Martin Osman, also known as dot.i, is a sound artist whose practice spans music, oral histories, installations and soundscapes.
Drawing on field recordings, archival material and experimental composition, his work uncovers the voices, memories and atmospheres embedded in places and communities.
This spring and summer, Martin is artist-in-residence on ACAVA’s Cultivate Create programme at Maxilla Walk Gardens in North Kensington, leading creative sessions with families in June and July that explore food stories, recipes, sound, music and growing.
In this Q&A, Martin shares more about his practice, what draws him to Cultivate Create, and what he’s currently exploring in his work. This interview is part of a series featuring artists from ACAVA’s studio and community network.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your practice?
My name is Martin Osman A.K.A dot.i and I work with sounds. The sounds of humans and non-humans, including nature and machines. This results in but not limited to; music, oral histories, installations, soundscapes and sound pieces that are experienced as individuals, groups, in headphones or out loud, in real life and the digital world. My work frequently engages with place. I use various recording techniques and approaches to draw out the stories and resonances that are already there waiting to be found and heard. Finding the voices, memories, and atmospheres embedded in local environments and overlooked spaces. I often collaborate with artists, poets, scientists, researchers and community groups, using field recordings, archival material, and experimental composition to create immersive sound pieces that respond to social histories, environmental issues, and collective imagination.
What interests you about the Cultivate Create programme, and ACAVA’s social practice programme more widely?
I was made aware of ACAVA through a trustee I met before and ACAVA’s Grenfell Tower sound commission. I was put in contact with Jack Young (ACAVA’s Curator Young People, Children and Families) and then became aware of Cultivate Create and the further work that ACAVA do with their social practice. I like how it’s community work centred around creativity and what the community need. Looking at the history of Maxilla Gardens and the hub that’s close to it, how the history is tied into activism, how the hub actually functions, the activities they do, they’re all things that, as someone who works in community engagement as well as sound, I feel are very, very important. This is very exciting and very engaging. Just meeting the groups, the families, and how they interact, it’s very clearly a very healthy programme and something I’m very happy to be a part of.
Are there any themes or ideas you’re especially interested in exploring with the Cultivate Create families on your residency?
I’m really interested in just seeing what people want to express, what has actually impacted them the most about having time at the garden. I know there are the obvious things like wellbeing, connection, being part of the community, but when you actually talk to people and hear their individual stories, you hear quite specific things that only they can go through. I find it really exciting and interesting to find out people’s own personal journeys, and also how the Cultivate Create programme has had an impact on their lives and how it allows people to be the humans that they want to be.
Can you sum up in a few words what you’re most interested in with your practice at this moment in time?
In my practice at the moment, being a sound artist, I’m really interested in sub-bass lines, and bass lines that exist in nature. Frequencies in the range of around 20Hz to 260Hz: how those frequencies affect the body, how they affect health, how they occur naturally, and how they can be man-made. I’m also interested in using visuals, putting sound to visuals, or having sound and then adding visuals to it. I’m getting a lot more into that, and also more sculptures; living sculptures that can be touched and played with, that create sounds and interact with people. For example, I’m really into working on a feasting dinner table that interacts with the different humans around it, so if there’s a full table and everyone’s sitting down, the connection of people sitting together completes a circuit, which has some influence over the lights and sounds that accompany the dinner.
Where can we find your work?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dot.i.stuff/
Bandcamp: https://doti.bandcamp.com/
Martin’s residency at Maxilla Walk Gardens reflects his deep interest in place, community and the power of sound to surface personal stories. Through creative sessions with Cultivate Create families, he’ll be listening, recording and making together, exploring what the garden means to the people who tend it.
Get involved with our Cultivate Create programme.
Visit this page to read our other Q&As.
Martin’s residency has been funded by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Arts Grants Scheme
Cultivate Create spring/summer 2026
Cultivate Create is back for spring and summer 2026. Join free family gardening sessions at Maxilla Walk Gardens, with artist-in-residence Martin Osman this June and July.