Counter Archaeologies of the City-to-Come

An exhibition of digital experiences which reimagine and reconfigure Edinburgh’s George IV Bridge through a ‘digital excavation’ of the once-hidden spaces and imaginaries of this urban artefact.

Counter Archaeologies of the City-to-Come is an exhibition of digital experiences which reimagine and reconfigure Edinburgh’s George IV Bridge through a ‘digital excavation’ of the once-hidden spaces and imaginaries of this urban artefact. The digital experiences will propose new stories and myths which imagine and speculate alternative futures for the monumental civic infrastructure of the bridge and the wider urban context. The exhibition is produced by students, staff and researchers from Edinburgh College of Art, exploring the potential of digital technologies as tools for world-building im/possible futures.

This project is led by the Image|Imaging|Interiors research cluster at Edinburgh College of Art, and is supported by supported by the Student Experience Grant, Inspace and the Institue for Design Informatics. The exhibition is part of the open program for Architecture Fringe 2025, the inter/national festival of design, architecture and the built environment.

Exhibition Details

Dates: 11 – 15 Jun, 2025
Time: 10:00 – 16:00 daily | Free/Drop-In
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

Launch Event

Date: Wed 11 Jun, 2025
Time: 17:30-19:00 | Free/Ticketed
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

About Image|Imaging|Interior research cluster

The Image|Imaging|Interior research cluster explores new crossdisplinary practices and frameworks of knowledge-making through which to interrogate the interior, its image, and its imaging. The contemporary interior, its design and fabrication, is a 3-dimensional space that is increasingly smeared across and embedded upon the 2-dimensional screen. In the digital image-based society, a range of technological platforms collapse space and reconfigure the interior as a mediated artefact circulated in a multitude of overlapping and colliding virtual and actual 2d/3d conditions. The Image|Imaging|Interior research cluster proposes timely and urgent investigations to explore how virtual and physical spaces, and their design and fabrication, directly engage and inform each other, to present arrangements at the interstice of 2d and 3d, image and actual.

The Image|Imaging|Interior research cluster collaborates across Edinburgh College of Art and The Glasgow School of Art

About Inspace

Inspace is part of the Institute for Design Informatics and is a collaborative hub, commissioning and producing creative activity. Our public programme connects data, research and creative talent. We host events and exhibitions where people can explore, learn, debate and create. Our programme unlocks digital technologies, tools and data and explores their role in society through a creative lens. We are home to Inspace City Screens, a unique seven screen street front projection space visible from Potterrow in Edinburgh.

Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Crafting Resistance: A Zine-Making Workshop on Everyday Activism 

Join ‘Tipping Point’ artist Louise Ashcroft for ‘Comedic Tools for Grappling with AI,’ an interactive workshop which explores the potential for humour and speculative design to shine light on present-day societal issues.

Image by Arda Awais

Join us for ‘Crafting Resistance,’ a drop-in, hands-on zine-making workshop designed to archive your everyday moments of resistance and inspire you to find new ways to critically engage with and resist the unwanted and pervasive incursion of artificial intelligence into various aspects of our lives. This interactive session will guide you through the process of creating your zine and allow us to reflect on the importance of documenting and sharing modes of resistance.  

The workshop draws inspiration from Identity 2.0’s collaboration with a diverse range of activists for their featured project, Issue: 404

Workshop Details

Facilitators: Identity 2.0 (Savena Surana and Arda Awais)
Date: Fri 8 August 2025
Time: 12:00-14:00 | Free/Drop-in
Activity Duration: Approx. 30mins
Audience: Age of 12 + (anyone under 18 should be accompanied by an adult)
Registration is also welcome if preferred; participants with tickets are guaranteed entry and drop-in will be on a first come first served basis if capacity is full.
Location: Bayes Centre, 47 Potterrow, Edinburgh EH8 9BT

Other Workshops

Check out ‘Comedic Tools for Grappling with AI’ , with Louise Ashcroft, the second drop-in making workshop happening 12:00-14:00 at Bayes Centre as part of the Tipping Point event programme.

These workshops are part of Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID), Tipping Point: Artist Responses to AI exhibition programme, featuring seven new art commissions, by Louise Ashcroft – Julie Freeman – Wesley Goatley – Identity 2.0 – Rachel Maclean – Kiki Shervington-White – Studio Above & Below exploring what artists can do to help us more wisely respond to the present realities and near-future horizons of Artificial Intelligence (AI).


Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Comedic Tools for Grappling with AI 

Join ‘Tipping Point’ artist Louise Ashcroft for ‘Comedic Tools for Grappling with AI,’ an interactive workshop which explores the potential for humour and speculative design to shine light on present-day societal issues.

Join us for ‘Comedic Tools for Grappling with AI,’ an interactive workshop led by comedy-adjacent artist Louise Ashcroft, which explores the potential for humour and speculative design to shine light on present-day societal issues. Using the current proliferation of AI hype as a backdrop, the workshop will encourage acts of community resilience and empowerment through collaborative brainstorming and hands-on activities. Come along to create and prototype your own whimsical AI gadgets using paint, drawing, and simple model-making techniques. 

Event Details

Facilitator: Louise Ashcroft  
Date: Fri 8 August 2025
Time: 12:00-14:00 | Free/Drop-in
Activity Duration: Approx. 10-20mins
Audience: Age of 12 + (anyone under 18 should be accompanied by an adult)
Registration is also welcome if preferred; participants with tickets are guaranteed entry and drop-in will be on a first come first served basis if capacity is full.  

Other Workshops

Check out ‘Crafting Resistance: A Zine-Making Workshop on Everyday Activism’ , with Savena Surana and Arda Awais from Identity 2.0, the second drop-in making workshop happening 12:00-14:00 at Bayes Centre as part of the Tipping Point event programme.

These workshops are part of Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID), Tipping Point: Artist Responses to AI exhibition porgramme, featuring seven new art commissions, by Louise Ashcroft – Julie Freeman – Wesley Goatley – Identity 2.0 – Rachel Maclean – Kiki Shervington-White – Studio Above & Below exploring what artists can do to help us more wisely respond to the present realities and near-future horizons of Artificial Intelligence (AI).


Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Announcing new art and AI exhibitions programme by Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) 

Announcing new art and AI exhibitions programme exploring how artists are actively shaping the future of culture and creativity in the age of AI. 

Rare Metals 2 by Hanna Barakat & Archival Images of AI + AIxDESIGN

We are thrilled to announce two groundbreaking exhibitions of new work this August, hosted by Inspace and Informatics Forum, and forming this year’s Edinburgh College of Art exhibition highlight for the 2025 Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. These exhibitions delve into the role artists play in navigating the evolving landscapes of Artificial Intelligence (AI), tackling themes of inspired innovation and agency, community empowerment and resistance, environmentalism, and matters of authenticity for artworks in the age of AI.  

These exhibitions are the result of two art commission projects, one by the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme and the other by BRAID research fellow Caterina Moruzzi’s project, Cultivating Responsible Engagement with AI Technology to Empower Creatives (CREA-TEC), all proudly funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council.  

Featuring an array of media including sculpture, video, installation, gadgets, zines and animation, audiences are invited to discover new perspectives on art and AI, all the while thinking about desired futures and the communities and work that will be needed to build them. 

Featured Exhibitions

Tipping Point: Artist Responses to AI

Dates: 7 to 31 August 2025 
Time: Mon-Sun, 10:00 – 17:00 | Free/Drop-In
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB [Fringe Venue 574]

Artists: Louise Ashcroft – Julie Freeman – Wesley Goatley – Identity 2.0 – Rachel Maclean – Kiki Shervington-White – Studio Above & Below 

Hanna Barakat & Archival Images of AI + AIxDESIGN / https://betterimagesofai.org /

The exhibition explores what artists can do to help us more wisely respond to the present realities and near-future horizons of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It features seven newly commissioned artworks from across the UK, funded by the UK’s Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) research programme.

The artworks present new ways of thinking about today’s AI, the futures we want and the communities needed to build it. Artists include Louise Ashcroft, Julie Freeman, Wesley Goatley, Identity 2.0, Rachel Maclean, Kiki Shervington-White, Studio Above & Below.

This art commissioning programme is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and delivered by BRAID in partnership with Inspace at the Institute for Design Informatics, with support from Edinburgh Art Festival and Better Images of AI. 

Authenticity Unmasked: Unveiling AI-Driven Realities Through Art 

Dates: 7 – 17 August 2025 
Time: Mon-Sun, 10:00 – 17:00 | Free/Drop-In
Location: G.07 at University of Edinburgh Informatics Forum [Fringe Venue 422 ]

Artists: Georgia Gardner, Kinnari Saraiya, dmstfctn

Theodore Koterwas, Still from The Nth Wave

AI-generated content is reshaping how we perceive truth and authenticity. From viral deep fakes to AI-altered political videos designed to manipulate public opinion, digital authenticity is increasingly uncertain. AI tools can even rewrite personal history, generating images of moments that never existed or altering past memories. 

The artworks presented in this exhibition will challenge our understanding of authenticity, engaging audiences in questions such as: When does authenticity in digital content matter to us? What influences our perception of what is real or fabricated? What shapes our trust in human-made creations? 

This Commission programme is led by CREA-TEC (“Cultivating Responsible Engagement with AI Technology to Empower Creatives”), a research project at the University of Edinburgh conducted in collaboration with Adobe and the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), co-founded by Adobe in 2019 to enhance transparency and access to the provenance history of digital media. 

Event Programme

ARTIST PANEL 

Date: Fri 8 August 2025
Time: 15:00-16:30 | Free/Ticketed 
Location: Bayes Centre, 47 Potterrow, Edinburgh EH8 9BT 

Title: Re-envisioning creative and critical engagement with AI through art
Speakers: Wesley Goatley, Rachel Maclean, Kiki Shervington-White, Studio Above&Below

Join us at the Bayes Centre for a dynamic panel discussion featuring artists Wesley Goatley, Rachel Maclean, Kiki Shervington-White, and Studio Above&Below. Collectively, their works delve into the intersections of historical technological advances and contemporary AI developments, employing critical and speculative design, installation, interactive art, community engagement, and filmmaking.

These artworks are not only designed to inspire us creatively but also to challenge us politically. How can art best serve as a powerful tool for empowering our creativity while critically exploring and advocating for more responsible, sustainable, and ethical futures in technology?

OPENING RECEPTION 

Date: Fri 8 August 2025
Time: 18:00-20:30 | Free/Ticketed 
Locations:  

Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB 
G.07 Informatics Forum, at University of Edinburgh

Join us at Inspace and Informatics Forum, for the opening reception of Tipping Point: Artist Responses to AI, and Authenticity Unmasked: Unveiling AI-Driven Realities Through Art, celebrating and presenting two captivating exhibitions featuring ten new art commissions from the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) art commission programme and BRAID funded project Cultivating Responsible Engagement with AI Technology to Empower Creatives (CREA-TEC), for the 2025 Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

This evening reception features artworks by artists Louise Ashcroft, Julie Freeman, Wesley Goatley, Identity 2.0, Rachel Maclean, Kiki Shervington-White, Studio Above & Below at Inspace and artworks by Georgia Gardner, Kinnari Saraiya, dmstfctn at Informatics Forum.  

Artist Workshops

 Image by Arda Awais

Crafting Resistance: A Zine-Making Workshop on AI and Activism 

Facilitators: Identity 2.0  
Date: Fri 8 August 2025  
Time: 12:00-13:00 | Free/Ticketed  
Location: Bayes Centre

Join us for ‘Crafting Resistance,’ a hands-on zine-making workshop designed to empower you to critically engage with and resist the unwanted and pervasive incursion of artificial intelligence (AI) into various aspects of our lives. This interactive session will guide you through the process of creating your own zine, using art and dialogue to capture and challenge the AI-saturated world of today. The workshop draws inspiration from Identity 2.0’s collaboration with a diverse range of activists for their project, Issue: 404. 

Photo by Christa Holka 2024

Comedic Tools for Grappling with AI 

Facilitator: Louise Ashcroft  
Date: Fri 8 August 2025  
Time: 13:00-14:00 | Free/Ticketed 
Registration is preferred, but drop-ins are also welcome 

Join us for ‘Comedic Tools for Grappling with AI,’ an interactive workshop led by comedy-adjacent artist Louise Ashcroft, which explores the potential for humour and speculative design to shine light on present-day societal issues. Using the current proliferation of AI hype as a backdrop, the workshop will encourage acts of community resilience and empowerment through collaborative brainstorming and hands-on activities. Come along to create and prototype your own whimsical AI gadgets using paint, drawing, and simple model-making techniques. 

About BRAID

BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) is a 6-year national research programme funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council, led by The University of Edinburgh in partnership with the Ada Lovelace Institute and the BBC. It is co-directed by Shannon Vallor and Ewa Luger, working alongside a team of co-investigators representing the breadth of the Arts and Humanities.

About CREA-TEC

CREA-TEC (“Cultivating Responsible Engagement with AI Technology to Empower Creatives”), a research project at the University of Edinburgh conducted in collaboration with Adobe and the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), co-founded by Adobe in 2019 to enhance transparency and access to the provenance history of digital media. CREA-TEC is supported by the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme with funds received from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

About the Institute for Design Informatics

In the Institute for Design Informatics, we fuse design and creative methodologies with data, data science and data-driven technologies. We create prototypes and experiences that make real to people the ideas that underpin the data society, and aim to ensure that new technologies sustain and enhance human values.

Artist Panel and Opening Reception

Join us at the Bayes Centre for a dynamic panel discussion featuring Tipping Point artists Wesley Goatley, Rachel Maclean, and Kiki Shervington-White, followed by the opening reception of Tipping Point and Authtenticity Unmasked the two new art and AI exhibitions at Inspace and Informatics Forum fearutred as part of the 2025 Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Image Credit: Rare Metals 2 by Hanna Barakat & Archival Images of AI + AIxDESIGN

ARTIST PANEL

Join us at the Bayes Centre for a dynamic panel discussion featuring Tipping Point artists Wesley Goatley, Rachel Maclean, and Kiki Shervington-White, Studio Above&Below. Collectively, their works delve into the intersections of historical technological advances and contemporary AI developments, employing critical and speculative design, installation, interactive art, community engagement, and filmmaking. These artworks are not only designed to inspire us creatively but also to challenge us politically. How can art best serve as a powerful tool for empowering our creativity while critically exploring and advocating for more responsible, sustainable, and ethical futures in technology?

Date: Fri 8 Aug 2025
Time: 15:00 – 16:30 | Free/Ticketed
Location: Bayes Centre, 47 Potterrow, Edinburgh EH8 9BT

EXHIBITION OPENING 

Join us at Inspace and Informatics Forum, to meet the artists behind the work and for the opening reception of Tipping Point: Artist Responses to AI, and Authenticity Unmasked: Unveiling AI-Driven Realities Through Art, celebrating and presenting two captivating exhibitions featuring ten new art commissions from the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) art commission programme and BRAID funded project Cultivating Responsible Engagement with AI Technology to Empower Creatives (CREA-TEC), for the 2025 Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

This evening reception features artworks by artists Louise Ashcroft, Julie Freeman, Wesley Goatley, Identity 2.0, Rachel Maclean, Kiki Shervington-White, Studio Above & Below at Inspace and artworks by Georgia Gardner, Kinnari Saraiya, dmstfctn at Informatics Forum.  

Join this event to discover how artists are opening up new perspectives on AI, envisioning desired futures, and exploring the communities essential for shaping them. 

Date: Fri 8 August 2025  
Time: 18:00-20:30 | Free/Ticketed
Locations: 
Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
G.07 Informatics Forum, at University of Edinburgh

About BRAID

BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) is a 6-year national research programme funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council, led by The University of Edinburgh in partnership with the Ada Lovelace Institute and the BBC. It is co-directed by Shannon Vallor and Ewa Luger, working alongside a team of co-investigators representing the breadth of the Arts and Humanities.

About CREA-TEC

CREA-TEC (“Cultivating Responsible Engagement with AI Technology to Empower Creatives”), a research project at the University of Edinburgh conducted in collaboration with Adobe and the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), co-founded by Adobe in 2019 to enhance transparency and access to the provenance history of digital media. The outcome of the commission and exhibit will be twofold: 1) informing old and creating new approaches for digital transparency and 2) increasing the audience’s awareness around content provenance and authenticity—and AI in general.

CREA-TEC is supported by the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme with funds received from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.


Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Speaking Towards One Another

Speaking Towards One Another is a series of interdisciplinary staged performances for voice, live electronics, video, wearable performance technology, and British Sign Language. The first full performance will be premiered in Inspace in May 2025 as part of a video and sound installation, co-created by Oana Stanciu, Anne Kjær, Stephanie Lamprea, and Yuki Neoh

Speaking Towards One Another project is created and performed by Stephanie Lamprea (soprano), Yuki Neoh (performer), Megan McArthur (performer), Oana Stanciu (video art), Jen McGregor (dramaturg), Anne Kjær (video dramaturg and performer), and Tim Cooper & Alistair MacDonald (live electronics).

The installation for Speaking Towards One Another is co-created by Oana Stanciu, Anne Kjær, Stephanie Lamprea, and Yuki Neoh. It features multi-screen projections of ‘moving portraits’ and a music composition by Wende Bartley, performed by Stephanie Lamprea. By exploring images of public identity, gender performativity, female presence, expression, and testimony, the moving images seek to subvert the male gaze and become figures of power in the public space.

The work is inspired by the ideas and works of Peruvian opera singer Yma Sumac, American writer and performer Adah Isaacs Menken, Spanish D/deaf nun and writer Teresa de Cartagena, American dancer Isadora Duncan, and Romanian dancer Miriam Răducanu. The film incorporates distortions and assemblages of bodies, moving portraits with object manipulation, and abstractions of British Sign Language.

The work is filmed and edited by Stanciu and performed by Kjær, Lamprea, and Neoh. Music is composed by Bartley and performed by Lamprea.

Speaking Towards One Another is made possible with funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Hope Scott Trust, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Make It Happen Fund, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities with support from Inspace Gallery and the Institute for Design Informatics.

Exhibition details:

Dates: 23-28 May 2025
Times: 10:00-17:00 daily  | Free/Drop-in
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

Performance Details

This unique opening performance will use live electronics to transform and digitise the singing and speaking voice, and wearable digital technologies to transform British Sign Language into live sounds and visuals. The concert will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music, a live BSL translator, and printed programmes with all texts spoken, sung, and signed in the performance.

Date: 22nd May 2025
Time: 18:00 – 20:30
Location:  Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

Access Statement: The concert will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music, a live BSL translator, and printed programmes with all texts spoken, sung, and signed in the performance.

Sensory Statement: Inspace is a bright white space and for this performance and exhibition we will be blocking out natural light to accommodate the flood and spot lit performance and the five-screen video installation, which emits low levels of projected light. Both the performance and the video installation will feature a combination of sung and spoken voice which at times can be quite loud and contains a combination of slow to fast paced undulations.

If you are sensitive to aural stimuli, the experience might bring up unexpected feelings. If at any stage visitors feel the need to take a break, there will be some additional seating away from the main performance and the installation. For the performance there will be some additional seating towards the back of Inspace, for the video installation, Inspace tiered seating will be available, both of which still have sound but where it is purposefully less intense.

Artists

Stephanie Lamprea – creative director and performer
Yuki Neoh – performer 
Oana Stanciu – video artist 
Megan McArthur – performance interpreter (integrated)
Jen McGregor – dramaturg (live performance)
Anne Kjær – performer and dramaturg (installation)
Alistair MacDonald – live electronics
Tim Cooper – sound design

 

Composers

Live Performance
Amble Skuse 
Laura Bowler 
Rebecca Saunders 
Stuart MacRae ​
Tom W. Green
Installation
Wende Bartley

Performance and Exhibition Gallery

IMG_7872

Downloadable Digital Programmes

About Inspace

Inspace is part of the Institute for Design Informatics and is a collaborative hub, commissioning and producing creative activity. Our public programme connects data, research and creative talent. We host events and exhibitions where people can explore, learn, debate and create. Our programme unlocks digital technologies, tools and data and explores their role in society through a creative lens. We are home to Inspace City Screens, a unique seven screen street front projection space visible from Potterrow in Edinburgh.

Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

STEAM Imaging VI: Q&A Event

Join this hybrid Q&A event to find out more about our exciting opportunity for STEAM Imaging VI: Resonant Connections through Design and Data, Residency and Engagement Programme. This opportunity is for University of Edinburgh based PhD postgraduate students.

Event Details

Date: Wed 7 May 2025
Time: 14:00 – 15:00 | Free/Ticketed
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

This is a hybrid event, but we encourage participants to attend in person for the post-event tour of Inspace, with the chance to chat with the Inspace team. You can also select the Zoom Admission ticket to obtain the access link if you can only join remotely.

Event Agenda

2:00 PM – 2:10 PM – Welcome [Miriam Walsh]
Welcome at Inspace and Institute for Design Informatics, Miriam Walsh, Inspace Manager

2:10 PM – 2:20 PM – Introduction to STEAM Imaging [Bianka Hofmann]
STEAM Imaging: A residence programme exploring digital medicine beyond disciplines. Bianka Hofmann, Head of Science Engagement, STEAM Imaging Programme Lead, Fraunhofer MEVIS

2:20 PM – 2:30 PM – How to design your own MRI sequence
[Matthias Günther and Daniel Hoinkiss]
How to design your own MRI sequence. Matthias Günther, Institutes Deputy Director, Head of Imaging Physics, and Daniel Hoinkiss, Principal Scientist MR Physics, Fraunhofer MEVIS

2:30 PM – 3:00 PM – Q&A session

3:00 PM – Opportunity post event to have a tour around Inspace [In-person attendees only]

About STEAM Imaging VI

Are you passionate about using design to make a positive impact and improve health and wellbeing in Society? Do you want to explore the space between creative and scientific practice and how collaborating across disciplines might enable better understanding of specialist healthcare tools and expertise?

Are you a University of Edinburgh postgraduate PhD student (creative), or a pair (creative + collaborator), interested in combining design thinking and data science, and curious about the future of research and development in digital medicine?

The Institute for Design Informatics (IDI) in partnership with the residencies’ host, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, invites postgraduate students, combining design thinking and data science, to engage in a transdisciplinary exploration of MRI sequence development, using no-field, low field and research MRI scanners, where creativity meets cutting-edge medical technology. This is your unique opportunity to explore and demystify Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), while gaining valuable insights into the rapidly evolving digital medicine market.

If selected for the residency, you’ll gain hands-on experience with No-Field, Low Field, and Research MRI scanners (read more about this technology below) while exploring innovative ways to program MR sequences. Your creative perspective exploring and combining data science, design thinking, and critical inquiry will be invaluable as you share your insights with Fraunhofer scientists and school students in Bremen, Germany – a joint STEAM workshop is integral part of the programme as well as audience engagement in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

This Residency & Science Engagement Program is a partnership between Fraunhofer MEVIS in Bremen, Germany, and the Institute for Design Informatics in Edinburgh to create this unique opportunity to explore the potential for application of creative multi- and transdisciplinary approaches in digital medicine. This collaboration involves the International Fraunhofer Talent School Bremen, Oberschule am Waller Ring in Bremen, and is supported by Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria.

Closing Date for Applications: 2nd June 2025


Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Speaking Towards One Another Opening Performance

Join the premiere of the first full performance of Speaking Towards One Another in Inspace this May.

Speaking Towards One Another project is created and performed by Stephanie Lamprea (soprano), Yuki Neoh (performer), Megan McArthur (performer), Oana Stanciu (video art), Jen McGregor (dramaturg), Anne Kjær (video dramaturg and performer), and Tim Cooper & Alistair MacDonald (live electronics).

Speaking Towards One Another is a series of interdisciplinary staged performances for voice, live electronics, video, wearable performance technology, and British Sign Language. The first full performance will be premiered in Inspace in May 2025 as part of a video and sound installation.

This unique opening performance will use live electronics to transform and digitise the singing and speaking voice, and wearable digital technologies to transform British Sign Language into live sounds and visuals. The concert will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music, a live BSL translator, and printed programmes with all texts spoken, sung, and signed in the performance.

Performance Details

Date: 22nd May 2025
Time: 18:00 – 20:30
Location:  Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

Speaking Towards One Another is made possible with funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Hope Scott Trust, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Make It Happen Fund, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities with support from Inspace Gallery and the Institute for Design Informatics.

Exhibition Details

Speaking Towards One Another installation is co-created by Oana Stanciu, Anne Kjær, Stephanie Lamprea, and Yuki Neoh. It features multi-screen projections of ‘moving portraits’ and a music composition by Wende Bartley, performed by Stephanie Lamprea. By exploring images of public identity, gender performativity, female presence, expression, and testimony, the moving images seek to subvert the male gaze and become figures of power in the public space.

Dates: 23-28 May 2025
Times: 10:00-17:00 daily  | Free/Drop-in
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

Downloadable Digital Programmes

About the Project

This project will feature two newly commissioned musical works by composers Laura Bowler and Amble Skuse, and recent works by composers Rebecca Saunders, Stuart Macrae, and Tom W. Green, setting texts by writers and artists Alwynne Pritchard, Carol Ann Duffy, Gertrude Stein, Adah Isaacs Menken, and Hannah Siddiqui. These works create a theatrical narrative addressing topics of women’s testimony, language and the body, gender representation, and resilience within disability.

This unique opening performance will use live electronics to transform and digitise the singing and speaking voice, and wearable digital technologies to transform British Sign Language into live sounds and visuals. The concert will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music, a live BSL translator, and printed programmes with all texts spoken, sung, and signed in the performance.

About Inspace

Inspace is part of the Institute for Design Informatics and is a collaborative hub, commissioning and producing creative activity. Our public programme connects data, research and creative talent. We host events and exhibitions where people can explore, learn, debate and create. Our programme unlocks digital technologies, tools and data and explores their role in society through a creative lens. We are home to Inspace City Screens, a unique seven screen street front projection space visible from Potterrow in Edinburgh.

Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Speaking Towards One Another: Daily Performances

Join Stephanie Lamprea and Anne Kjær across Speaking Towards One Another exhibition programme to experience short and intimate 15 mins afternoon performances

Stephanie Lamprea photo taken by Oana Stanciu
Anne Kjær photo taken by Robbie McFadzean

Event Details

Speaking Towards One Another performance and exhibition programme will feature daily short afternoon drop-in performances in Inspace. These will include a 15min dance performance by Anne Kjær (Fri & Mon) and a 15min vocal performance by Stephanie Lamprea (Wed & Thurs). 

Please note that there will be no performances over the weekend. 

Dates: Fri 23rd – Thurs 28th May (no performances on Sat & Sun) 
Time: 1pm daily | Free/Drop-in 
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB 

Performers

Stephanie Lamprea

Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, recitalist, curator, composer, and improviser, specializing in contemporary-classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, Stephanie uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character… like an icepick through the skull” (composer Jason Eckardt). She has been praised by Opera News Magazine for “her iconoclasm and fearless commitment to new sounds” and for her “impressive display of extended vocal techniques, in the honorable tradition of such forward-looking artists as Bethany Beardslee, Cathy Berberian and Joan La Barbara.” Her work has been described as “stunning, harrowing, agonising, sonorous…” by The Observer, “divinely deranged” by the Herald Scotland, and that she “sings so expressively and slowly with ever louder and higher-pitched voice, that the inclined listener [has] shivers down their back and tension flows into the last row.” (Halberstadt.de) She has performed as a soloist at Roulette Intermedium (New York City), Constellation Chicago, Sound Scotland, Kings Place (London), Southbank Centre (London), the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the National Concert Hall (Dublin), the Centre for Contemporary Art (Glasgow), the Hidden Door Festival (Edinburgh), and the Casa da Música (Porto). She has collaborated with leading new music ensembles and bands including the Riot Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, the City of London Sinfonia, Sō Percussion, and Post Coal Prom Queen.

An established multidisciplinary artist, Stephanie has collaborated as a soprano and composer with contemporary artist Jesse Jones to co-create Mirror Martyr Mirror Moon, a film installation presented at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham in partnership with the National Gallery in London. Mirror Martyr Mirror Moon received a five-star rating from The Observer, noting the “mesmerising film… The sound (and vision) is stunning, harrowing, agonising, sonorous and then garbled, stoppered, and running, as it seems, backwards.” Stephanie has collaborated with video artist and photographer Oana Stanciu and composer Tom W. Green to co-create Anthropocenic Garden, a multidisciplinary exhibition for film, music, and dance, commissioned by and presented at the Hidden Door Festival. She has also collaborated with author and activist Jessica Gaitán Johannesson and sound artist Alistair MacDonald to co-create Soroche, a work for music, spoken voice, and film, commissioned by and presented at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. A prolific recording artist, Stephanie released albums Quaking Aspen, Georges Aperghis’ 14 Récitations, and Don’t Add to Heartache, to international critical acclaim. Quaking Aspen was hailed by PopMatters.com as “a bold artistic statement that’s exciting and innovative… a magical, intense, and deeply satisfying journey.” 14 Récitations was described as a “tour-de-force… sportive vocal adventure of impressive proportions,” (Concerti.de), “performance art of the highest caliber,” (PopMatters.com), and a record in which “virtuosity is complemented by total commitment and vivid imagination.” (Bandcamp.com) Don’t Add to Heartache was celebrated as “an impassioned exploration of sound, space, and the relationship between nature and humanity… a fiercely inventive body of work that urges listeners to consider their relationship with nature in an increasingly artificial world.”

Anne Kjær

Anne Kjær is a transdisciplinary artist making work, often collaboratively, across multiple fields and mediums, including live performance, sound composition, film, installation, and site-specific art. Anne’s work is inquisitive about the human condition, multi-sensorial, immersive, emotionally delicate, sonically dense, and informed by her own neurodivergence. At the centre of her practice is the body; its sensory apparatus; movements; stories; and its desire and capacity for communication and connection. Coming from a background in acting and theatre, Anne developed an interest in physical theatre and contemporary dance. As someone without formal training in dance, her choreographic approach is grounded in contemporary somatic practices. Her work accentuates connecting the internal to the external; improvisation; awakening the imagination; expanding and refining the quality and texture of movement; longevity; and discovering pleasure and power in playful effort. Anne seeks inspiration from the movement language of Gaga, the movement research of Linda Kapetanea and Jozef Frucek (Fighting Monkey), Body Weather training (Min Tanaka), Contact Improvisation, and other contemporary movement practices.

Anne’s compositional approach is minimalist; centred around building multi-layered structures of electro-acoustic and live sounds. She uses field recordings, electronically processed sounds, and live and recorded vocals to create works that evoke sensual imagery and contemplation. Anne has made work for intimate headphone experiences as well as multi-channel, amplified systems. In her role as collaborator and facilitator Anne is committed to an ethics of care: to being attentive and responsive towards the needs of others; to awaken to the teachings that others may offer her; to being aware of her influence and responsibility; to the cultivation of empathy for all and adaptability in her means of communication. Anne’s definition of care is an amalgamation of the work of Joan Tronto, Berenice Fischer, Virginia Held, and adrienne maree-brown: Care is the work we do to maintain, recover, nurture, and entreasure the well-being in ourselves, each other, and the world, so that we may live in it as best as possible. Originally from Copenhagen and now based in Glasgow, Anne graduated from the Contemporary Performance Practice programme at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2023.


Design Informatics

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Announcing Call for Creatives for STEAM Imaging VI: Resonant Connections through Design and Data

STEAM Imaging VI: Resonant Connections through Design and Data

Engagement in MRI Sequence Development, Using No-Field, Low Field and Research MRI Scanners

RESIDENCY AND ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME: DEADLINE 2nd JUNE 2025

We are delighted to announce this new Call for Creatives at the University of Edinburgh for a Residency & Science Engagement Programme for STEAM Imaging VI: Resonant Connections through Design and Data, an exciting new opportunity for postgraduate PhD students across the University of Edinburgh

Are you passionate about using design to make a positive impact and improve health and wellbeing in Society? Do you want to explore the space between creative and scientific practice and how collaborating across disciplines might enable better understanding of specialist healthcare tools and expertise?

Are you a University of Edinburgh postgraduate PhD student (creative), or a pair (creative + collaborator), interested in combining design thinking and data science, and curious about the future of research and development in digital medicine?

The Institute for Design Informatics (IDI) in partnership with the residencies’ host, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, invites postgraduate students, combining design thinking and data science, to engage in a transdisciplinary exploration of MRI sequence development, using no-field, low field and research MRI scanners, where creativity meets cutting-edge medical technology. This is your unique opportunity to explore and demystify Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), while gaining valuable insights into the rapidly evolving digital medicine market.

You’ll gain hands-on experience with No-Field, Low Field, and Research MRI scanners (read more about this technology below) while exploring innovative ways to program MR sequences. Your creative perspective exploring and combining data science, design thinking, and critical inquiry will be invaluable as you share your insights with Fraunhofer scientists and school students in Bremen, Germany – a joint STEAM workshop is integral part of the programme as well as audience engagement Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

This Residency & Science Engagement Program is a partnership between Fraunhofer MEVIS in Bremen, Germany, and the Institute for Design Informatics in Edinburgh to create this unique opportunity to explore the potential for application of creative multi- and transdisciplinary approaches in digital medicine. This collaboration involves the International  Fraunhofer Talent School Bremen, Oberschule am Waller Ring in Bremen, and is supported by Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria.

Q&A Event

Join this hybrid Q&A event to find out more about our exciting opportunity for STEAM Imaging VI: Resonant Connections through Design and Data, Residency and Engagement Programme. This opportunity is for University of Edinburgh based PhD postgraduate students.

Date:  Wed 7 May 2025
Time: 14:00 – 15:00 | Free/Ticketed
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

Read through the full call details and criteria of this opportunity on the Inspace website or download PDF version also available here

Please note the call is open to current PhD students at the University of Edinburgh.

Applications should be submitted using the online application form and supporting materials should be emailed to designinformatics@ed.ac.uk by Monday 2 June 2025 at 10.00 GMT

Please contact the Design Informatics team (designinformatics@ed.ac.uk) if you would like further information about applying.