Nigel Helyer a.k.a. Dr Sonique is an independent Anglo-Australian sculptor and sound artist with an international reputation for his large scale sound-sculpture installations, environmental sculpture works, museum interactives and new media projects.


His practice is strongly interdisciplinary, linking a broad platform of creative practice with scientific research and development in both academic and industrial contexts. His activities include the development of the Sonic Landscapes virtual audio reality system in collaboration with Lake Technology (now Dolby Australia), and the ongoing AudioNomad research project in location-sensitive Environmental Audio at the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales. Helyer is an honorary faculty member in Architectural Acoustics at the University of Sydney, a Professorial Visiting Fellow at the school of Computer Science and Engineering at NSW University and is the current ABC Radiophonic Fellow.


Helyer recently held positions as Visiting Professor at Stanford University, Artist in Residence at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland and the Marine Mammal Research Laboratory at the National University of Singapore. He maintains active links with The Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco and is an advisor to the SymbioticA biotechnology lab at the University of Western Australia. Helyer is a co-founder and commissioner of the International SoundCulture organization, a Fellow of the Australia Council for 2002/3, the winner of the Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award in 2002 and curator of Sonic Differences part of the Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth in 2004.