New Media Scotland: Reveal/Reset

New Media Scotland's Director, <strong>Mark Daniels</strong>, introduces an exhibition presenting Scotland's new media artists

Article by Mark Daniels | 22 Jul 2009

Digital culture is pervasive and ever evolving. The rules are broken and remade every day. In Scotland the Alt-w Fund has supported experimentation with new media, as both artistic subject and creative tool since 2000. Initiated by Scottish Screen, the fund is now managed by New Media Scotland.

Alt-w: New Directions in Scottish Digital Culture at the CCA in Glasgow last summer kick-started a new era. Work produced by Alt-w supported artists was shown together for the first time. The impact was felt immediately, raising the bar for new applications. We loved the palpable sense of excitement created about the fund. Our focus was to support projects that would dynamically engage audiences beyond the traditional screen, through the development of new artworks, devices and creative applications. We got eight crackers in response.

The web of screens is becoming the web of things, and New Media Scotland has become increasingly interested in smart spaces where the parameters of connectedness can be explored. The University of Edinburgh's new Inspace will be home to our research through a joint partnership with the School of Informatics. Launching at the Edinburgh Art Festival with the Alt-w exhibition Reveal/Reset, nine artists will reflect our information-rich world where attention is a commodity. Inspace is where we’ll explore the cultural significance of informatics and new media practice. As consumers we filter, as creators we share. In response, we forge new paths. These artworks engage with these accelerated times and their dispersed networks of communication.

Alex Hetherington’s performance will explore cultural forms that employ fakery and deliberate misinformation. FOUND Electronics have created Cybraphon, a robotic band, image conscious and emotional, its performance affected by online community opinion (as featured in this month's Showcase).

Emma Tolmie has subverted the experience and aesthetics of 3D film with a retro vibe. Thomson & Craighead will take you on a whirlwind tour of the world’s war zones (and the Magic Kingdom) in ten minutes using Google Earth and the photostreams of Flickr.

Wendy McMurdo and Paul Holmes were inspired by digitized avatar figure skaters at once real, manipulated and now delightfully mimicked. Benjamin Dembroski’s delicate sensor-driven devices will seduce as they sway. The Alt-w alumni artists are a force to be reckoned with. We want to ensure that their practice can continue to flourish in a time of great change in the funding of creativity in Scotland.

Let's not close the window.

5 Aug - 5 Sep. Wed - Sun, 10am - 6pm

Inspace, Crichton St, Edinburgh

http://www.alt-w.com