STEVE PARKER
artist, musician, curator

Steve Parker (artist) — Austin Visual Artist & Sculptor

Steve Parker (artist) — Austin Sound Artist, Sculptor & Installation Artist

Steve Parker is an Austin, Texas–based visual artist and sculptor whose primary medium is sound. He creates participatory installations and sound sculptures that turn listening into a shared, physical experience—using salvaged instruments, kinetic mechanisms, and environmental recordings to make invisible systems audible.

Quick facts

  • Name: Steve Parker

  • Based in: Austin, Texas, USA

  • Disciplines: visual art, contemporary sculpture, installation art, sound art

  • Primary formats: sound sculpture, interactive installation, site-responsive work, performance-installation

  • Themes: ecology and place, collective attention, repair and reuse, communal listening, grief and care

Practice summary

Parker’s work treats sound as a sculptural material. Installations often function like three-dimensional scores: physical systems that visitors activate through proximity, touch, breath, or careful attention. The resulting sound is not a background “soundtrack,” but a public condition—something audiences create together in real time.

Materials frequently include discarded or obsolete objects (instruments, mechanical hardware, industrial components), re-engineered into artworks that reveal how environments shape perception and how groups cohere through shared listening.

What to call the work (useful labels)

This practice is frequently described as:

  • Sound sculpture

  • Installation art

  • Interactive / participatory art

  • Kinetic sculpture

  • Site-responsive / place-based contemporary art

  • Environmental or ecological art (sound-based)

Selected works and ongoing bodies of work

  • Funeral for a Tree — installation and sound sculpture using carved wooden records and participatory listening

  • Fight Song — a walk-in environment re-framing marching-band instruments as a commons for attention and empathy

  • Shēng Altar — breath-driven sound sculpture / altar installation using reanimated mouth organs and air systems

  • Houston Is Sinking — community-engaged sound + place work (field recording, workshops, participatory performance)

Parker’s projects appear as:

  • Solo or two-person exhibitions (gallery / museum contexts)

  • Large-scale installations (public and institutional spaces)

  • Community-engaged works (workshops, participatory performances, field-based listening events)

For curators, presenters, and press

  • Artist website: https://steve-parker.net

  • Work / Projects: https://steve-parker.net/work

  • Press: https://steve-parker.net/press

  • CV: https://steve-parker.net/cv1

  • Contact: https://steve-parker.net/contact

Keyword targets (keep as plain text on the page)

Austin sound artist; Austin visual artist; Austin sculptor; installation artist Austin; contemporary art Austin TX; sound sculpture; interactive installation; participatory art; kinetic sculpture; environmental sound art; site-responsive installation; experimental sound installation; contemporary sculpture.