Residents

Sophie Benjamin

Our youngest Resident, Sophie is a writer and new-media journalist based in Brisbane. After a brief stint as a musician, Sophie realised journalism would allow her to talk, write, edit audio and lurk on the internet while being paid for it.

Since then, she’s worked for ABC Local Radio, 4ZzZfm, Rave Magazine and Starving Kids, and is a senior contributor to whothehell.net.

The project Sophie is working on at The Edge is A Faster Horse: a fortnightly podcast profiling young people with careers that guidance counsellors haven’t heard of. It will profile young people doing crazy things that they never set out to do—from touring in an ABBA tribute band in South Africa to droving cattle across Australia.

The podcast will be available fortnightly through The Edge website and from the iTunes store with accompanying multimedia material.

Richard Byers

Richard is a visual design artist who focuses on artistic video based projected imagery that merges drawing, painting and sculpture with light and video, often involving human interaction.

His projects have been featured across diverse spaces including clubs, museums, galleries, basements and abandoned spaces in Sydney, Tokyo, Berlin and Brisbane.

Richard’s project at The Edge, will extend the interactivity of Richard’s latest project, Sound.Transmission.Light, by developing multi-channel audio input, movement triggering, capture and detection, and the inclusion of data streams from sensors, databases and online social media feeds.

Richard hopes to develop a unique performance exhibition, in which audience and performers alike, improvise, educate and enjoy the interactive experience.

Jason Nelson

Born from the computerless land of farmers and spring thunderstorms, Jason somehow stumbled into creating awkward and wondrous digital poems and interactive stories of odd lives. Currently he teaches Net Art and Electronic Literature at Griffith University in the Gold Coast’s contradictory lands.

At The Edge Jason will explore the State Library’s vast collection of Queensland’s history and culture to create a dispersed and expansive multi-dimensional electronic literature piece. (Imagine a messy computer game hovering over a 19th century book interlinked to other strange and wondrous creatures.) All source files will also be made available so the public could explore using the interfaces and techniques he develops during the residency.

Beh Wattenberg

Beh is a creative electrician who, when not climbing on rooves checking wiring, likes to make and break things, explore sound and light art, and create strange playthings like a massive sound and light conversion device, three-phase whirly gigs and ridiculously large instruments.

He’ll be running mad, fun workshops that will extract your thoughts, fill your head, and hurt your brain—in a good
way. Expect toy tinkering, inflatable madness and explore the light of your dark side.