Lost Communications: Underwater

Underwater is a psychedelic audiovisual descent into a world that is simultaneously alien and home.

We are all part of the same breath.

The underwater world feels like a hallucination — yet behind the strange shapes are creatures working, talking, and surviving, just as we do.

Electronic musician An-Ting weaves the conversations of coral, seals, and whales into a tapestry of spatial audio and Chinese verse, creating an epic landscape of deep emotion. As the sound swells, Ian Gallagher’s real-time 3D pointcloud environments respond in a kaleidoscope of mind-bending patterns.

Have you heard that fish talk? If we could understand them, what might they show us about their busy lives, what might they tell us about our place in the universe?

Underwater Digital Experience
Underwater live immersive performance is accompanied by a digital version that runs in parallel to the live performance.

Developed by creative technologist Ian Gallagher and featuring live music by An-Ting, this immersive world is built entirely from the acoustic reality of marine life. Using Unreal Engine and 360° hydrophones, the experience invites you to drift through a soundscape teeming with the crackle of coral reefs and the songs of whales.

Live & Interactive
In this hybrid ecosystem, An-Ting performs a live spatial composition using underwater recordings, while Ian controls the journey through the digital depths. You are not just a spectator, you are part of the current, joining the world as avatars via desktop, creating a layer of spontaneity and movement that is witnessed in real-time by the in-person audience.

Credits

• Underwater created and performed by An-Ting & Ian Gallagher
• Creative Producer: Laura Ducceschi
• Associate Producer: Yingnan Chu
• Advisor: Kirk Woodford
• Supported by Immersive Arts, Norwich University of the Arts, The Space and Arts Council England.
• Co-Commissioned by Oxford Contemporary Music
• Spatial Audio supported by Aaron Holloway-Nahum, Southby Productions, and Immersive Visualisation and Simulation Lab