Sean Clute
Sean Clute is an interdisciplinary artist, composer and performer. Clute’s creations embrace hybridization of media and interactivity to explore forms of interdisciplinary expression. By developing custom software and hardware, Clute experiments with technologies and methodologies to construct audiovisual instruments, sensor-based interfaces and computer generative processes. Collaboration, a key element in his work, is employed through partnerships with choreographers, musicians, scientists, writers and artists.
Currently, co-directs the the Rural Noise Ensemble, a collective of Vermont-based artists, musicians and makers that employ the aesthetics of noise as a critical framework for interrogating reality. The group, founded by composer Otto Muller, uses scrap wood and rusty nails, interactive electronics, amateur performers and whatever else is present to make sound. Performances, installations and events have included Duet for Tree Branch and Oil Drum (2020), Notweed(2019), Composition #1 (2016) and Cutting Wood (2016).
Clute’s work has been presented internationally at venues such as The Kitchen, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Natural History, Shabla Solar Eclipse Festival (Bulgaria), ISEA2014 – Dubai, Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and the Autonomous Mutant Festival. Awards, residencies, and recognition include the Fulbright Award, Meet the Composer's Metlife Creative Connections Grant, Zellerbach Family Foundation Grant, Frog Peak Collective Experimental Music Award, Djerassi Artist-In-Residency, and MuseumsQuartier Wien Artist in Residency, Austria.
Clute has lectured on media art at colleges and universities including the ICST Institute for Computer Music and Sound, Zurich, Switzerland, Institut Intermédií, Prague, Czech Republic, Pécsi Tudományegyetem Művészeti Kar, Pécs, Hungry, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Austria, University of Arizona, Mills College and University of California Berkeley. He was a visiting professor at NYU - Shanghai’s Interactive Media Arts program from 2017 - 2018.
Clute lives in Vermont where he is the co-director of the Rural Noise Ensemble and Associate Professor of Media Art at Northern Vermont University. Occasionally, he attempts to cross-country ski.