{site under construction}
aly,willamina cutler-gear (a.w.)
b. 1993 Foula, Shetland Islands
Education
MLitt - Art Writing (Distinction) - 2023-2025
The Glasgow School of Art - Scotland
Critical Design - Computational Humanities - Citational Studies - Statistical Linguistics - Software Studies - Poetics - Dramaturgical HCI - Spatialised Nonfiction
Thesis: The Making and Unmaking of Worlds:Textual Machinery and the Onto-Epistemological Nexus—Polyontological Design Interventions in Hypersituated Inscription
A four-part Python-based NLP software suite of intertextually interventionist systems that together articulate a hypersituated geographically engaged form of computation and a digital humanities scholarship as citational performance and re-oratory composition to build code based co-constitutive sites of ontic resistance and critique as material action.
1. Shetland Norn (Jakob Jakobsen's Fieldwork, 1893-97)+The Old Statistical Accounts of Scotland (Sir John Sinclair+Parish Surveys, 1780s)
2. Patients+GPs: Chronic Illness Dialectics on Reddit (2020-2025)
3. The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (1665-1669)
4. Theft During the Lairdic Era (1870-1886) + Ian Stoughton B. Holbourn's Children of Fancy (1915)
Thesis Supervisors: Laura Haynes + Francis Mckee
Paragogical Methods + Decolonial Pedagogies: Joey Ryken + Sharon Young
Poetics as Intervention: Jane Goldman (University of Glasgow)
BFA - Socially Engaged Art - 2019-2022
Goddard College - Vermont, USA
(Low Residency 1 to 1 Mentorship Based, Student Devised Curriculum)
Poetics+Experimental Nonfiction+Archival Practices (Emerson Whitney) Critical Human Geography+Anti-epistemicidal Policy Studies+Poetics (Leora Gansworth)
Anticolonial Craft Studies (Mary Sui Yee Wong) Situated Empiricism (Newcomb Greenleaf) Prefiguration Studies+Intermedia+Critical Theory+Sound+Critically Historiographic Organology (Otto Muller)
Thesis: (Norn, Foula, &) the Virtual Geographic Space of Utterance + The Book (in Europe) as Land Relationship Technology + Archival Research as Translation and Translation as Art + Norn Oriented Ontology + Decolonial Asset Development + Dialogenesis + Neural Nets are Futurity Machines
Chamber Music & Multimedia Composition + Visual Art - 2011-2014
Bennington College - Vermont, USA (Brockway Faculty Scholar [fully funded undergraduate studies])
(Faculty Research Led Curriculum, Student Designed Field of Study)
Prosody + Poetics (Mark Wunderlich) Opera Composition + Liturgical/Collective/Improvised Musics + Medieval European Music Theory + Critical Schenkerian Analysis (Kitty Brazelton)
Experimental Harmonic Theory + Critical Ethnomusicology + Experimental Organology (Nick Brooke) Opera Performance (Martha Herr) Colour Theory + Light as Data + Site Specific Research (Liz Deschenes)
Music Composition for Dance + Contemporary Dance History (Michael Wimberly) Markmaking + Representation: Systems/Time (Mary Lum) Physical Computing + Media Arts + Interface Design (Robert Ransick)
Chamber Music Historiography (Allen Shawn) Music Composition for Strings (Kenji Bunch) Performance Studies (Kirk Jackson) Kinetic Sculpture + Performance Systems Design (John Umphlett)
Audiovisual Computing (Jeremy Stewart) Acoustic Ecology + Deep Listening (Michelle Nagai) Granular/Graphic Synthesis + Acousmatic Music + Stochastic Music + Spatiality + UPIC (Randall Neal)
Set Design (Andromache Chalfant) Experimental Puppet Design + Analog Animation (Sue Rees) Choreography + Light + Silence + Duration + Interior Architecture (Dana Reitz)
Selected
2025 Religion & Art Colab (Goldsmiths/Essex/UAL) - Holy Trinity Church - South Kensington, London, England
CHASE funded Talk & Performance https://religionandart.org/Colab-Session-2
2024 Market Gallery - The Barras, Glasgow, Scotland
Theft During the Lairdic Era 1707-1886 - Solo Show - window display commission + publication https://www.marketgallery.org/window-series-2-aly-gear/ https://www.aly-gear.online/theft-during-the-lairdic-era-1707-1886
2023 KuBa: kulturbahnhof - Karstädt, Germany
Protocolonial Enculturation in the Early Medieval Book of Hours + the monastic offices + the Charlegmanian score - research residency/talk/24hr dance/installation performance on film: early iteration within ongoing transgeographic dance film/book/performance practice/digital humanities project
2022 Gamli skóli - Hrísey, Iceland
Norn Rain Words Chapbook + Computational Oral History Playback Textile Interface Prototype
2022 Gravity Hill, Pushkin Gallery/Anntena Cloud Farm - Greenfield, Massachusetts, USA
2020 International Noise Conference Tour - Eastern Seaboard, USA (New York to Miami & back)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUp2c-wSO0w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE9bH-5W4RA
2019 Movement Research at Judson Curch - Manhattan, NYC, USA
Acousmatic sound design for choreographer Tyler Rai's "Glacial Erratics" curated by Movement Research https://www.aly-gear.online/copy-of-books-are-interfaces https://www.tylerrai.com/performance-research
2018-19 Ham Croft Research Residency (self devised) - Foula, Shetland Islands, Scotland
2017-18 Memory Flow: Water of Boston - "New England", USA: Dorchester Art Project, Boston; Deerfield Conference Center, Massachussetts; Goddard College
https://talking-wings.com/memory-flow-water-of-boston
Residencies
2024 MERZ/The Museum of Model Art - Sanquhar, Scotland
2023 KuBa: kulturbahnhof - Klein Warnow - Germany
2022 Gamli skóli - Hrisey, Iceland
2021 Prattsville Art Center - Prattsville, New York, USA
2018-2019 Ham Croft Residency - Foula, Shetland Islands, Scotland (self devised)
Funding
2011-2014 Brockway Faculty Scholar - $204,000 in Scholarship & Grant Funding - Bennington College - Fully Funded Undergraduate Studies
Other Education
2024 Health Justice Commons - Understanding and Transforming the Medical Industrial Complex
2020 Multilingual Resistance - Critical Translation Studies Workshop by Caroline Bergvall
2015 Permaculture Design Certificate - The Design of Educative Spaces Based on the Principles of Permaculture - Na Luum Institute - Malchingui, Ecuador
Publications
2025 The Yellow Paper Journal Vol. 6 - edition of 200
2024 Datum Poesics: Polyvocal Narratology in the Health Humanities - The Yellow Paper Journal Vol. 5 - edition of 200 (w/ Francise Mckee, Lisette May Monroe, et al), Glasgow, Scotland, August 2024 https://goodpress.co.uk/products/the-yellow-paper-edition-4-copy
2024 Theft During the Lairdic Era 1707-1886 vol.1 - perfect bound risograph edition of 60 - 44pp - funded by materials grant from Market Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, July 2024 https://www.marketgallery.org/window-series-2-aly-gear/
Cassettes/CDs/etc
2026 Flubber Boiler - (CD) - +DOG+'s Love Earth Music Records, USA (International Noise Conference USA East Coast Tour January 2020)
2021 P.A.I.N in New England (Cassette Compilation) - Watchtower Records, USA (w/ Evicshen, Andrea Pensado, id m theftable, Diagram A, et.al)
2018 Weird Energy - (Cassette Compilation) - Diagram: A Records, USA (w/ Beige, +DOG+, Olana Z Flynn, Noise Nomads, Charles Noyes, et.al)
Collections
Market Gallery Resource Library (Theft During the Lairdic Era 1707-1886 vol.1)
All Exhibitions/Performances/Collaborations/Talks
2026
Listen Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland - Shetland Norn Lifeworlds - lecture/performance
Wavefarm/WGXC, Acra, New York - unknown sounds: a radio archive of experimental artists’ interior worlds - discussion of work + homemade software performance
Goldsmiths - workshop series w Lu Brownrigg
2025
Lakeside Theatre - University of Essex, Colchester, England - performance of homeade software at refusal themed panel
16 Collective - Market Gallery's 25th Birthday Party - performance of homemade software and song
David Dale Gallery - Glasgow - performance of software and song - The Yellow Paper 6 release event
Religion & Art Colab (Goldsmiths/Essex/UAL) - Holy Trinity Church - South Kensington, London, England
Good Press - reading - La Chais June - Toby Upson zine release
2024
David Dale Gallery - Glasgow - reading/talk - The Yellow Paper 5 release event
Glasgow International - short-wave car radio group show devised by Susan Philipsz
Listen Gallery - Glasgow - The Choir Out of Earland - led by Lu Brownrigg - assistant-facilitator (w/ Lily Lavorato)
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig - Raum 113 - duo with Lu Brownrigg (w/ Skoupidostef, Anja Fiedler, & Mourning Dove)
2023
Poetry Club - Glasgow - Shetland Norn Rain Words chapbook reading with film/talk
Poetry Club - Glasgow - duo w Lu Brownrigg - custom knitted force sensitive resistors interfacing with homemade software
Hill 52 Radio/The Vic - Glasgow - duo w Lu Brownrigg - custom knitted force sensitive resistors interfacing with homemade software
2022
Gamli Skoli - Hrisey, Iceland - Norn Rain Words Chapbook + Computational Oral History Playback Textile Interface Prototype
Salem Local Access Television - Sonorium - Boston, Massachussetts, USA - trio w Kelly Chen & Caleb Chase - Live electronics, motors, granularly processed trombone
North East Noise Fest, The Firehouse, Massachusetts, USA
Gallery 267, Boston, Massachussetts, USA - live film scoring event
Fourth World - Providence, Rhode Island, USA - multimedia group show
SUNY Purchase College & Conservatory - Purchase, NY, USA
Bard College & Conservatory - Annandale on Hudson, NY, USA - (w/ Space Camp, Cursed Image, Loren Ames, B.L.I.X.)
The Parlor, New Paltz - New Paltz, NY, USA
The Firehouse, Massachusetts, USA (euphonium and trombone + live electronics duo with Caleb Chase) (w/ Sunk Heaven & Revenge Body)
2021
10 Forward - USA - (w/ Cal Fish, Tyler Rai, & Pussyvision)
Prattsville Art Center - Prattsville, NY, USA - co-curator of live show (NEETS, Transluscent Old Man)
Prattsville Art Center - Prattsville, NY, USA - co-curator of gallery show
Uknown Sound Collective, Coxsackie, New York - DIY noise conference (w/ Period Bomb, Street Rat, Erica Dawn Lyle of Bikini Kill, et al)
2020
XFEST - February 2020 (w/ Andrea Pensado, Tara Toms, et al)
International Noise Conference USA East Coast Tour - January 2020:
The Chanticleer Loft - Curated by Ithaca Underground - Ithaca, NY, USA (w/ Jen Kutler & Bubba Crumrine, Matt Luczak, et al)
Berk's Warehouse - Philadelphia, USA (w/ Dog Hospice, Jen Kutler, Bubba Crumrine, et al)
Crystal Palace - Richmond, Virginia, USA (w/ Sunk Heaven, Crazy Doberman, Staubitz & Waterhouse, Jen Kutler, Bubba Crumrine, et al)
The Nightlight - Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA (w/ Sunk Heaven, Jen Kutler, Bubba Crumrine, Noa Jaques, Sam Hadge, et al)
The Atlantic - Gainesville, Florida (w/ Ironing, Bobb Hatt, Period Bomb, Street Rat, JHK, Jen Kutler, Bubba Crumrine, et al)
The International Noise Conference - Churchills - Miami, Florida (w/ Evicshen, House Fires, Whitey Alabastard, et al)
The In-Between - Tampa, Florida (w/ Jen Kutler, Whitey Alabastard, JHK, et al)
JBA - Macon, Georgia, USA (w/ Street Rat, Jen Kutler, JHK, et al)
Mercury Theater - Baltimore, USA (w/ Jen Kutler, JHK, et al)
Muchmores, Brooklyn, NYC, USA (w/ January Hunt, Jen Kutler, CHS, et al)
Cold Spring Hollow, Massachussetts, USA (w/ Gene Machine, Transluscent Old Man, Spider Sin, Matt Luczak, Staubitz+Waterhouse, Jen Kutler)
Noise Brunch, The Firehouse, Worcester, Massachussetts, USA (w/ Id M Theft Able, Andrea Pensado, et al)
2019
Movement Research at Judson Church - Manhattan, NYC, USA - acousmatic dance score for choreographer Tyler Rai's Glacial Erratics
Cold Spring Hollow - USA - (w/ +DOG+, Noise Nomads, Beige, Olana Z Flynn)
2018
The String - Lerwick, Shetland, UK - performance based on psychogeographic acoustic ecology research in Foula
Goddard College - Memory Flow w Metonymy Collective - to support undergraduate teaching Goddard College
Deerfield Conference Center - Memory Flow w Metonymy Collective - climate conference organized in partnership w/ Visioning B.E.A.R. intertribal coalition
Ten Forward - Curated by Phantom Erratics (w/ Bromp Treb, Tzintzun Aguilar Izzo, Blake Lavia)
The Red Kross - Northampton, Massachussetts, USA - audiovisual performance (Light Art, Shadow Puppets, Cello, Electronics)
2017
XFEST - Dorchester Art Project - Boston, USA - Memory Flow w Metonymy Collective
The Water Project - Springfield, Massachussetts, USA - improvised dance accompaniment for water sovereignty conference (viola, electronics, pitchers, platters, water)
2016
HOME Show - Hadley - dance score composed for ensemble (choir + cello + electronics) in oldest colonial dwelling in Hadley Massachussetts
Lilith Fest - Hampshire College - live electronics + voice + viola + violin + Norn + wavetable synthesis duo with sibling Emily Gear
2015
The Left Bank - North Bennington, Vermont, USA - live electronics duo with Jake Saunders
2014
The Egg - Bennington College - Collaborative 60'x36' inflatable two roomed egg shaped transluscent building & performance environment
Pollen Fields - Bennington College - Lester Martin Black Box Theater - Helen Frankenthaler Center for the Visual and Performing Arts - Touch Sensitive Floor & Immersive Environment - immersive local pollen survey generated 4-D colour field audiovisual painting via processing+arduino & 100 handmade FSRs)
2013
Bennington College - 50th anniversary of USA Electronic Music - Jennings Mansion Field
- (7 person choir + live scoring via cloud/shadow vane)
Bennington College - 50th anniversary of USA Electronic Music - (a valley) 5.1 surround sound piece with installation consisting of dry ice and projections of stop motion animation of handblown acrylic puppets onto immersive inflatable polyuretheane environment
Bennington College - Dean Carriage Barn - Detritus - composer and set director - spatial choreography & chamber music project - 6 dancers in the pit, 6 instrumentalists in the catwalks
Relevant Employment/Collectives/Misc.
2024-2025 Postgraduate Researcher - The Glasgow School of Art
2023-2024 Postgraduate Student - The Glasgow School of Art
2021-2022 Co-Curation, Gallery Co-Founder - 2021–2022 – Firehouse Collective + Horse Room Gallery, Worcester, MA, USA
2016–2018, 2019-2021 Co-Curation – Cold Spring Hollow Noise/Performance Art Collective, Cold Spring, MA, USA
2016–2018 Archival Researcher, Ecology+Arts Conference Organizer, Stage Design Director – Metonymy Collective, Northampton, MA, USA
2014 Emerging Artist + Prop & Set Design Fabrication: Welding/Woodworking – Winter 2014 - Redmoon Theater, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2013 Dramaturg’s Assistant/English Language Copywriter - Winter 2013 – Nemzeti Szıńház - National Theatre of Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
2012 Grant Writer & Fundraising Gala Event Planner for Indigenous Storytelling Festival - Winter 2012 – Wisdom of the Elders, Portland, Oregon, USA
2011–2014 Assistant to the Music Librarian: Special Project in Digitizing Reel to Reel Archive – Bennington College, Bennington, VT, USA
2011–2014 Events Manager: Live Sound Engineer/Recording Engineer/Lighting Technician – Bennington College, Bennington, VT, USA