Big Sand is a science fiction virtual band, set in a beautiful and harsh desert world. It’s an innovative new collaboration involving some of Australia’s most exciting musicians, visual artists, animators, designers and developers, with creative direction from Sally Coleman (that’s me).
I’m a musician, writer, radio host, producer, performer and big nerd. I was previously the host of triple j Breakfast as part of duo Sally & Erica, and a member of hip hop duo Coda Conduct.
When I chose to finish up at triple j, the one thing that I really wanted to do was to start a new music project. But I wanted to do something fun, different and playful. I've been a fan of sci-fi and fantasy novels since I was a kid: I love how they create immersive worlds, and I wanted to bring something like this to pop music.
Since starting Big Sand, I’ve been experimenting with how to present this animated, fictional world as a live show. Over several years, I’ve worked to develop a live performance delivered entirely inside Unreal Engine, for an audience in a physical venue.
To perform the show, I use a motion capture suit and send performance data in realtime to allow me to interact with the audience. This work has seen me named the inaugural recipient of the APRA AMCOS x Creative Australia 'Digital Futures Initiative’, and start a creative practice based PhD at UTS Creativity and Cognition Studios.
