May New Exhibition Showcases Works from Future Landscapes Workshop

A new exhibition which showcases a display of works produced by participants during the ‘Future Landscapes: Enhancing Seen and Unseen Landscapes with Mixed Reality’ workshop will take place on Friday, 31 May. The workshop is an intensive four-week program is currently being run at NUI Galway in a collaboration between the Moore Institute at NUI Galway and Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture. It is facilitated by the School of Machines, Making and Make-Believe, based in Berlin.

The exhibition will feature work that has been created by participants drawn from theatre, visual and digital arts, animation, as well as from the research community within the College of Arts at NUI Galway. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore a variety of cutting-edge work-in-progress projects created during the programme, and to meet the project creators.

David Kelly, Digital Humanities Manager at NUI Galway’s Moore Institute, said: “The programme has been an amazing opportunity to not only learn from experts in the field of these technologies, but also to benefit from the huge variety of skills the participants bring. The opportunity to collaborate and learn from this diverse group has been a fantastic experience.”

The programme aims to develop capacity in the creative application of virtual and augmented reality technologies, and to establish a network of researchers, practitioners and artists through which future projects can be developed. The participants, who come from across Galway city and county, as well as from Europe and South America, are benefiting from the expertise of local and European instructors who have facilitated a mix of hands-on technical learning, along with artist talks and critical reflection on the use of these emerging technologies.

Discussing this approach to learning, Rachel Uwa, Founder of the School of Machines, Making and Make-Believe, said: “I design programs to get hands-on with latest technologies while simultaneously questioning their usage. Technology is fascinating but my aim through education is always to get participants to ask themselves ‘Who are we and what do we care about?’.  Inviting brilliant instructors who are open to discussing both the technological and human aspects of this creative work and bringing together interdisciplinary teams and people from different cultures and perspectives really challenges everyone to get out of their comfort zone which I feel is invaluable.”

This capacity-building project is a partnership between Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture’s Digital Programme and the Moore Institute at NUI Galway and is part-funded through a national Higher Education Authority (HEA) project on Digital Literacy in Irish Humanities.

When describing the long-term impact of this type of capacity building exercise, Denise McDonagh, Digital Programme Manager for Galway 2020, said: “For a European Capital of Culture, it is important to be part of the conversation on the digital transformation in creative and learning methods. Capacity building, especially through projects like Future Landscapes, can unlock the potential for new work and processes for groups of artists and researchers, which can allow them to critically engage with new digital technologies and their impact on culture.”

The public Future Landscapes exhibition takes place on Friday, 31 May, from 5–9pm at The Cornstore, Middle Street, Galway. Further details about the workshop can be found at: http://schoolofma.org/future-landscapes/

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