A Special Exhibition presents The Listening Shell at the V&A Museum Theatre Collections galleries (103-106) until 29 February 2008. I have been working with engineers David Smith (DuPont Corian) and Joel Irons (Audio Gold), to refine the experience of sitting inside the shell. We succeeded in the twin objectives of pushing back the speaker further inside the shell at the same time as incorporating a hi-definition mono speaker (there is a description of the earlier process of developing the shell in the accompanying catalogue). As at the South Bank Centre in 2004, there is usually a small queue, and groups like to take photos of each other, some posting them on Flickr type sites.

I also invited carpet manufacturers Ryalux to weave a new shagpile for the project. They originally made the Eidelweisss shagpile for the book lounge in my Ballroom Interactive installation (Berio Lounge, RFH 2004). This time they dyed the wool in V&A Chinese Violet. It sets off the Listening Shell superbly, and has a noticeable effect of creating a playful, relaxed atmosphere within the museum environment for people experiencing the Listening Shell, not to mention an invaluable area for people to meet, talk and read in the centre of the exhibition; this will be lost when the exhibit ends.

A legacy of this exhibit has been the online project The Listening Shell Songbook . This which grew from an open call, via the Sonic Arts Network, to commission composers to write soundscapes. Having originally envisaged 3 pieces, I ended up programming 11. The online programme comprises of works originally written for the Listening Shell at the V&A, and new works written for the online songbook by a growing list of Listening Shell Songbook composers. It is currently in its second edition. www.myspace.com/listeningshell

I am working on the next stage of this unique project, which concentrates on technical development and programming possibilities. For further information, please contact listeningshell@dodynash.com

Work continues on designing the set and costumes for The Merry Widow for Scottish Opera (Go Round 2008-2009 season). I am working again with both the director-choreographer, Clare Whistler and lighting designer, Simon Mills. Investigating the culture behind this Viennese operetta is proving fascinating. I am creating an abstract, curvelinear set, in blacks and golds, which emphasises the movement, music and psychological properties of this piece. The principle sopranos costumes (spanning from fin-de-siecle elegance to c.1914 avant garde Paris couture) will be as detailed and as sumptuous as the budget allows. The Merry Widow tours from September.

This January, I also gave a masterclass in Creating Visual Design for Music and Sound, to theatre design students at Nottingham Trent University.