King's Artists – New Thinking, New Making
Exhibition
Artist-academic collaborations interrogate our collective futures
An interactive sculpture providing an immersive experience of Disobedient AI and experimental knitwear featuring sensor-embedded yarns were some of the academic-artist collaborations on display as part of a new exhibition, King’s Artists – New Thinking, New Making, at King’s in October 2018.
Film by Gemma Riggs
Six contemporary artists collaborated with leading King’s academics during 2017-18 as part of King’s Artists, an innovative project that enables artists to develop their practice in parallel with academic research. An exhibition of creative responses to these collaborations, King's Artists – New Thinking, New Making, ran at the Arcade in King’s iconic Bush House.
Academic-artist collaborations on display as part of the exhibition were:
Gen Doy and Lynn Dennison, Mare Nostrum, in King’s Artists – New Thinking, New Making. Photo credit: Alex Lloyd © King’s College London.
Artist Gen Doy is resident in the Department of Classics, working in collaboration with Professor Michael Trapp, Professor of Greek Literature & Thought. Together they explored the history of Strand Lane ‘Roman’ bath and cultural mythology from its origins as a 17th Century cistern to its reinvention as ‘Roman’ through colourful urban myths.
Rebecca Lynch, Dreaming Machines, Humans in Residence, in King’s Artists – New Thinking, New Making. Photo credit: Alex Lloyd © King’s College London.
Creative-writer-in-residence, Rebecca Lynch worked with Professor Elizabeth Sklar, Head of the Centre for Robotics Research at King’s to develop experimental short films imagining technological futures for human-robot societies. The artwork was inspired by King’s state-of-the-art robotics research and explores the design, development and testing of future robotic technologies.
Dr Kai Syng Tan touches the #MagicCarpet in King’s Artists – New Thinking, New Making. Photo credit: Alex Lloyd © King’s College London.
Artist, curator and researcher Dr Kai Syng Tan worked with Professor Philip Asherson in the Department of Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry. Together they created a tapestry, titled We sat on a mat and had a chat and made maps! #MagicCarpet, which weaves together research, narratives and questions about mind-wandering.
THE CONVERSATION published a piece by Dr Tan and Professor Asherson examining how ‘lofty’ art can help the medical world reimagine mental health. Read the article here.
Nassia Inglessis, A Disobedient Intelligence for a Disobedient Space in King’s Artists – New Thinking, New Making. Photo credit: Alex Lloyd © King’s College London.
Design engineer Nassia Inglessis – whose work was displayed in the central courtyard at Somerset House during the London Design Biennale 2018 – has been resident in King’s Department of Informatics, working in collaboration with Dr Richard Overill, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science. Examining what happens when artificial intelligence behaves unpredictably, Nassia’s immersive interactive sculpture, Disobedient AI, explores inversions of the future where human and artificial entities coexist.
Teresa Albor, a visitor listens to Unconditional in King’s Artists – New Thinking, New Making. Photo credit: Alex Lloyd © King’s College London.
Multidisciplinary artist Teresa Albor worked with Professor Sir John Strang and Dr Sally Marlow in King’s Department of Addictions. The sound/video/visual installation created for the exhibition is based on conversations with heroin users and the scientists and individuals who work with users and their families. The piece aims to give voice to the emotions of the people in close relation to heroin users.
BRIA, detail of Experimental Smart Textiles in King’s Artists – New Thinking, New Making. Photo credit: Alex Lloyd © King’s College London.
The Brooke Roberts Innovation Agency (BRIA) and Dr Matthew Howard, Department of Informatics, explored digital knitwear design and ‘wearable’ smart textiles that sense, actuate and capture human behavioural data through embedded sensors.
The Arcade at Bush House is part of the Cultural Quarter at King’s College London and is home to a diverse programme of events, installations and exhibitions, offering a forum where students, the academic community and the public can engage with each other, as well as with artists and cultural partners. Home to a welcoming café and the KCLSU Shop, the Arcade offers a direct connection with research and collaborative activity taking place across the university, and provides a new space on the Strand for conversation, reflection and engagement.
Download the exhibition guide here.