Duncan Speakman is a composer and director of the artists collective ‘Circumstance’. Originally trained as a sound engineer at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, since 1999 he has been developing artworks and performances that both use and question digital communication systems. Since 2005 he has focused on mobile audio works and locative media,  developing pieces where the line between audience and performer becomes continually questioned.  From 2007 − 2010 he was a senior lecturer in Media Practice at the University of the West of England and more recently taught on the ArtScience programme at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague.

Circumstance was established in 2010 as a framework for the collaboration of Duncan Speakman, Sarah Anderson and Emilie Grenier, and now with Tom Abba as co-director, creating cinematic experiences in unexpected location. These experiences take many forms, from mass participation performances and intimate in-ear stories, to books, installations and workshops.

They take the politics of mobile technology and public space, wrapping up their questions in melancholy and romance.

They are regularly invited to present their work internationally and recent exhibitions include Microwave (HK), Mayfest (Bristol) TPAM (Tokyo), Kontraste (Krems), SonicActs (Amsterdam), Playpublik (Berlin), MOCA (Taipei), Vooruit (Gent), MediaCity (Seoul) and ArteMov (Sao Paulo), Barbican (London), FutureEverything (Manchester), Edinburgh Film Festival, and Soho Theatre (London).