Chris Rhodes

Chris Rhodes is a composer who appropriates emerging technologies to re-shape future musical expression, creativity and education, focussing on his own musical practice as a space to develop novel artistic works and technologies. Chris' research straddles both musical composition and computer science (topics: human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence), sitting at the intersection. 

Chris is Lecturer in Digital Media Production at the UCL Knowledge Lab and holds several leadership roles at UCL: Deputy Director of UCL Knowledge Lab, Lab Co-ordinator of UCL Spatial Computing Lab, Year Lead for the BA Media programme and Module Co-Lead for UCL's Sound Production for Media module. 

Holding a PhD in Music Composition, Chris composes music in both physical and virtual spaces focusing on interactivity between performers and media, with a particular interest on the human body as an instrument. Chris employs game engines like Unreal Engine 5 and Unity to bridge the body (via wearables) with various virtual environments, ranging from virtual to mixed reality. This innovative methodology facilitates unique musical expressions and sonic experiences for performers, players, and audiences alike. Chris's compositions have been showcased at prestigious venues worldwide, including the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), and Sound and Music Computing (SMC). Through his research, Chris aims to forge new artistic approaches in musical composition through emerging interactive, multimodal, technologies and to chart new directions for the future of musical creativity and arts engagement.