathons

2024 - ATLAS B2 Creative Residency | CU Boulder; Boulder, CO
2024 - Spatial Music Residency | ZIMMT; Leipzig, Germany
2024 - AI Music Hackathon | Sonar; Barcelona, Spain
2022 - Cyber Vision | Rasberry Dreams; Virtual
2021 - 2022 - Design Science Studio | Buckminster Fuller Institue & habRitual; Virtual
2020 - Atlantic Center for the Arts w/ Margaret Schadel; Virtual
2019 - Concordia Launch Pad w/ Kelly Snook; Lake Oswego, Oregon
2019 - SXSW 24 Hour Hackathon | SXSW; Austin, TX
2019 - Mini Dome Residency | Nashville, TN
2019 - Reality Virtually Hackathon | MIT Media Lab; Cambridge, MA
2015 - 2017 - BTU Labs | ATLAS - Colorado University; Boulder, CO
2017 - Creative ++ | Laboratory for Playful Computation - Colorado University; Boulder, CO
2016 - Reality Virtually Hackathon | MIT Media Lab; Cambridge, MA
2016 - Spatial Music Workshop | The Cube @ Virginia Tech; Blacksburg, VA
2009 - Design and Build | Museum of Outdoor Arts; Englewood, CO

Research & Affiliations

2021 - Pres The Immersive Audio Podcast | Cohost
2021 - Pres Notam Spatial Audio Meetup | Cohost
2021 - Pres IPS | Sound Committee
2024 - Pres IMERSA | Board of Directors
2013 - 2024 IMERSA | Advisory Board
2012 - 2020 Signal-to-Noise Media Labs
2016 - 2017 Laboratory for Playful Computation
2010 - 2016 MIMA Music

Select Recordings

Tippet Rise (Sound Recording Engineer)

2017 - Vicky Chow and Doug Perkins play John Luther Adams: Red Arc/Blue Veil
2017 - Zuill Bailey & Natasha Paremski play Rachmaninoff: Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 19 - 3. Andante
2017 - Adam Golka plays Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 1, The Dance at the Village Inn
2017 - Up Above with the Ariel String Quartet, playing Brahms: String Quartet in A minor, mvt. 1
2017 - Jeffrey Kahane plays an improvisation on America the Beautiful
2017 - Jenny Chen plays Liszt: Sonata in B minor
2017 - Caroline Goulding plays Red Violin Caprices at Calder's Two Discs

Album Credits

2019 - Natasha Paremski | Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition; Hersch: Variations - Steinway & Sons
2018 - Isang Yun | Sunrise Falling - Pentatone (SACD, Hybrid, Multichannel)
2018 - Tippet Rise: Opus 2017 | Daydreams - PentaTone (SACD, Hybrid, Multichannel)
2015 - Ben Sturgell | Music Box - Self Released

Publications

2024 - Tom Ammermann, Monica Bolles, Pierre Brand, Thomas Kraupe, Charlie Morrow Sound Experience Survey Report: Fulldome and Planetariums, The International Planetarium Society 2024 Conference Proceedings

2021 - Bolles, M. Orbits: A data driven instrument for live performance, The 26th International Conference on Auditory Display, ICAD 2021 Virtual Conference

2020 - Kelly Snook, Tarik Barri, Monica Bolles, Petter Ericson, Carl Fravel, Joachim Goßmann, Susan E. Green-Mateu, Andrew Luck, Margaret Schedel & Robert Thomas Concordia: A musical XR instrument for playing the solar system, Journal of New Music Research, 49:1, 88-103, DOI: 10.1080/09298215.2020.1714666

2018 - Kelly, A., Bolles, M., Finch, L. & Shapiro, R.B. BlockyTalky: New Programmable Tools to Enable Students Learning Networks.International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction. doi:10.1016/j.ijcci.2018.03.004.

2017 - Kelly, A., Bolles, M., & Shapiro, R. B. BlockyTalky: A Prototyping Toolkit for Digital Musical Interfaces. Workshop at New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) 2017. Copenhagen, Denmark.

2009 - Bolles, M. Heading Towards Delirium. Baobob Tree Press. Boulder, Colorado.