The British Council promotes the Exchange of innovative projects in the field of creative industries through a number of regional programmes such as the European Creative Hub Forum. Within Sónar + D the British Council is inviting Somerset House Studio to present the most interesting in projects in the residency programme. The British Council is also bringing together a delegation of European professionals to meet face to face with artists and creative entrepreneurs that are leading in this sector.
Libby Heaney and Alan Warburton resident artists at the Somerset House Studios from London will be presenting their projects within Market Lab, the nerve centre of Sonar +D providing a unique opportunity to see cutting edge technology and art from the UK.
Libby Heaney whose work takes quantum physics as a starting point, (re)examining systems through a quantum computational lens in interactive installations and participatory events. She uses its counter-intuitive concepts (such as contextuality, entanglement and superposition) to explore resonances with other fields and develop new languages around quantum science. Her works include Time’s Tattarratttat, an interactive projection controlled by the palindromicity of words; Lady Chatterley’s Tinderbot, an AI bot conversing on Tinder with dialogue drawn from D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover; and Sensory Apparatus, an installation exploring how user behaviour can be altered by advertising.
In a creative climate in which technology is often subject to suspicion, evangelism or nostalgia, Alan Warburton’s technologically articulate practice seeks to confront the tricky world of high-end digital imagery head on. Through his work – which includes digital images, CGI films, AR and VR experiences, critical writing and video essays - he instigates an investigation into what it is that software does, how it both shapes and is shaped by culture. His work explores the spectacular uses of technology as well as speculating on radical alternatives.
Somerset House Studios is a new experimental workspace connecting artists, makers and thinkers with audiences and provides a platform for the development of new creative projects and collaboration, promoting work that pushes bold ideas, engages with urgent issues and pioneers new technologies.
Market Lab is a space where the creators of the year's most outstanding technology initiatives present the projects that they have developed in creative labs, media labs, universities and businesses. A place for trying out innovations that explore new forms of creation, production and marketing, and which in turn fosters relationships between professionals in the creative industries and the general public
Sónar+D, the international conference that brings together a combination of activities with a common theme: the relationship between creativity and technology, and the digital transformation of the cultural industries involved.