Scholarly
- Chester, D., Ricketson, D. (2025). Listening with earth: Deep listening, vibrational ecologies, and sonic stories of the more-than-human. Seismograf/D MT.
- Chester, D., and Chua, S., (2025). “Ephemerality as Performance: Sastrugi Sounds of Antarctic Sea Ice.” Leonardo 2025. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_02703
- Chester, D., Keezhara, D., (2024). “Performance as Exhibition: Sonic and Visual Response to the Theyyam Festival.” Continuity and Change in Performance, edited by G. Curran and M. Radakrishnan, Routledge.
- Chester, D., Stalla, H., (2023). “Sound Puppets: Using Sonic Nonfiction to Perform the Past.” Methods of Knowing: Historical Research, Creative Writing, and the Past, edited by K. Morrison and Rantala, Routledge.
- Chester, D. (2022). Using creative response to sonically translate vernacular photography: The Lest We Forget project in the United Arab Emirates. Methodological Innovations, 15(3), 308-320.
- Chester, D., Carey, B., Bray, L., (2022) “Creatively Processing the Pandemic.” ECHO, a Journal of music, thought and technology 3. doi: 10.47041/CMZM1842
- Chester, D. (2021) Sonic Encounters: The Islamic Call to Prayer. Rowman and Littlefield. Audiobook on Audible.
- Chester, D., & Stalla, H. (2019) Sound Puppet: A Pen Friendship Between East and West, Seismograph Peer, Sonic Argumentation II.
- Chester, D., & Stalla, H. (2019) Let Me Recite What History Teaches, Speculative Nonfiction.
- Chester, D. (2019). Sound Mapping as a Tool for Sharing Sonic Cultures. International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) Journal, (50), 20-24.
- Chester, D. (2019). Beyond the Azhan: Abu Dhabi’s Cacophonous Soundscape. Journal of Sonic Studies, (18) Materials of Sound II.
- Chester, D., & Doyle, T. (2018) Women in Sound Women on Sound: Active Strategies to Address the Gender Imbalance in Sound, Music and Technology, The Eaves.
- Chester, D. (2016). Lest We Forget: In Conversation with Susan Meiselas and Michele Bambling, Tribe Magazine, Issue 38. March 2016.
- Stalla, H., & Chester, D. (2015). Artists, Archivists, and Community. International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) Journal, (45), 59–61.
- Stalla, H., & Chester, D. (2016). Acquisition as Appropriation: From the Parthenon to the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim. Affirmations: Of the Modern, 4 (1), 127–142.
- Chester, D. (2012). The telematic learning environment: Experiences and outcomes teaching via network audio. 2012 International Conference on Audio, Language and Image Processing, 756–762.
- Chester, D. (2016). Creative Response-A New Look at Archiving: The Role Artists Play in Developing Creative Response from Field Recordings of Ethnographic Research
Exhibitions & Installations
- Listen to a Starfish, New Annual Festival, Newcastle, NSW (September 2025)
- ZAAG, Art Week Ulaanbaatar (May 2025)
- Bellow Below, Flinders Fringe Festival, Victoria, Australia (February 2025)
- Sub_Merge, International Society of Electronic Arts, Brisbane, Australia (June 2024)
- ZAAG, Khan Bank Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (May 2024)
- Zam ZAAG, Gallery 25, Perth, Australia, May 2024
- Sastrugi: Sounds of Antarctic Sea Ice, Theatre Royal, Mona Foma Festival, Hobart, Australia, February 2024
- Sonic Sauna, Gallerí Úthverfa, Ísafjörður, Iceland, November 2023
- Light Echoes, Enlighten Festival, Canberra, Australia, March 2024
- Listening to Earth, Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney, Australia, February 2024
- ZAAG, Art Space 976+, Funkhaus, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, July 2023
- Celestial Stories, Religions in America, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, USA, June 2023
- Light Echoes, Sydney Observatory, Australia, March 2023
- Sub_Merge, Atlantic Center for the Arts, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, USA, March 2023
- Sonifying COVID, Gallery 25, Perth, Australia, October 2022
- Living Landscapes, Living Memories, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, USA, June 2022
- Sounding Nature, Gallery 25, Perth Australia, July 2021
- Sounding Islam, The Sonic Storyboard, Inter Arts Center, Malmo, Sweden, June 2019
- Global QueerScape, Kerrie Lowe Gallery, Sydney, Australia, February 2019.
- Sound Map of the Islamic Call to Prayer, A sonic mapping projects that chronicles the Adan from mosques around the world.
- Theyyam Ritual, Nature, and People, A walking art installation in collaboration with visual artist Dhanaraj Keezhara. February 2017 in Keezhara village, Kerala and April 2017 in Folklore Village Kannur, Kerala.
- Everyday Life: A Repertoire of Ritual and Performance: A multimedia exhibition in collaboration with Indian artist Dhanaraj Kheezara, fusing painting, drawing and spacialized sound composition in exploration of caste marginalization in Theyyam, IMA Hall, Kannur, India, December 2014.
- Adan Sonic Storyboard, An interactive installation exploring the sonic nuance of the call to prayer, fusing digital images, recorded sound, and sensor based data collection via microcontroller, Gallery 4211, Al Ain Tower, Abu Dhabi, UAE, May 2014.
- Babel, 8-channel audio installation inspired by the story of the tower of babel, co-composed with Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology Martin Daughtry, Abu Dhabi, 2011
Conferences
- PolarX Conference, Sounds of Antarctic Sea-Ice, City University Paris, June 2025.
- More-Than-Human Storytelling Conference, University of Oxford, June 2025.
- British Antarctic Survey, Sonification of Sea Ice, Cambridge, England, June 2025.
- Te Pūnaha Matatini (Centre of Research Excellence), Guest Lecturer, September 2024.
- Australia India Youth Dialogue Panelist, Chau Chak Wing Museum, August 2024.
- SCAR Open Science Conference, Sastrugi: Sounds of Antarctic Sea Ice, Chile, August 2024.
- Powerhouse Research Symposium, MAAS, Sydney Australia, October 2023.
- The Edith’s Responsive Roundtable, WAAPA, Centre for People, Place, and Planet, August 2023.
- SEI mini-series on Digital Imaginaries and Storytelling, Chaired and organized, Aug-Oct 2023.
- Artists on the Ice, Earth Day Public talk, SSSHARC & FASS, Women’s College, University of Sydney, April 2023.
- Future Toolbox: Beyond The Bug-Out-Bag, Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art, Sydney, Australia, October 2022.
- Artist Talk, Sonifying COVID, ECU Gallery, Perth, Australia, September 2022.
- Artist and Book Talk, Bakehouse Studio, Marrickville, Australia, September 2022.
- “Environmental Storytelling in Diverse Media” Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney, Australia, September 2022.
- Space in Cinema Arts and Media Panel, Space Imaginaries Symposium, Powerhouse Museum, Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences, Australia, August 2022.
- Artist Talk, Museum of Everyday Life, Isfajordur, Iceland, July 2022.
- “Living Landscape, Living Memory in the UAE” Public Talk, Smithsonian Institution, June 2022.
- “Object Biography: Using Sound to understand Ling Shu Hua’s Friendship Scroll, Oxford Center for Life Writing, June 2022.
- “Sound, Bias, and Healing” Weekend of Wellness Retreat, Community of Christ, Australia Mission Center, October 2021.
- “Continuity and Change in Performance,” Australian Anthropological Society, Online, Nov. 2021.
- “Creatively Processing the Pandemic,” Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools, Sydney, Australia, October 2021.
- “Pandemic Data: Archiving Networks of Knowing,” International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives Conference. Online, September 2021.
- “NanoResonance: sonification and visualization of scientific data,” Digital Cultures Research Cluster, University of Sydney, Australia, July 2021.
- “Using Sonic Material to Deepen Literary and Art Historical research,” Panel presentation at Sound Instruments and Sonic Cultures Conference, online, December 2020.
- “Creative Collaborations Across Oceans During COVID,” paper presented at ACUADS 2020: Crisis and Resilience, Sydney, Australia, November 2020.
- “Composition and New Technologies,” 2nd Annual International Conference of the Modernist Studies in Asia Network, Hosted by Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan. September 2019.
- “The Sonic Storyboard,” Public Lecture, InterArtsCenter, Malmo, Sweden, June 2019.
- “Modernism Meets the Oscillator,” Audio Paper Symposium: Performative Formats and Sonic Argumentation, Hosted by Lund University, Sweden, December 2018.
- “Sound Mapping as a Tool for Connecting Communities to Sound Recording,” International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, Hosted by Legon University, Ghana, October 2018.
- “Audience as Performer: Interactive Exhibitions and the Call to Prayer,” Performance Studies Network Conference, Hosted by The Norwegian Academy of Music, July 2018.
- “Deep Listening: To Women” A Lecture on Women in Sound, Yale-NUS College, March 2018.
- “Form-Shifting Gertrude Stein,” Thinking Through the Digital, Hosted by Linköping University, Sweden, December 2017
- “Found in Translation: Connecting Cultural Heritage and Community through Sight and Sound,” panel convener and chair, NonfictioNOW Conference, Hosted by the University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, June 2017.
- “Mapping the adhan, the urban soundscape of Abu Dhabi City,” Urbanisms Conference: Yale- NUS College, Singapore, April 2016.
- “How Does Modernist Work Work Where?: Art and Politics In Modern Day India,” Australian Modernist Studies Network Conference: Modernist Work, University of New South Wales, Sydney, March 2016.
- “Digital Media Archivism: Considering the Role of Creative Scholars and Artists in Preserving Cultural Heritage,” UWC Mahindra Faculty Lecture Series, October 2015.
- “Composition as Appropriation: Claim and Resist, Resist and Claim,” Australian Modernist Studies Network Conference: Transnational Modernisms, University of Sydney, Australia, December 2014.
- “Artist as Archivist,” Plenary Speaker at International Association of Sound and Audio Visual Archives Conference, Cape Town, South African, October 2014.
- “Sonic Storyboard: The Call to Prayer,” Noise From the Middle East: A Micro-Festival of Electronic Music, Abu Dhabi, UAE April 2014.
- “Art as Music: Travelling Cortex/Unravelling Core Text,” New York University Abu Dhabi Music Lecture Series, Abu Dhabi, April 2014.
- “Effective Classroom Design for Information Literacy and Learning,” Information Literacy Network of the Gulf Region, Abu Dhabi, 2012.
- “The Telematic Learning Environment: Experiences and Outcomes Teaching via Network Audio,” International Conference on Audio, Language and Image Processing, Shanghai, 2012.
