2025 Artist in Residence
Basil Hogios
 

Basil joins the Centre as an accomplished composer, architect, music producer, sound designer, and audio technologist. He has worked internationally across film, television, performing arts, and audio-visual installation.

Earlier in 2025, he commenced his proposed project “Re-Present : Re-Transmit” — a new creative work investigating the potential role of immersive audio in the musical dramaturgies of text-based drama performance, and its implications for the intersection of live theatrical performance within immersive environments.

Drawing on the research infrastructure of The Cube, Basil and Assemblage’s Dr Chris Hurrell have already delivered a proof-of-concept employing ambisonic (3D) audio in the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s “lost music” from The Tempest. The next phase seeks to harness the discoveries made through exploring this technology in a historical context to inform new contemporary work, by creating a methodology for performer interaction with immersive sound design.

Basil’s project offers Assemblage the opportunity to expand and adapt The Cube Ambisonic Studio array for use in live performance and storytelling.

2024 Artist in Residence
Lawrence Ashford

Dr Lawrence Ashford conducted a pilot project which explored participant experiences of narrative agency within interactive performances set in a virtual reality environment, and their potential application to healthcare settings.

In his time with Assemblage, Lawrie worked across The Void and the Games Research Lab, and collaborated with staff in VEED and Drama to continue his interdisciplinary arts practice.

2022 Artist in Residence
Emily Steel

For her residency, Emily set out to discover first-hand the experiences of women working in politics and what barriers exist between women and power. She interviewed a variety of parliamentary workers – entry level clerks, mid-career people, Chiefs-of-Staff, members of parliament and shadow and government ministers – and found the issue of sexual abuse, harassment and inappropriate workplace cultures are still widespread in Australia’s parliaments.

“I’m interested in the part of life we're not supposed to look at” she said. “I aim to write a story and characters that feel real enough to people in those communities, and people with some of those lived experiences”.

“These women are driven by passion and dedication for democracy. They are the reasons many go to and stay in parliament” Emily Steel said.

Emily hopes Housework will reflect on the role of women in our politics and highlight the challenges and opportunities facing women today.

Emily thanked Assemblage, and Director Associate Professor Tully Barnett, for the flexibility of the scheme to support her to do the research to supplement the playwrighting as a woman and mother, juggling the demands of work and family. “The Assemblage Artist in Residence not only gave me a financial boost, but it opened doors that would have otherwise been closed to a playwright and has made Housework possible” she said.

Emily Steel's original play Housework went on to be performed by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2025 at the Sydney Opera House!

Starring Susie Youssef (Deadloch, The Project) as first-time MP Ruth Mandour, Emily Taheny (Mad as Hell) as her overworked Chief of Staff and iconic media polymath Indira Naidoo it was hailed as Aussie political satire at its very best. In the original cast, Assemblage's own Renato Musolino helped make Housework a major success in Adelaide in 2025.

2022 Sound Artist in Residence
Dr Jesse Budel

Jesse Budel gave a stellar performance in the Ambisonic Sound Studio at the 2022 Flinders Festival of Creative Arts. Presenting his work Mandala, Jesse delivered 8 listening sessions and his final Artist in Residence presentation during the festivities.

On the night of his final presentation, guests (staff, industry reps, HDRs) braved the stormy weather and learnt about Jesse’s craft and the possibilities he discovered in the studio.

Mandala is Jesse’s ambisonic soundscape composition that he created in his artist residency at Assemblage. The piece metaphorically draws on the Tibetan Buddhist conception of the mandala as a three-dimensional projection of a particular deity's palatial residence.

Celebrating the soundscapes of South Australian national parks, Mandala is concerned with cultivating respect and reverence for their resident other-than-human inhabitants.

Congratulations, Jesse! Jesse went on to be awarded a Fellowship for the project titled “Building a Higher Order Ambisonic Studio Practice”. As a mid-career artist, Jesse was granted $50,000 to extend his professional practice and contribute to the arts and cultural ecology in South Australia. Click here to find out more.