Text by CLOT Magazine
Collusion was founded in 2014 by Simon Poulter and Rachel Drury, and since then, they have created interactive public artworks and events that consider the impact of emerging technology on society. Based in Cambridge (U.K.), their work focused on the interdisciplinary arts and technology collaboration while working with artists, creatives, academics, and technologists to generate work that could only have been produced at Collusion.
This year’s theme explored the impact of technologies such as artificial intelligence, data culture and augmented reality on society. The artworks – commissioned by Collusion from more than 120 applicants – span theatre, music, dance, sculpture, film and animation and incorporate a variety of emerging technologies. From April 12 to 22, 2019, visitors coming to Cambridge will encounter six interactive and immersive artworks: 2030 by Jo Lawrence, Datacosm by Crowded Room, Doomsday Blockchain by Adham Faramawy, TEO by DDBC, Above the Surface by Above&Below, and My fingers distended as honey dripped from your lips and we danced in a circular motion by Henry Driver & Barbara Dougan.
2030, a party set in a 2030 home hosted by a virtual assistant; Datacosm, a multi-narrative film driven by live music and artificial intelligence; Doomsday Blockchain, a memorial to the 21st century that broadcasts hidden messages excavated from the Bitcoin blockchain; TEO, an AI-driven personal-avatar creation device; Above the Surface, a look at our relationship with material consumption through the lens of augmented reality; and immersive film My fingers distended as honey dripped from your lips and we danced in a circular motion, a dance recorded and performed in 360° video that reorients and disorients viewers in relation to others’ bodies and their own.
At CLOT Magazine we are already familiarised with Above&Below, who we had the opportunity to interview one of their co-founder, Daria Jelonek and artist Henry Driver, who we have been following his work since a while.
