The Immersium Engine

The Immersium Engine was crafted by Ewen Sinclair and the Creative Arts team at Haileybury Astana and features a number of key stage 4 and 5 students. Based on interpretations of the word sustain, the unique performance evolves continuously over the course of an hour, cycling through a variety of atmospheres generated by a combination of original instruments, artificial intelligence and digital soundscapes. Art and visuals were created by IB art students in order to ensure a surreal, lucid experience inspired by liminal spaces and the Dreamcore movement.

Experience the Trailer

View the Engines of Creation

Whale-o-Tron 8000

By placing a bass amp on its back, and suspending a dynamic microphone from a pendulum, we were able to swing the mic and create whale like calls. This was made even more exciting by utilising the amps preset effect unit.

Sonic Worms

Varying lengths of tubes were framed and slapped with table tennis paddles. Each tube was amplified and fed through delay units.

The Sombre Rower

A cello and an upside down violin were mounted on a frame and tuned exclusively to C and G. Our ace STEAM teacher constructed an automated Lego tower to bow the instruments on demand via an iPad.

Dream Cascade

Open top grand piano strummed by hand or hammered with mallets. I locked the sustain pedal to generate sympathy harmonies. The piano frame was rigged with several mics, running through analogue drive and compression.

Chance Yeller

A pinball like machine that relies on students to throw balls into the centre. The balls ricochet back and forth before hitting a Kazakh traditional string instrument in the centre.