You joined FutureEverything with a long history of working across art and technology, can you tell us a bit about your work and what attracted you to working with FutureEverything?
Throughout my career, I’ve specialised in innovatively merging art, technology, and ecosystemic change. This has included exploring the creative and critical possibilities of emerging technologies – from AI to games, quantum, blockchain and synthetic biology. One of the reasons I was drawn to FutureEverything is its long history of exploring futures in this field in the UK and internationally. I especially value how the festival brought together and catalysed collaborations across the cutting edge of disciplines and sectors – ranging from art and technology to science, policy and design.
My work is strongly grounded in visual art, I bring a philosophical perspective to this. I’m motivated by the transformative potential of art as a form of felt knowledge and a gathering point for exploring alternative ideas for how things can be. This is something I’ve championed when working across various parts of the visual art ecosystem – from public funding and policy, to the commercial art world, born digital art organisations, and when mentoring artists at the grassroots.
Many of FutureEverything’s recent projects have an ecological angle, for example Di Maidstone’s Emotional Biodiversity project or Unintended Consequences by Jen Southern, this is something that is important to me. A key area of research and thinking for me has been around my notion of the Synthetic Sacred. The Synthetic Sacred explores new pathways for ecological restoration amidst hybridity.
I’m continuing to develop the Synthetic Sacred in my new role at Future Everything, the ideas gradually will frame and imbue our programmes at FutureEverything. The Synthetic Sacred builds on my previous work in ecology, for example through the RSA’s Arts and Ecology programme and my MPhil in Philosophy which looked at gardens, knowledge and sustainability.
I’m excited to build on Future Everything’s history, and develop the organisation as a creative think tank across art, technology and ecology.