Biography

Olifa Hsieh Portrait

After completing her horn performance degree at Taipei Soochow University (2001–2005), Olifa Hsieh continued to Lübeck University of Music in Germany, where she earned her Advanced Performer's Master (2009). She then studied electronic music composition and performance at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater / European Live Electronic Center (EULEC), receiving a certification in 2011.

In 2011 she entered the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK Hamburg), pursuing a Master in Time-based Media Art. During this period she collaborated with artists across Germany and Taiwan, completing her degree in 2017 with the thesis Invisible Architecture: The Spatiality of Sound.

Since returning to Taiwan in 2017, she has been active in sound art, electroacoustic improvisation, experimental composition, and contemporary theater. Her works combine instrumental techniques with sound technology and cross-disciplinary performance, pushing the limits of acoustic expression through spatial imagination.

In 2018 she began a Ph.D. at National Yanming Chiao Tung University's Graduate Institute of Architecture, researching Mixed Reality, Immersive Experience, and Spatial Audio. In 2022 she was awarded a national scholarship by the Ministry of Science and Technology to conduct a doctoral research fellowship at the Allosphere Institute / MAT at UC Santa Barbara.

Education

2023–2025
Doctoral Visiting Scholar — UC Santa Barbara / MAT
National Science and Technology Council Doctoral Research Fellowship (National Scholarship)
2018–
Ph.D. Program — Graduate Institute of Architecture, NYCU
AR/VR · Immersive Experience · Spatial Audio · Interactive Perception
2011–2017
MA Time-based Media Art — University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK)
Thesis: Invisible Architecture: The Spatiality of Sound
2009–2011
Electronic New Music Composition Certificate — Hamburg University of Music / EULEC
European Live Electronic Center
2005–2009
Advanced Performer's Master (French Horn) — Musikhochschule Lübeck

New Media & Immersive Technology

2025.01
Alpha-Forest: Multiple Sensories Immersive Healing Theatre
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA), U-108 SPACE
2022.03
(Dis)embodiment in Tenses — Virtual Body Sound Performance
Selected for Arts@ITRI Artist Residency Program
2022.03
Hear the Light — Immersive Sound and Light Work
Selected for 2022 ICMA Asia Online Showcase
2020.11
The Liquid Sensation — Brainwave Sound Interactive Healing System
Hsinchu Railway Art Site
2019.11
Infinity — Immersive Audiovisual Performance
Combining VR, Immersive Audio & Wearable Controller · MOCA Taipei Contemporary Art Center
2019.10
Melody of Motion — Interactive Immersive Audio Installation
14th Taipei Digital Arts Festival "#Re-TranSens" · MOCA Taipei
2019.04
Melody of Motion — Solo Exhibition
Interactive Immersive Ambisonics Sound Installation · Digital Art Center (DAC), Taipei
2018.12
A Sound Journey — Three Sound Installations
Derived from Ito Toyo's Architecture · National Taichung Theater

Sound Theater

2017.07
Each of Us — Participatory Sound Performance
Lange Nacht der Musik Oldenburg, Germany · Supported by National Culture and Arts Foundation
2017.03
Sound, Form and Body: Body as an Installation
Workshop and Opening Performance · National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
2016.03
Sound, Body, Memories — TIFA 2016
Sound Design & Live Performance for Lai Tsui-Shuang Dance Theater · National Theater Experimental Stage
2014.12
Future Echoes — Opening Performance
International Sound Installation Exhibition · National Taiwan Science Education Center
2013.09
Exploration Mill — IMPRO.453 Inaugural Production
Taipei Fringe Festival — Best Cross-Disciplinary Performance Award

Sound Design

2021.04
Said Archaeological Team — Taiwan Cultural Expo, Hualien Pavilion
Immersive multi-channel sound design
2019.11
Your City Color — NTT New Arts Project
Sound design for immersive panoramic installation
2017.10
Non-Ending-Space
Presented at WOCAT 2017 International Electronic Music & Audio Technology Conference
2017.10
Four Breaths and Five Flavors — Dadaocheng International Arts Festival
Sound design and direction for InTW Dance Studio
2016.03
Sound, Body, Memories — TIFA 2016
Sound design, direction & live performance · National Theater Experimental Stage

Soundscape

2017.12
Die Stimmung — Sound Installation
Taiwan Sociological Association Annual Conference · Fu Jen Catholic University
2015.02
Taipei Sonic MRT — Landscape Sound Installation
MRT Station · National Taiwan Science Education Center / Taipei Metro Bureau
2014.02
Ponlai Town Soundscape Walk
Site-specific guided soundscape · Datong District Community Project, Taipei City Cultural Affairs Bureau

Experimental Electroacoustic / Solo Performance

2018.12
Sleep 79 — Sound Sanatorium for IT Workers
Curated by Shu-Lea Cheang, "Re-Base" · C-Lab, Taipei
2016.08
Zhuangzi Dreams of a Butterfly — Mime × Electroacoustic
National Concert Hall Recital Hall
2015.09
Lacking Sound Festival #94
Improvised collaboration with Junichi Usui (Japan) · Taipei
2014.11
Improv Now! — Trio
Hugues Vincent × Olifa Hsieh × Jun Ashikari · Hsinchu
2013.09
Exploration Mill — IMPRO.453
Taipei Fringe Festival — Best Cross-Disciplinary Performance Award
2010.09
Ich laufe von 1 bis 1.
Electroacoustic improvisation with physical performance · Gedok, Hamburg, Germany

Talks

2022.03
Theater Pas de Deux: Technology × Music — When Sound Becomes a Performer · National Theater & Concert Hall
2018.12
Dimensions of Listening: Artistic and Technical Applications from Mono to Multichannel · Instant42 Art Space
2018.03
Listening: Spatial Information · University of Taipei, Visual Arts Department
2017.04
The Musician's Language: Cross-disciplinary Sound Experiments · Soochow University, Music Dept.
2013.09
From Music to Noise: Cross-disciplinary Sound Communication and Spatial Experiments · TNUA

Workshops

2020.07
Sound and Space / Ambisonics Multi-channel Theory / Sound Art and New Media Performance · NTUA Sound Arts Center
2020.02
Sound Art and Technology (cross-disciplinary) · National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
2017.03
Sound, Form, Body: Body as an Installation — Workshop Director · NTMoFA Taichung
2014
Sound Workshops Series (children, youth, university) · NTMoFA / National Taiwan Science Education Center

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