Linda O'Keeffe

Dr. Linda O Keeffe (she/her) is a sound artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is senior lecturer (associate professor) of sound in the Arts at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. She is founder of the Women in Sound Women on Sound (WISWOS) organisation, Editor-in-Chief for the Interference Journal, a journal of audio cultures. She Co-Founded the Irish Sound Science and Technology Association in 2009 and was President from 2015-17.

Key research interests include:

Her current body of practice is focused on the intersection of science & technology, ethics and communication, where she has produced a number of art works that explores climate adaptation, sustainability and community, she has also published research papers and keynote presentations in this area. In 2017 she was commissioned to develop a body of work for the touring exhibition Sounds Like Her, the work, Hybrid Soundscapes I-IV, which examined the impact of renewable energy technology on rural communities and natural landscapes, has been shown in major UK art galleries from 2017 to 2020. She is currently working on a project funded by Creative Scotland titled Evolving Ourselves with Unnatural Selection, a new collaborative project between artists and researchers that explores and presents some of the ethics and future implications of gene editing for climate adaptation through a digital multi-arts approach. non-random.co.uk

Current and notable research projects/ publications:

• Part of her research focuses on gender equality in sound arts and music technology. Women in Sound Women on Sound (WISWOS) is an organization that has developed international networks of researchers aiming to revise technology teaching practices in secondary education. WISWOS has organized events, created an education toolkit, and received media attention. She has also collaborated with Professor Isabel Nogueira on WISWOS performance projects in Brazil, releasing albums, and published an edited book in 2022 titled "The Body in Sound, Music, and Performance", consisting of 22 female authors.
• Creative Scotland awarded research funding in February 2021 to the Non-Random Artists collective for their project "Evolving Ourselves with Unnatural Selection." The collaborative project explored gene editing's ethics and future implications through a digital multi-arts approach, combining research, data science, visual arts, sound, and language. The findings were presented via an online platform with interactive interventions.
• She conducted research on acoustic ecology and social soundscapes, specifically focusing on the impact of renewable technologies on rural communities and small towns. Her work has taken her to various locations, including Iceland, Spain, Barrow in Furness, and China. She has organized arts residency in Northern Spain, examining the impact of wind turbines in the Terra Alta Region. She have presented her findings and artistic creations at international conferences, participated in commissioned projects, and contributed to a book on sound media ecology.