Weekend One Reflections - N18

Reflections on Immersive Weekend One - 22nd -24th Jun 18 

Image accessed via https://twitter.com/JessieDriscoll/status/1010864976653897728 - Speaker , Si Canaway of Supanaught. 23rd Jun 18 

- Meeting and greeting brilliant people in the field of technology and digital media has been a valuable and exciting experience across the weekend. Its allowed me to feel confident about the work that I produce and has given me invaluable practice in terms of articulating what my work is all about and my core values that drive my projects. 

- The BBC R&D team Jessica Driscoll and Jasmine Cox , and VR/AR technologist Dimiti Ivanov were the most interesting speakers for myself. The technology they were sharing would have an interesting fit in my work that would expand on the digital presence in my physical installation work. Critically, some of the research and development tools would enhance my research into our relationships with material/non-material digital media - increasing technological and tactile engagement within my physical spaces. This idea of immersive and connected experiences adds to the sociological strand of my work that looks at ways in which contemporary art can become more open and accessible rather than closed and inclusive to intellectuals and academics. Narratives and storytelling are interesting ways to bring together diverse audiences in an art space (this could be something that I expand on in other projects later this year) 

- Simon McKeown's talk on his career in the animation/gaming industry and with projection mapping was interesting, he usually does large scale projection mapping on building or outside during festivals. This is an interesting dynamic space for an art practice as its unmissable in terms of diverse and large-scale audiences. For myself, it'd be interesting to look at how I could projection map into some of the more obscure spaces that I create in my installation 'rooms' - this has potential to enhance sites and draw attention to their histories and could perhaps provide commentary on the ever encroaching 'digital world' that can threaten to consume our historical relics and social communities. 

Next steps in preparation for Immersive Weekend 2 

-Experimenting with the tools offered so far e.g 'live coding' as a starting point to develop some ideas for what I might want to make with digital tech. I can be thinking about ways in which I can connect my ideas with the ethos of Great Exhibition of the North and celebrating Northern culture. 

- Perhaps there's a way in which I can combine my Digital Artist Residency work ('Online Installation?) This coincides with the social strand of my work again as it looks at accessibility and open culture on the net - and how this might change how my art functions and is valued (especially as the web is furiously associated with consumer culture) 

How can we make our engagement with digital technologies more mindful and connected rather than automatic/disconnected?