The Garden of Forking Paths

The Garden of Forking Paths showcases seven interactive artworks, demos and performances, all the product of current PhD research into Media and Arts Technology at Queen Mary University of London. Utilizing sound, image, text, materials, and structure, each artwork explores aspects of how we think, sense and act when physical and digital worlds collide. We invite you to follow the forking paths and explore our digital garden.

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The Garden of Forking Paths showcases seven interactive artworks, demos and performances, all the product of current PhD research into Media and Arts Technology. Working with sound, image, text, materials, and structure, each artist explores aspects of how we think, sense and act when physical and digital worlds collide. Encounter an oversized musical instrument, converse with a chatbot about the future of interactive art, draw with sound, and see life through the eyes of an Alzheimer’s patient.

The online exhibition takes its name from a short story written by Jorges Luis Borges in 1941 that is often cited as inspiration for hypertext documents such as web pages that are interconnected and instantly accessed by hyperlinks. The Garden of Forking Paths represents the process of research: following the threads of existing thought, forking from existing lines of development and creating new pathways between disciplines. We invite you to follow these paths and explore our digital garden.

The exhibiting artists are part of the EPSRC+AHRC Media and Arts Technology Centre for Doctoral Training at Queen Mary University of London, UK, which provides a bridge between academic research, digital technologies, and creative industries.

mat.qmul.ac.uk

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Sundowning, The Forking Paths, Shivani Hassard & Angela McArthur & Vanessa Pope
Credit: Shivani Hassard (UK)

PRISM BELL, The Forking Paths, Lia Mice (UK) (Live Event)
Credit: Lia Mice (UK)

Online Exhibition, The Forking Paths, Betul Aksu (UK) / TAISAI
Credit: Betul Aksu (UK)

Timetable

Program

The Garden of Forking Paths

Online Exhibition In the time of a global pandemic, how can we exhibit and share projects, ideas andartworks with other people in lieu of a physical space? This question informed thecreation of our digital garden project that can be accessed from all over the worldwith an internet connection and a web-browser. We invite you to explore our garden at any time and from any place.

PRISM BELL / UV TOWER

Live Music Event Advancements in technology enable us to surpass the analogue restrictions ofsound production and build novel music instruments for the digital age. In thislive-event, Lia Mice will present PRISM BELL, a large scale instrument exploring thefull-body engagement of the musician. Andrea Guidi & Giacomo Lepri also presenttheir UVTOWER that uses mirrors and lasers to produce rhythm and sound.

Project Credits / Acknowledgements

Artists
Betül Aksu
Teodoro Dannemann Andrea Guidi
Shivani Hassard Giacomo Lepri Sebastian Löbbers Angela McArthur
Lia Mice
Vanessa Pope
Mei Zhang

Organisation Team
Prof. Nick Bryan-Kinns, Professor of Interaction Design
Jonathan Winfield, Manager for Centre for Doctoral Training in Media and Arts Technology
Louise Bryce, PhD student
Sebastian Löbbers, PhD student
Nicole Robson, PhD student
Francesco Soave, PhD student
Jianing Zheng, PhD student

Supported by the EPSRC and AHRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Media and Arts Technology (EP/L01632X/1)

Collaborators
Imperial College London, UK
The RCA Textiles Futures Project 2020, the Royal College of Art, UK:
Jiaxi Li, MA Textiles Student (Knit), Royal College of Art
Loy Chan, MA Fashion Menswear Student, Royal College of Art
Siying Chen, MA Textiles Student (Knit), Royal College of Art
Fang-Yi Chu (Janie), MA Textiles Student (Print), Royal College of Art
Feiyang Zhang MA Textiles Student (Mixed Media), Royal College of Art

Biography

The EPSRC+AHRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Media and Arts Technology (MAT) is aninterdisciplinary PhD programme at Queen Mary University of London. MAT provides abridge between academic research, digital technologies, and creative industries withinnovative programmes in the sciences and technologies focusing on sound, music, media,and interaction. Established in 2009, MAT has exhibited artworks internationally fromLondon to Beijing and has graduated more than 50 PhD students.