Visual & Sonic Explorations
In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Smith is a visual artist, sound designer, and composer of electro-acoustic music. He records under the moniker Suss Müsik and is one half of the instrumental duo Egret Zero.
Employing handmade electronic instrumentation that Mr. Smith designs and builds in his home studio, Suss Müsik works have appeared on CHOQ Quebec radio program “La Rivière," the NYC Electroacoustic Music Festival, the C4NM Gallery in San Francisco, and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art in Gimpo-Si, South Korea, among others. Suss Müsik’s album New Hopes was featured on the Canadian radio program “La Croche Oreille,” hosted by Gaëtan Gosselin on CKRL Quebec.
Egret Zero's recorded output includes the critically acclaimed albums I Want To Have Faith and Exploring Shackleton. The duo's most recent release, titled What We Found, is a compilation of recordings made between 2018 and 2022.
Mr. Smith's visual art examines the relationship humans have with organic and technological systems. One piece exhibited at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art features dysfluent language patterns refactored from words spoken by Eric McLuhan (used by kind permission of The McLuhan Institute), paired with projected images of the sky to represent eight historical forms of mechanical reproduction.
In 2022, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States named Mr. Smith one of three SEAMUS Create Grant recipients. Mr. Smith used the funds to study the praxes of sound artists who have disabilities, and portions of this research appear in the second edition of Digital Outcasts.