Hello. I'm Hector MacInnes, a sound artist, musician and producer from the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland. I work with installation, text, composition, radio and speculative design among other things, often in collaboration with other artists and with communities.
I am currently an artist-in-residence with the Highland Culture Collective, working with people in the Highlands affected by the criminal justice system. I am also a PhD student at CRiSAP (Creative Research Into Sound Arts Practice) at UAL, where I am exploring practice-based research around sounding and listening in remote areas.
| 2022/3 - [SOCIAL SECURITY SOUNDINGS] |
| Coming soon - a podcast series and audio resource, listening to women's voices on social security |
| 2022/3 - [PFFT ENSEMBLE] |
| A nebulous improvisers' ensemble using iPads, touchOSC and MAX. Co-designed with inmates of HMP Inverness and community groups, using a circular test-and-learn approach. Part of my work with the Highland Culture Colective |
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| 2022/3 - [THE SHELTER] |
| An exploration of identity, voice and listening in a mental health setting, through slow-radio-making. Part of my work with the Highland Culture Colective |
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| 2022 - [ATTEND] |
| Inverness Creative Academy, Nov 2022: Highland Culture Collective Artists Catriona Meighan and Hector MacInnes present a series of workshops and talks, share co-created work, and reflect on the meaning of their socially engaged practice. |
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| 2022 - [LESPIE
WINNACHIE'S LOOM] |
| Re-sounding a story of chaos and order, wildlife and weaving from the Tobar An Dualchais archive, created for the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme's 'Storytagging' project. |
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| 2021 - 2023 [COVID
REALITIES / CHANGING REALITIES] |
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| A series of short audio pieces, recording and disseminating the experiences of parents and carers on low incomes, first during the covid pandemic, and now during the 2022 cost of living crisis.
Part of a research project for the Universities of York and Birmingham. Visuals by Tom Flannery and Hannah Ellison. |
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| 2021 - [KIOSK] |
| A group exhibition of speculative souvenirs at An
Lanntair in Stornoway, built on the myth of the Bùth
MhicNeacail (Nicolson's Kiosk). The exhibition was
co-curated by Philippa C Thomas and myself and featured
artists & makers from across Scotland. |
| 2018 - [INNER
ARCHITECTURE] |
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| A response to the 1962 Pure Maths Exam, commissioned by
the National Library of Scotland for "Re-Sits",
celebrating the digitisation of their exam archive.
Created in collaboration with singers from across the Isle
of Skye, the piece is an exploration of the circular ruins
of Dùn Beag - a stone age broch - as a site of maths,
music and indeterminacy. Meeting within its walls over the
course of 6 weeks, we played with distribution of harmony,
chanting, binary counting and improvisation to see what
might emerge from the questions in the exam. |
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| 2017 - [SUSPENSION AND
DISBELIEF] |
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| The imaginary history of the Hebridean Cable Transit
Company, retold in two exhibitions by Philippa C Thomas
and I. The first of these celebrated the company's 1950's
heyday and featured the complete restoration of gondola
#72 ("Effie"), the second explored the hubris and
submarine adventure that led to it's demise in the Sound
of Harris. |
| 2016 - [THE
INFORMANTS] |
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| As adults we often make sweeping predictions ourselves
and our world, when the people who live in those futures
are already here among us, albeit in child form. The
Informants presents edited and anonymised interview
content which is, in a playful way, an attempt to get them
to “report back” on what those futures are like. This
project had two iterations, one for the In Cahoots
conference at Sound Festival Aberdeen, and one for Atlas
Arts' "Travelling The Archive". |
| 2014 - [THE REPLICA HEARTH] |
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| A collaborative project with Kate McMorrine, exploring
the story of 'Eoghann the Yeti', a crofter who
mysteriously vanished into woodland on the Isle of Skye in
1984. The work centres around a reconstruction of
Eoghann's living room inside a shipping container, and a
museum/gift shop housing an exhaustive collection of
speculative academia. The exhibition was a journey through
his personal life and the contemporary history of his
community, but beneath it were clues to something more
sublime and unharnessed. |
| 2013 - [STORY'S END] |
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| Created with The Dead Man's Waltz, Story's End was a
collective performance exploring the role of death in
narrative. It involved film-maker Johnny Barrington,
visual artists Kate McMorrine, Cat Ingall and Mark
Weallans, and author/performer Hal Duncan. It was perormed
in different guises at the Glasgow Short Film Festival,
Death: A Festival For The Living at the Southbank Centre,
and as part of the Made In Scotland showcase at the
Edinburgh Fringe. |
| 2013 - [SPIN CYCLE] |
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| A multi-artist performance led by David Littler and
Jason Singh (Sampler/Cultureclash), with Anne Martin and
Deirdre Nelson, exploring circular movement through sound,
music, textiles and folk tales. Performed at Skye Bike
Fest and Cecil Sharpe House. |
| 2013 - [6.42am, 3 Dances for Children and Household Appliances] |
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| A piece of alternative chamber-trad, winner of the inaugural Bennett Prize for Traditional Composition, hosted at The Queen's Hall in Edinburgh in honour of the seminal fiddler and producer Martyn Bennett. The excerpts here are performed by Anna Massie, Mairearad Green, Rua MacMillan, Iain Sandilands and Hamish Napier. |
2020 - Scotton Drive - Fasca (Producer)
2019 - Scotton Drive - Short Loop (Producer)
2019 - Ingrid Henderson & Iain MacFarlane - The Cockerel and
the Creel (Engineer)
2019 - Beware Of Trains - Let's Move To London (Mix Engineer)
2018 - Eilidh Shaw & Ross Martin - Birl-esque (Engineer,
Bass, Percussion)
2017 - Angus Nicolson Trio - Sealladh Àrd (Record Engineer)
2017 - Dàimh - Hebridean Sessions (Engineer)
2016 - Mairearad Green - Summer Isles album & tour (Vocals,
Percussion, Bass)
2013 - Williams - Atlantic Mind (Vocals)
2007 onwards - The Dead Man's Waltz (Vocals, Percussion, Guitar,
Co-Producer)
2005/6 - Mylo - Live Tour (Percussion)