Creative Technologist • Composer • Sound Designer • Filmmaker • Dramaturg
ian@hyperphonic.com • instagram.com/ianchia
Ian Chia is a Tasmanian interdisciplinary artist. He works across composition, sound design, filmmaking, creative technology and dramaturgy, creating performance and media works shaped by movement and responsive systems. His practice links sound, physicality, image and digital processes to form hybrid environments where media interacts with the body. With more than thirty years of cross disciplinary experience, he develops new artistic forms that merge theatrical, choreographic and media based dramaturgies.
Ian began his career in the mid 80s at Beam Software (now part of Atari/Infogrames) as a video game animation software engineer. He later created audio technologies used internationally by Disney Interactive, Columbia Pictures, Konami, Akai, Macromedia, Nokia and Adobe. As Beatnik Xtra Architect working at Thomas Dolby’s Beatnik.com, he developed high level interactive audio systems and created major multimedia projects, including collaborations with Björk and Moby for MTV’s Video Music Awards, as well as interactive, multi-player video games for Sony Europe, Yahoo.com, Shockwave.com.
Alongside his software career, Ian has an extensive body of work as a composer and sound designer for contemporary dance, theatre, installation and film. His compositions have toured internationally with Leigh Warren and Dancers and have been presented by Nucleodanza at the Melbourne International Festival. His Tasmanian work includes notable collaborations with Tasdance, Soma Lumia, Mudlark Theatre, Darryl Rogers and other dancers, visual artists for multiple festivals and museums. His film work includes the feature length First Nations planetarium film takila milaythina-ti/Heart in Country, stop motion animation and music videos.
Working from northern Tasmania, Ian contributes to the regional arts ecology by providing highly specialised artistic and technical capability, supporting innovative performance and interactive media projects led by Tasmanian communities.