We’re very excited to announce the four successful artists taking part in our Artist Development Opportunity, part of Plug In: Digital Arts Festival.
With the rise of artists using digital technology within their practice, Signals identified clear opportunity for artists to use these skills to work with cultural and education partners to embed technology within their programme and/or curriculum to create fun and engaging ways of raising attainment in a variety of topics.
Over four days our selected artists will work with Signals, and local cultural partners (Mercury Theatre, Firstsite and Colchester’s Arts Centre), to develop and then display exciting new ‘collaborative digital creative’ workshop ideas at our free Plug In: Showcase event at Firstsite on Saturday 24th March.
The Artists
Emily Godden’s is a digital artist and creative technologist. Emily enjoys the challenges of site specific work and creating works outside of the typical studio environment. In recent work she has constructed ‘Reality Checkpoint’ a solar powered VR experience on a custom built rickshaw from recycled parts.
Living in Ipswich Emily has exhibited work at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Spike Island, Firstsite, The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and was recently shortlisted for the Batsford Prize for Fine Art.
Henry Driver – “Employing photography, film, digitally generated imagery, games design and sculpture, Henry’s work is totally contemporary in it’s exploration of the speed at which the digital and virtual worlds are developing and the serious issues and questions that this raises. He creates shifting and shimmering imagery that seduces the eye, the technical virtuosity always in service to his purpose and enwrapping the viewer.” Barbara Dougan (Engage Journal editor, 2016)
Henry has shown both internationally and across the UK, exhibiting at Tate Liverpool, as well as multiple times at Tate Britain. On an international stage his work has been shown in Berlin, Toronto, Melbourne, Montreal, Copenhagen and Sydney. While nationally, he’s shown at Wysing Arts Centre, Whitechapel Gallery, Vivid Projects, Firstsite and Enclave Projects.
Sophie Gresswell creates art to challenge our perception of identity and space through distortion. She develops interactive art in public realms to transform neglected space and works with communities and young people to change perceptions. Connecting people to places through visual arts.
In 2013 she was invited to complete a residency at the Da Wang Cultural Highland, China. And more recently she partnered with the The University of Bedfordshire to develop a model of outreach and urban development which engages those studying scientific subjects with artistic concepts.
Dave Norton is a digital artist and workshop leader specialising in small electronics and performance. His previous workshops have focused on unlocking the creative potential of Microbit, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Scratch, Gamemaker Studio, Construct2 and Minecraft.
His work has ranged from large scale interactive installations at Firstsite gallery, to directing live theatre within a virtual world at the Mercury Theatre.
Dave is the Creative Director of Dystopia Studios and is currently developing a VR experience to re-create Roman Colchester.
Creative Digital Learning
Interested in the artists and their work? They’ll all be in attendance at our Plug In: Symposium on Friday 9th March.
Plug In: Symposium is a one day event exploring creative digital learning. Discover new technologies and learn how to integrate digital creativity into your practice. Including talks from leading digital artists and educators, plus hands on demostrations of exciting new technologies such as small robotics, VR and video game making. Suitable for artists, educators, curators or those involved in cultural sector learning.
To book your tickets click here.
