In this conversation, we hear how Betty Sargeant develops site-led installations through listening, prototyping, and stakeholder collaboration. We also discuss why delivery skills matter as much as ideas when working in public space. This interview is part of our series that focuses on media artworks in public space.

Betty shares the creative process behind The Fauxrest and what it takes to make media art that can survive real-world conditions, including weather, public interpretation, and the layered expectations of councils, communities, and collaborators.

AI sits in the background of this conversation as a conceptual provocation. Betty explains her “AI robot” persona, and how the claim of an “AI-created” installation sparked rumour, backlash, and debate. Those reactions provide a way into bigger questions about trust, authorship, and agency in public space.

Listen to this podcast to learn about:

• How listening builds trust and reduces friction in public space projects

• Prototyping site-led work through fast sketches, rough models, and material tests

• Why visual mock-ups are essential for keeping stakeholders aligned over time
• How participation shifts when audiences have not opted in

• What it takes to take a public artwork from idea to install, and why project management protects your agency

Chapter

(00:00:00) Finding the site first

(00:00:29) Podcast intro and acknowledgement

(00:01:02) Meet Dr. Betty Sargeant

(00:01:52) Inside the Fauxrest artwork

(00:02:38) Why public art matters

(00:04:19) The AI robot provocation

(00:06:04) Public reactions and town halls

(00:09:38) Fauxrest and Satire

(00:10:33) Performing Betty Sargeant AI

(00:12:22) Backlash and misunderstandings

(00:16:52) Collaboration and stakeholders

(00:20:33) Prototyping and models

(00:26:11) Visual communication for projects

(00:27:24) Three career essentials

(00:28:23) Why project management matters

(00:29:51) Wrap up and thanks

About Betty Sargeant

Betty Sargeant is a Melbourne-based media artist and researcher and co-creative director of the art-technology duo PluginHUMAN with Justin Dwyer. Her practice spans public art and immersive installation, using light, moving image, sound, and sculptural form to place audiences inside multi-sensory experiences. She has received Good Design Awards in 2018 and 2020, and a Victorian Premier’s Design Award in 2017. Her recent project, Betty Sargeant AI, uses satire and performance to question authorship, agency, and the stories we tell about automation.

Links from the podcast with Betty Sargeant

• Visit Betty Sargeant’s website

• Follow Betty Sargeant on Instagram
• Learn more about The Fauxrest
• Learn more about Betty Sargeant AI
• Learn more about PluginHUMAN

In this podcast you will learn how sound-led public artworks can turn everyday places into shared, playable environments. In this interview Michael Baker is the Sound Director at Daily tous les jours we explore some of the thinking behind Daily Tous Les Jours’ public artworks. Daily tous les jours is known for large-scale participatory works such as Musical Swings, as well as their book Strangers Need Strange Moments Together, which reflects on designing interaction in public space. This interview is the first in a series that focuses on media art works in public space.

Listen to this podcast to learn about:

• Why music acts as “social glue” in public space and how it supports relationality

• How the Musical Swings series of works map movement and synchrony into musical structure

• Designing interactions that are legible without instructions

• Low-tech prototyping methods (before code) that test the real experience

• The differences between touring works and permanent outdoor installations

• Common failure points in public work: weather, wear, and mechanical/electronic overlap

• Why the “artwork” is ultimately the people using the piece, together

Chapters

(00:00:00) Finding the hidden rhythm: sound between chaos & musical order

(00:00:24) Welcome + acknowledgement of country

(00:00:48) Series kickoff: Media art in public spaces (meet Daily tous les jours)

(00:01:40) Michael Baker’s role: Why audio is the perfect public-space interface

(00:02:44) “Make sure it makes music”: Music as social glue & pre‑verbal play

(00:05:24) Accidental encounters: The magic of unexpected public art

(00:06:22) Case study: Musical swings—wonder, all ages, all walks of life

(00:07:38) Sync & sway: How the swings create emergent harmony (tech + behavior)

(00:09:56) From mirror neurons to intimacy: Why we copy each other

(00:10:41) Interactive pavement: Grid rhythms, emergent rules & dancing together

(00:11:48) No instructions needed: Designing clear, simple gestures

(00:13:45) Prototyping at scale: Iteration, tape-on-the-ground tests & deadlines

(00:16:13) Tweak vs deliver: Working with clients, museums & touring constraints

(00:17:51) Testing with fresh eyes: First-time users as the real benchmark

(00:19:25) Temporary vs permanent: Durability, public “hacks,” and extreme weather

(00:21:41) Platforms & toolchains: MAX/MSP, TouchDesigner, and choosing what fits

(00:23:50) What public media art really is: The artwork is the people

(00:25:29) Wrap-up, thanks, and share the show

About Daily tous les jours

Daily tous les jours is a Montreal-based art and design studio that creates interactive installations in public spaces. Founded in 2010 by Mouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat, the studio is known for large-scale participatory works such as Musical Swings. Their projects use technology, music and movement to bring strangers together and transform everyday urban spaces into sites of collective experience.

About Michael Baker

Michael Baker is the Sound Director at Daily tous les jours, where he oversees the sonic landscape of the studio’s interactive installations. In his role, he develops sound palettes, generative compositional systems, and integrated audio environments that respond to movement and collective behaviour in public space.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in electroacoustics from Concordia University. An accomplished electroacoustic composer, his work has been presented at international festivals including the 60x60 Festival (Canada/US), the Livewire Festival (Maryland), and the Canadian Electroacoustic Community Symposium (Montreal).

Links from the podcast:

• Learn more about Daily Tous Les Jours
• Learn more about 21 Balançoires (musical swings)
• Read Strangers Need Strange Moments Together

In this podcast you will learn how media artists stay with uncertainty, make deliberate choices with technology, and build work through collaboration—with people, place, ecology, and time.

This is a 2025 compilation episode, bringing together the advice I ask for at the end of every conversation on Creating New Spaces. Across the year, artists returned to a few shared concerns: how to keep going when meaning arrives slowly, how to test and refine work without being led by the tools, and how installation practice is shaped by teams, trust, and the systems around us.

Listen to this podcast to learn about:

• How to stay with the work when it’s unclear, slow, or shifting

• How to make with machines through testing, revision, and refinement

• How media work becomes shared — through collaboration, community, and ecology

• Guests featured

  Johan F Karlsson, Ariana Gerstein, Monteith Mccollum, Matt Warren, Rita Eperjesi, Georgie Friedman, Matthew Ragan, Troy Merritt, Darryl Rogers, Alex Moss, Maggie Jeffries, and Keith Armstrong

  Chapters

  (00:00:00) Intro: staying, making, connecting

  (00:00:52) Staying with the work: pace, patience, resilience (Johan, Ariana, Matt, Rita)

  (00:05:51) Making with machines: testing, tools, refinement (Georgie Friedman, Matthew, Troy)

  (00:09:34) Making with others: teams, shared practice, impact (Darryl Rogers, Alex and Maggie, Keith)

  (00:14:17) Closing

  Links from the podcast

  Guests

  • Johan F Karlsson— website
  • Ariana Gerstein — website
  • Matt Warren— website
  • Rita Eperjesi — website
  • Georgie Friedman — website
  • Matthew Ragan — website
  • Troy Merritt / Soma Lumia — website
  • Darryl Rogers — website
  • Alex Moss — website
  • Maggie Jeffries — website
  • Keith Armstrong — website

  • Projects and organisations mentioned

    • The Weather at Midnight
    • Moonah Arts Centre
    • Dissolution
    • Lacuna