Dr. Maura Mc Donnell
Assistant Professor Part-Time, Electronic & Elect. Engineering
Biography
Maura McDonnell is an award winning visual music artist, educator and researcher who has been involved in visual music since 1997. She is assistant professor at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and one of the modules she lectures on there is on visual music. Her PhD thesis on 'Finding Visual Music in its Twentieth Century History' was completed in early 2019. Her visual music art productions have been screened and presented in music concerts and experimental film festivals in many countries such as Australia, China, Russia, US, UK, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Canada. She also maintains an informal research blog on visual music at http://visualmusic.blogspot.com. Her academic writings have been presented at national and international conferences and symposia and in journals, exhibition and festival catalogues. Maura creates visual music visuals for fixed media and music performances and collaborates with music composers and musicians in her arts practice. Her recent collaborations have been with musicians such as Ensemble Parallax, directed by Peyman Farzinpour for a series of music concerts in the US in 2019 where she created a visual music visual for a performance of the music composition 'Dérive' by Pierre Boulez. Her collaborations with talented concert pianist Svetlana Rudenko based on a collaborative and shared analysis of the music and in which Maura then creates intricate visual music visuals for projection have been presented in various music concerts in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin and in the Moscow Conservatory of Music, and the Moscow Museum in Moscow, Russia.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
McDonnell, M and Rudenko, S, Synesthesia: Cross-sensory Aspects of Cognition Across Science and Art, Proceedings of the IASAS Moscow Synaesthesia symposium, 2020
Maura McDonnell, Artists Write History - The Case for Visual Music, Seeing Sound Symposium, Online, 12/12/2020 - 13/12/2, 2020
Constructing Visual Music Images with Electroacoustic Music Concepts in, Sound & Image: Audiovisual Practice and Aesthetics, Routledge, 2020, pp20 pages , [McDonnell, Maura]
Maura McDonnell, 'Digital Alchemy', SeenSound Livestream - Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices, Online, 2020, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Visual Dérive', Seeing Sound Symposium, Online, Bath Spa University, UK, 2020, -
The Question of Form in Visual Music in, editor(s)Hill, Andrew E. , Sound & Image: Audiovisual Practice and Aesthetics, Routledge, 2020, pp20 pages , [McDonnell, Maura]
McDonnell, M. and Rudenko, S., Cognitive Musicology via Synaesthesia & Cross-modal Associations: Scriabin Sonata N5 op.53, Synaesthesia: Cross-Sensory Aspects of Cognition Across Science and Art, Moscow, Russia, 16 - 21 November 201, 2019
Maura McDonnell, Finding Visual Music in its Twentieth Century History, Trinity College Dublin, 2019
Maura McDonnell and Cobi van Tonder, 'Digital Alchemy', klingt gut! symposium on sound , , 2018, The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany, 2019, -
The visual music imagination: the sounding of images and the imaging of sounds in, editor(s)Dina Riccò María José de Córdoba , MuVi5: Video and moving image on synesthesia and visual music, Granada, Spain, Artecittà International Foundation, 2018, pp71 - 78, [McDonnell, Maura]
McDonnell, Maura, The expansion of a cinema concrete method towards the exploration of new techniques for manipulating imagery in the development of a visual music cinema, klingt gut! symposium on sound, 2018, The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, 7th - 9th June, 2018, 2018
Maura McDonnell and Cobi van Tonder, 'Digital Alchemy', Sound Image 2018, Greenwich University, UK, 2018, -
Maura McDonnell and Cobi van Tonder, 'Digital Alchemy', Electronic Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, 2018, -
Maura McDonnell and Cobi van Tonder, 'Digital Alchemy', Seeing Sound 2018, Bath Spa University, UK, 2018, -
Maura McDonnell and Bebhinn McDonnell, 'Duel Tones', Videomusic Concert, Seia, Portugal, 2017, -
Maura McDonnell, A Music Technology Paradigm for Visual Music Cinema, SOUND/IMAGE: Exploring sonic and audio-visual practice, University of Greenwich, London, UK, 10-12 November 2017, 2017
Maura McDonnell and Bebhinn McDonnell, 'Duel Tones', ATRL, School of Drama, Film and Music, Trinity College Dublin, 2016, -
Maura McDonnell and Bebhinn McDonnell, 'Duel Tones', Seeing Sound Symposium 2016, Bath Spa University, UK, 2016, -
Maura McDonnell and Bebhinn McDonnell, 'Duel Tones', MMT 20 Concert, Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, 2016, -
Maura McDonnell and Bebhinn McDonnell, 'Duel Tones', Punto y Raya Festival 2016, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM), Centre for Culture and Media Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2016, -
Maura McDonnell and Bebhinn McDonnell, 'Duel Tones', Videomusic Concert, Seia, Portugal, 2015, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Sound/ Image Colloquium 2015, University of Greenwich, UK, 2015, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Music and Multimedia Concert, Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, Goethe-Institute, Washington DC, US, 2015, -
Maura McDonnell and Cignol/Sean Reed, 'Variegated Beat', Punto y Raya Festival Showcase: Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF) , Melbourne, Australia, 2015, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Klingt Gut! Symposium, Fakultät Design, Medien und Information (DMI), Hamburg, Germany, 2015, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Visuals for Catalogue', Fractal Concert with Philip Lawson, ATRL, Trinity College Dublin, 2014, -
McDonnell, Maura, Seeing Sound Symposium 2013 Report, eContact, issue 15.4 Videomusic, Canadian Electroacoustic Community, 15, (4), 2014
Maura McDonnell, Visual Music, eContact! The electronic journal of electroacoustics, 15, (4), 2014
Maura McDonnell and Cignol/ Sean Reed, 'Variegated Beat', SoundImageSound 10, International Festival of New Music and Visual Image, Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific, USA, 2014, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Cork French Film Festival, Cork, Ireland, 2014, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Audiovisual Installation, New Music Dublin Festival 2014, National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland, 2014, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Crash Ensemble - A little bit of Linda Buckley, The Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely, Co. Wicklow, 2014, -
McDonnell, Maura, A Composition of the "Things Themselves" Visual Music in Practice, eContact, issue 15.4 Videomusic, Canadian Electroacoustic Community, 15, (4), 2014
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Synthesis, Irish Film Institute, Dublin, 2013, -
McDonnell, Maura, Visual Music - The Colour Tone Analogy and Beyond, Seeing Sound Symposium 2013, Bath Spa University, Bath Spa, UK, 23-24/11/2013, 2013
Maura McDonnell, 'Visuals for Catalogue', Commissioned by Fractal, ATRL, Trinity College Dublin, 2013, -
McDonnell, Maura, Visual Music at the Crossroads of Performance Environments, VIMMA Project (Virtual, Intermedial and Mixed Reality Performance in Live Production and Creative Contexts), Reactive Residence Seminar, Centre for Practise as Research in Theatre, School of Communication, Media and Theatre, University of Tampere, Finland, 02/09/2013, 2013, VIMMA Project
Maura McDonnell, Philip Lawson and Conal Ryan, 'Catalogue', Fractal on Tour with Philip Lawson, The Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Fractal, 2013, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', I Hear a New World, Exhibition, Luan Gallery, Athlone, Ireland, 2013, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Towards One', Concert: International Symposium on Visual Music, School of Art, Design & Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore , 2012, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Silk Chroma - three screen installation', Expanded Abstraction: Animated Film and Digital Art Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), US, 2012, -
McDonnell, Maura, Visual Music Research Topic', Symposium on Creative Technologies, Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin, 17 April 2012, 2012
Maura McDonnell, 'Installation', International Symposium on Visual Music, School of Art, Design & Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore , 2012, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Video Art for All (VAFA), International Video Art Festival, Casa Garden and Art 21, Fundação Oriente, Macau, China, 2012, -
McDonnell, Maura, From painting, film, analogue video to contemporary digital video: remarks towards the development of visual music, International Symposium on Visual Music, School of Art, Design & Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore , Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 12-13 October 2012, 2012
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Award Ceremony: Visual Music Award 2011, Institute for New Media (INM) and Institute for Synaesthesia and Cocoonclub, Frankfurt, Germany, 2011, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma Installation', Sonic Pop Up Event, Dublin Contemporary 2011, National Concert Hall, Dublin, 2011, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Visual Music Show: Understanding Visual Music 2011, DB Clarke Theatre, Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research Creation in Media Arts and Technologies in collaboration with the Department of Music, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, 2011, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Sensorium, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, 2011, -
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', SoundImageSound International Festival of New Music and Visual Image, Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific, California, USA, 2011, -
Maura McDonnell, Linda Buckley, Dermot Furlong, Gavin Kearney, ' 'Silk Chroma' - Spatial audio and video installation ', Innovation Dublin Festival, 2010, Printing House, Trinity College Dublin, 2010, -
McDonnell, Maura and Buckley, Linda, , 'Silk Chroma', Electronic Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, 2010, -
McDonnell, Maura, Visual Music - A Composition of the things themselves, Sounding Out 5 - "Soundworlds - Sonic Arts, Film and Radio", International Sound Symposium, Bournemouth University, UK, 8-10 September 2010, 2010
McDonnell, Maura, Visual Music - Integrated Composition, Seeing Sound Symposium 2009, Bath Spa University, UK, 8-10 September 2009, 2009
Maura McDonnell, 'Towards One', Visual Music Marathon, Visual Arts Theater, School of Visual Arts, New York, 2009, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Towards One', Visual Music Marathon, Egan Research Center, Northeastern University, Boston, 2007, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Towards One', Concert: Sounds Electric 2 Music and Image Festival, Queens University, Belfast, 1999, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Edges', Darklight Digital Film Festival, Irish Film Institute (IFI), Dublin, 1999, -
Maura McDonnell, An Analysis of the Concept of Harmony in the Audiovisual Composition 'Towards One', Trinity College Dublin, 1999
Maura McDonnell, 'Towards One', Darklight Digital Film Festival, Irish Film Institute (IFI), Dublin, 1999, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Towards One', Trinity College, Dublin, 1998, -
Maura McDonnell, 'Towards One', MMT Graduate Show, Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, 1998, -
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
McDonnell, Maura, My Research Topic: Visual Music - Dissertation and Arts Practice Research, DAH Open Evening, ATRL, Trinity College, Dublin , 2014
McDonnell, Maura, The Colour Tone Analogy - Towards a Visual Music, Postgraduate Research Seminar, School of Drama, Film and Music, Trinity College Dublin, 21 October 2013, 2013
McDonnell, Maura, What is Visual Music?, DAH Seminar, Huston Film School, NUI Galway, Galway, 2012
McDonnell, Maura, Exploration of Musical Influences on the Visual in Visual Music, History and Theory of Digital Art Seminar, ATRL, Trinity College Dublin, 2012
McDonnell, Maura, Colour-Tone Analogy in Visual Music, DAH International Advisory Board, Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, 10 December 2012, 2012, DAH structured PhD organising committee
McDonnell, Maura, My Research is Visual Music, Conceptual Introduction to Digital Humanities and Digital Arts Seminar, ATRL, Trinity College Dublin, 20 February 2012, 2012
McDonnell, Maura, Exploring Correspondences in Visual Music, DAH Institute Symposium, Huston Film School, NUI Galway, 2012
Maura McDonnell and Linda Buckley, 'Silk Chroma', Seeing Sound Symposium 2011, Bath Spa University, UK, 2011, -
Research Expertise
Recognition
Representations
Selection Committee: Video Music Category, International Computer Music Conference 2011 (ICMC), Huddersfield, UK
Peer Reviewer: Composing Motion: A visual music retrospective' Organised Sound Journal, Vol. 17, Issue 2, Cambridge University Press, 2012
Guest ATRL Research Observer: Motion capture theatre performance workshop, invited by the VIMMA project (Virtual, Intermedial and Mixed Reality Performance in Live Production and Creative Contexts), LUME, Helsinki, Finland
Selection Committee: Seeing Sound Symposium 2016, Screening Programme, Bath Spa University, UK
Paper reviewer: Second Workshop on Speech, Music and Mind: Detecting and Influencing Mental States with Audio, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria, September 14, 2019
Programme Committee: KLG 2020: klingt gut 2020 International Symposium on Sonic Art and Spatial Audio Arts and Media Campus, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Hamburg, Germany, May 14-16, 2020
Awards and Honours
Honorable Mention for Creative Work - MuVi5 video and moving image on synaesthesia and visual music
Honorary Award - Visual Music Award (VMA)
Irish Realex Web Award for the design and development of a primary school website.