Acousatron
& other installations
Jump to:
- Acousatron
- Amplified water-based installations
- Fabrication of bespoke installations
- Stand by your Manesta (inspired by suffragette Evelyn Manesta)
The Acousatron: a Terrifying, Interactive, Upcycled Noise Contraption
- Footfall of up to 2000 participants daily
- Costumed performers / facilitators
- Toured UK & internationally for 16 years
- 8 Unique instruments mounted in consoles
- Constant participatory science demonstrations
- Built from up-cycled materials and e-waste
- 9m geodesic dome for outdoor use
The Acousatron is ideal for large events where lots of people want to have a go at something. The amplified sounds are large, complex and constantly changing as participants actively control them, or watch and listen in fascination as motors strum the strings of the acoustic instruments.
Visitors are Nose Tested on entry and Bass Buzzed as they leave. Between these two life-changing events, they make beautiful music.
Or noise.
Photo: Eureka! National Children’s Museum, Halifax, 2025
Photo: Camper Calling Festival, 2023
‘The feedback from our team is overwhelmingly positive. The Acousatron itself was brilliant, though the main thing colleagues have fed back on is how great you and your team were, both to work with and when engaging with families.’
Rachael Bevan, Head of Learning and Inspiration
Eureka! Science + Discovery
‘Noisy Toys was a weird and wonderful noisy tent of creative madness in the Future Generation (kids) field in 2012. The crew are experts at engagement and find a perfect balance between other-worldly imagination and solid science learning.’
Emily Williams, Area Manager, Green Man Festival
Events that have featured the Acousatron:
- Glastonbury festival
- UK Maker Faire
- Moscow Maker Faire*
- National Science & Media Museum (Bradford)
- Science & Industry Museum (Manchester)
- Latitude (music festival)
- Green Man (music festival)
- Polytech Festival (Moscow)*
- Big Bang Fair (NEC)
- Eureka! National Children’s Museum (Halifax)
- Eureka! Science & Discovery Museum (Wirral)
* Moscow events occurred before 2020
continued below:
Photo: Eureka! National Children’s Museum, Halifax, 2025
Photo: Eureka Discovery, Wirral, 2024
More events that have featured the Acousatron:
- Boomtown festival
- Edinburgh Science Festival
- Camp Bestival (festival)
- Deershed festival
- Camper Calling (festival)
- Park Life (festival)
- Victoria Baths (Manchester)
- Manchester Science Festival
- Carfest (North & South)
- Jimmy’s Farm fest
- Wrexham Science Festival
- + many other smaller and community events
Amplified water-based installations
3 separate but related sound installations using flowing water and hydrophones. Water is pumped round a system which visitors can control, simulating rain, rivers, flash floods and absorbent materials as flood control measures.
- Gurgle Splosher mk1; Thames Festival 2010, commissioned by The House of Fairy Tales. Designed through a series of workshops with local schools, around a Waterwheel theme.
- Gurgle Splosher mk2; Landlines & Watermarks 2018, commissioned by 509 Arts. Amplified model of the water cycle with flash flooding.
- Gush Trickle; Iron People, commissioned by Northern Broadsides. Various flood alleviation systems simulated in the model, with flash floods.
Photo: Gurgle Splosher, Piece Hall Halifax, 108
Photo: Gush Trickle, Eureka! Halifax 2025
“The Gurgle Splosher was commissioned by 509 Arts as part of Landlines and Watermarks – a major cultural response to the Calderdale floods of 2015. Noisy Toys produced a playful, engaging and interactive experience that worked for people of all ages and was seen at local festivals in West Yorkshire. It featured as part of the People’s Fair in the newly restored £19m Piece Hall in Halifax to great effect. The imaginative design and amplified underwater sounds were an immediate hit and complemented our other water themed commissioned arts projects. The crew managed to balance in-character costumed performances with genuine educational content relating to the water cycle. The Gurgle Splosher is certain entertain and inform wherever it is seen. A fantastic and unusual interactive addition to any event.”
Alan Dix, 509 Arts
Stand by your Manesta
Interactive art-piece inspired by the fascinating story of suffragette Evelyn Manesta