Bio
Sean is a composer, sound artist, scholar, audio programmer, and educator based in Colorado. He presents his work regularly at national and international venues for contemporary art and music such as the International Computer Music Conference (Daegu, Shanghai, Utrecht, Ljubljana, Belfast), Sound and Music Computing Conference (Cyprus), Toronto Electroacoustic Music Symposium, Korean Electro-Acoustic Music Society (Seoul), Sines and Squares (Manchester, UK), Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, Society of Composers, Inc., New York City Electronic Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, and more. He is currently an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Music Production Department at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD). He has previously served as Programs Director and Lead Music Instructor at madelife in Boulder, CO, and co-founded two Colorado Front-Range companies: RackFX, an online platform for automated analog signal processing, and CauseART, a consulting firm which curates and commissions work from living artists for exhibition in businesses. In February and early March of 2018, Sean was in residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna, FL working on multichannel sound spatialization and composition. From 2012 to 2014 he served as Visiting Professor of Digital Arts at Stetson University while completing his PhD in Music Composition at the University of Florida. He received his MA from Dartmouth College and holds a BA from the University of Virginia. His current research interests include generative music, self-reflexive listening practices, and identifying new paths for art as a socio-cultural determinant. His music is available through Ablaze Records and SEAMUS.
Statement
Sometimes things just appear to appear—like when our search for what’s real results in a commodified reality being sold back to us. Reality becomes an appearance of itself. Food products, television shows, value signaling, photographic images, music performances, and so on… all exhibit this tendency to obfuscate under a guise of transparency, a tendency that was already prefigured by Duchamp’s readymades and Cage’s silence.
Each time reality is framed, our observational position gets complicated: are things appearing as they are not? Or, are things just appearing to appear—hiding the fact that they simply are what they appear to be? I don’t know how to decide what’s real, to distinguish between ever-subtler gradations of fake, to establish the authentic from the inauthentic, truth from lie. And perhaps art is responsible for some of this confusion. But I also think art can help us to invert the question, and ask not, “how are we to decide what’s real?,” but rather, “how does reality flex and yield to the decidable?” My work is focused on this more speculative question, on catching the viewer or listener in an impasse, in a forced choice, in recognition of a reality that is not yet completely what it appears to be.
CV
EDUCATION
PhD, University of Florida, Music Composition, 2013
MA, Dartmouth College, Electroacoustic Music, 2007
BA, University of Virginia, Music; Psychology; Astronomy (minor), 2005
RESIDENCIES
Atlantic Center for the Arts (master artist: Robert Normandeau), New Smyrna Beach, FL, Februrary-March, 2018.
ART342, Fort Collins, CO, May-June, 2012
SELECTED PERFORMANCES
International Computer Music Conference, Santiago, Chile 2021
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., Virtual, 2021
New York City Electronic Music Festival, New York, NY, 2020 (Virtual)
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA, 2019
Festival of Contemporary Art Music, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 2019
International Computer Music Conference, Daegu, South Korea, 2018
Sound and Music Computing Conference, Limassol, Cyprus, 2018
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., Eugene, OR, 2018
"Outside-In", Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna, FL 2018
International Computer Music Conference, Shanghai, China, 2017
"Sonder", Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver, CO, 2017
New York City Electronic Music Festival, New York, NY, 2017
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., St. Cloud, MN, 2017
Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, Kalamazoo, MI, 2017
International Computer Music Conference, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2016
Toronto International Electroacoustic Symposium, Toronto, Canada, 2016
VU Symposium, Park City, UT, 2016
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S. Conference, Statesboro, GA, 2016
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S. Conference, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 2015
June Arts and Multicultural Festival, DeLand, FL, 2014
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S. Conference, Middletown, CT, 2014
MicroCHIP IV, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, 2013
Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, Columbus, OH, 2013
World Electroacoustic Listening Room, CSUF New Music Festival, Fullerton, CA, 2013
SoundCrawl Festival, Nashville, TN, 2012
Society of Composers, Inc. Student National Convention, Columbus, OH, 2012
Electronic Music Midwest, Romeoville, IL, 2012
International Computer Music Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2012
Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium, Toronto, Canada, 2012
ART342 Open Studios, Fort Collins, CO, 2012
UnBalanced Connection #49, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2012
Electronic Music Midwest, Kansas City, KS, 2011
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S. Conference, Miami, FL, 2011
Cirque des Arts Juried Art Show, Gainesville, FL, 2011
Studio 300 Exhibit, BYTE Gallery, Transylvania University, Lexington, KY, 2011
All Florida Student Composers Festival, Tampa Bay, FL, 2011
Electronic Music Midwest, Romeoville, IL, 2010
Sonic Vigil V, Cork, Ireland, 2010
UnBalanced Connection #46, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2010
Cirque des Arts Juried Art Show, Warp House, Gainesville, FL, 2010
UnBalanced Connection #45, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2010
New York City Electronic Music Festival , New York, NY, 2009
International Computer Music Conference, Belfast, N. Ireland, 2008
Electronic Music Midwest, Kansas City, KS, 2007
Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar, Enfield, NH, 2007
Boston CyberArts Festival, Waltham, MA, 2007
Dartmouth Festival of New Music, Hanover, NH. 2007
EXHIBITIONS
Solo
Appearing to Appear, madelife, Black Box Gallery, Boulder, CO, 2015
Doctoral Recital, University of Florida, School of Music, Gainesville, FL, 2013
Masters Thesis Exhibition, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 2007
Group
[generative music composition as part of] Jaime Carrejo: Waiting, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Denver, 2021
Communikey Festival, Boulder, CO, 2015
Non-Aggressive Music Deterrent, SEAMUS, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 2014
Convergence, Hand Art Center, Stetson University, DeLand, FL, 2013
The Natural Number, Curfman Gallery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 2012
Trans_WARP, Warp House, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2011
PUBLICATIONS & CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Peuquet, S. “Conditioning Compositional Choice: Theoretical Imperatives and a Selection Algorithm using Converging Value Sets.” eContact! 18.4 (2017).
Peuquet, S. and D. Jones. “RackFX: A Cloud-Based Solution for Analog Signal Processing.” In conference proceedings of International Computer Music Conference (2016).
Peuquet, S. “Between the Two: A Re-Address of the Listener in Situated Musical Practice.” eContact! 15.2, no.2 (2013).
Peuquet, S. “A Few More Words About Times Square.” Musicworks 114, Winter (2012).
Peuquet, S., A.S. Neal, B. O’Brien, and T. Garrison. “The Florida League for Indeterminate Performance: Idealism and Failure in Improvisatory Laptop Ensemble Performance.” In conference proceedings of the Symposium on Laptop Ensembles & Orchestras (2012).
PAPER PRESENTATIONS
Peuquet, S. "Design-Thinking Applied to Music Technology Pedegogy." Paper presentation at the Music Technology Pedegogy Summit, Salt Lake City, UT February 2020.
Peuquet, S. "Electroacoustic Music, Pluralism, and the Intractability of Epistemological Limitation." Paper presentation at Electroacoustic Music Studies Conference (EMS2019), Mexico City, Mexico, June 2019.
Peuquet, S. “Direct, Distributed Access to Analog Signal Processing Hardware through the Web.” Paper presentation at Sines & Squares, Manchester, England, November, 2016.
Peuquet, S. “Cloud-Based Analog Effects Processing as an Alternative to Analog Modeled Plugins.” Paper presentation at Korean Electro-Acoustic Music Society Annual Conference, Seoul, S. Korea, October, 2016.
Peuquet, S. “RackFX: A Cloud-Based Solution for Analog Effects Processing.” Poster and demo session at International Computer Music Conference, Utrecht, Netherlands, September, 2016.
Peuquet, S. “Convergence of Set: A Very General Technique for Automated Decision Making,” Paper presentation at Toronto International Electroacoustic Symposium, Toronto, Canada, August 2016.
Peuquet, S. “Convergence of Set as an Overarching Formal Technique in What Rough Beast Slouches?,” Paper presentation at the VU Symposium, Park City, UT July, 2016.
Peuquet, S. “On the Transvergence of Art and Idea: A Call to Compose the Possibility of No Music.” Paper presentation at the SEAMUS 2016 National Conference, Statesboro, GA, February 11, 2016.
Peuquet, S. “Between the Two: A Re-Address of the Listener in Situated Musical Practice.” Paper presentation at the Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium, Toronto, Canada, August 18, 2012.
Peuquet, S. “Place and Discovery in the Work of Max Neuhaus.” Paper presentation at the CUNY Graduate Students in Music Conference, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY, April 28, 2012.
Peuquet, S., A.S. Neal, B. O’Brien, T. Garrison. “The Florida League for Indeterminate Performance: Idealism and Failure in Improvisatory Laptop Ensemble Performance.” Paper presentation and panel discussion at the Symposium on Laptop Ensembles & Orchestras, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, April 16, 2012.
INVITED TALKS, WORKSHOPS, & PANELS
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S. National Conference, April 21, 2017 – “The Rise of the Anti-Aesthetic in Electro-Acoustic Music,” Panel Discussion with Jon Appleton (chair), Ted Apel, Sean Peuquet, and Chris Peck.
Western States Communication Association (WSCA) Convention, February 21, 2017 – “Rhetoric of Social Justice Prerogatives through Art: Discussing Emerging Paradigms,” Panel Discussion with Gordana Lazic (chair), Andrew Gilmore, Laura Peuquet, Sean Peuquet, and Masha Sukovich.
madelife, Boulder, CO, March 26, 2016 – “Max for Live: Building Custom Instruments,” public workshop on synth development within the Ableton host.
Communikey Festival, Boulder, CO, April 18, 2015 – “Building a Realtime Performance System,” workshop on synth development, mapping strategies, and alternative control.
Boulder Music Tech Hackers, Boulder, CO, March 5, 2015 – Lecture on research and music.
madelife, Boulder, CO, January 10, 2015 – “Synthesis in Max7,” public workshop on physical models, FOF, and granular synthesis in Max7.
Stetson University, DeLand, FL, February 25, 2014 – Lecture on research and music.
Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, OH, February, 20, 2014 – Lecture on research and music.
BarCamp DeLand 2013, DeLand, FL, November 16, 2013 – Lecture on research: “Sestina Form as a Generative Structure for Music.”
ART342, Fort Collins, CO, May 16, 2012 – Lecture on music.
Pecha Kucha ( Juried), Volta Coffee, Gainesville, FL, April 20, 2012 – “From Place to Site and Back Again: Toward an Understanding of Max Neuhaus’ Times Square.”