Coast to Coast is a photography exhibition of work created during journeys by Parkinson across the United States of America, capturing analogue and digital photography of the landscape, translating these into a display for Inspace City Screens, lighting up the dark wintery skies of Edinburgh.
A photography exhibition by Caroline Parkinson of work largely created on a three-week road trip in July 2023 through the United States of America (USA) – from New York to Niagara, through Chicago, Dallas to Oklahoma, through to Colorado, down to Las Vegas, through the length of Arizona, to San Diego and LA. This 2023 collection is supplemented with images from three previous trips to specific places to create a deeper narrative within this set of work. The images and small dataset from which this work emerges comprise slide and black and white photographic film, and a small selection of digital images. These have been scanned and translated into large scale digital representations to allow for panoramic viewing of this journey through the landscape via projection onto Inspace City Screens.
Caroline is part of a photography network in Arizona – Through Each Others Eyes, where professional photographers exchange and showcase work made in each other’s countries. It is in this spirit that the aim of the exhibition is to light up the dark of Scotland’s winter nights with warm images from USA taking viewers in Edinburgh’s streets to different cities and warmer landscapes using the unique City Screens at Inspace.
Delivered in partnership with Sam Healy, Ray Interactive.
Exhibition Details
Dates: Fri-Sun, 14 – 16 Mar, 2025 Time: 17:00 – 3:00 | Street viewing daily Location: Inspace City Screens, Potterrow, Edinburgh
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.
You’re Not Alone is a Photovoice* exhibition presenting the experiences and priorities of Autistic people with eating disorders.
This exhibition will feature photographs, drawings and digital art produced through research conducted by the Eating Disorders and Autism Collaborative (EDAC).
*Photovoice is a participatory research method that uses photography and storytelling to document and share people’s experiences
Sensitive Content Notice: The images in this exhibition include potentially triggering materials such as food, scales, special diets, and drawings of clinical settings.
Programmed Events
The first day of You’re Not Alone exhibition, on the 1st of Mar, will feature two special events: Quiet Hour: 12:00-13:00, 1 Mar, 2025 | Free/Drop-in Meet the Researchers: 13:00-17:00, 1 Mar, 2025 | Free/Drop-in Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
‘Quiet Hour’ is a time when the exhibition environment is adjusted to prioritise the sensory needs of autistic people, or anyone else who may prefer a more relaxed experience. People are welcome to attend with their families, friends, and carers.
For ‘Meet the Researchers’ afternoon visitors are welcome to drop into the exhibition to engage with Eating Disorder and Autism Collaborative (EDAC) staff members who will be there to talk to people and answer questions about the project and the exhibition.
This research project and exhibition is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Medical Research Foundation and the University of Edinburgh. The exhibition is supported by Inspace and the Institute for Design Informatics.
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.
Join this event including a performance followed by a panel discussion as part of Operation Biodegradable exhibition.
Join this event including a performance followed by a panel discussion to hear from researchers at the University of Edinburgh, joined by researchers at Lancaster University exploring embodiment, materialism and technology, as part of Operation Biodegradable exhibition, for the 2025 Edinburgh Science Festival.
This performance is a collaboration between several artists led by Theodore Koterwas and will be based on interactions with an AI within a physical environment. The set has adapted a system developed by Joseph Lindley and Roger Whitham who originally used it for Shadowplay, an interactive installation playing with Shadows and AI.
The panel discussion will invite researchers and key members of the exhibition to create an open and expansive dialogue around the exhibition themes, inviting audiences to ask questions and share their own comments observations.
Theodore Koterwas (performer and speaker) is an artist, designer and musician is an artist working with data, physical phenomena and the human body to make things resonate. He seeks to draw critical attention to aspects of daily experience that go unnoticed but profoundly impact on how we understand each other, technology and the environment. His multidisciplinary practice produces art installations, performances, museum exhibitions, and software applications for public engagement, creative collaboration, and teaching and learning.
Ruby Marshall (performer and speaker) is an artist, designer and musician is a Lecturer in Soft Robotics at Design Informatics. Her research focuses on actuated textile design and function, looking at how physical properties can be varied and tuned to produce a desired system output. Although trained and qualified as an Aero-Mechanical engineer Ruby’s interests lie in soft robotics for human well-being with a view to exploring and creating novel, biological and eco-friendly robotics.
Beth Davidson (performer) is an artist, designer and musician is an interdisciplinary designer and 2024 graduate from MA in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Through this course and concurrent research opportunities she has moved away from fashion to focus on social design. Her research interests include embodied interaction, soma design, co-design, and disability studies. Beth comes to the domain of human computer interaction with a critical and conceptual lens which explores how the body is represented and utilised in design methods.
Mark Hughes (speaker) is consultant neurosurgeon and honorary senior lecturer. He underwent neurosurgical training in London, Edinburgh, New York, and Leeds – and completed a Wellcome Trust-funded PhD en route. His subspecialist work focuses on pituitary tumours and anterior skull base neurosurgery.
Roger Whitham is a designer, researcher and educator based at ImaginationLancaster, Lancaster University. His research centres on collaborative interactions that span distinct contexts, technologies, sectors and scales; explored through co-design, tools and visualisation.
About the Exhibition
Discover how biomaterials and human-centred design could revolutionise surgical environments at this exhibition brought to you by staff, students and graduates at the University of Edinburgh. Showcasing a range of artwork, artefacts and prototypes, it offers a hands-on opportunity to engage with and understand the challenges and potential solutions in designing an operating theatre that better supports surgeons and the environment.
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.
Join Inspace and the Institute for Design Informatics, for Operation Biodegradable evening reception to celebrate the exhibition.
Join Inspace and the Institute for Design Informatics, for Operation Biodegradable evening reception to celebrate the exhibition, part of the 2025 Edinburgh Science Festival, and to meet the researchers, designers, artists, students and graduates behind the work on display.
About the Exhibition
Discover how biomaterials and human-centred design could revolutionise surgical environments at this exhibition brought to you by staff, students and graduates at the University of Edinburgh. Showcasing a range of artwork, artefacts and prototypes, it offers a hands-on opportunity to engage with and understand the challenges and potential solutions in designing an operating theatre that better supports surgeons and the environment.
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.
From intergalactic connections of data, technology and matter, to biomaterials and human-centred design, this is just a glimpse of the two featured exhibits Inspace will present at this year’s Festival.
We are delighted to announce that we are back again this year partnering with the Edinburgh Science Festival to bring you two featured exhibitions along with performances and late events.
This year’s Edinburgh Science Festival theme of Spaceship Earth draws on inspiration from science fiction and science fact, questioning how we might better live on Earth. As scientists begin to ponder the wonders of long-term space travel, the Festival invites visitors to enter the mind of an astronaut as a poignant reminder that resources on earth are finite and that we have the tools to utilise to create a sustainable future for us all.
– Edinburgh Science Foundation
Check out the programme highlights below and we look forward to seeing you there!
Programme highlights
Sat-Mon, 5 – 7 Apr, 2025
Design, Data and Beyond exhibition at Inspace features the work of Design Informatics MSc/MA students presenting a series of creative prototypes which explore their intergalactic connections of data, technology and matter and that reflect on human (and beyond human) experiences of the future.
Operation Biodegradable exhibition and event programme at Inspace presents artwork, artefacts and prototypes by staff, students and graduates at the University of Edinburgh inviting you to engage with and understand the challenges and potential solutions in designing an operating theatre that better supports surgeons and the environment.
Edinburgh Science Foundation is an educational charity, founded in 1989. Best known for organising Edinburgh’s annual Science Festival – the world’s first public celebration of science and technology as a festival – as well as their science education outreach programmes, Generation Science and Careers Hive and their community engagement work. Their mission is to inspire, encourage and challenge people of all ages and backgrounds to explore and understand the world around them.
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.
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.
We are delighted to share the upcoming series of exhibitions taking place at Inspace to kick off our 2025 programme.
This programme features exhibitions that showcase different aspects of research and collaboration that incorporate and combine data, technology and creativity.
Our first exhibitionYou’re Not Aloneshowcases the creative work resulting from a participatory community research project that uses photos and storytelling as the tools to connect and share perspectives. Coast to Coast promises to animate Inspace street facing City Screen for a final time this season, scanning and translating a small data set of images onto these large format panoramic projections. This years Science Festival exhibitions will feature interactive and immersive prototypes and displays that reflect this year’s Science Festival theme, Spaceship Earth, exploring the challenges of living on a planet with finite resources. And for Speaking Towards One Another Inspace will be transformed through a multidisciplinary theatrical performance and installation that uses technology and creativity to explore the body, gender representation, and resilience within disability.
You’re Not Alone
Sat – Sat | 1-8 Mar (closed Sun/Tues/Thurs)
This exhibition presents the experiences and priorities of Autistic people with eating disorders through participatory research method Photovoice, which uses photography and storytelling to document and share people’s experiences
Come along experience the stories of this community told through photographs and drawings.
Coast to Coast is a photography exhibition of work created by Caroline Parkinson during her journey across the United States of America, capturing analogue and digital photography of these diverse landscapes.
Check out Inspace City Screens, along Potterrow, to see the translation of this journey, as it lights up Edinburgh’s dark wintery skies.
We are back again this year partnering with the Edinburgh Science Festival to bring you two featured exhibitions. The details are all under wraps until the the programme launch next month, so watch this space.
Check back with us in February for the announcement of this year’s featured exhibitions!
We are delighted to host this unique opening performance which 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 first full performance will premiere in Inspace in May 2025 as part of a video and sound installation.
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.
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.
Learn from the communities paving the way for Responsible AI development and discover the vital role of the arts & humanities in developing ethical AI futures.
We’re pleased to announce the upcoming Spring 2025 series of BRAID x IDI Hybrid Seminar Series ‘Responsible AI Futures’ a partnership programme between Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) and the Institute for Design Informatics (IDI).
This series takes place January – May 2025, for which we are hosting the following wonderful speakers:
20 Mar / Dr Aluna Everitt Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury
27 Mar / Dr Claire Paterson-Young Associate Professor and Research Leader at the Institute for Social Innovation and Impact at the University of Northampton
How to Find the Soul of a Sailor, a deeply personal and innovative project that fuses the past, present, and future through the lens of artificial intelligence and memory.
Immerse yourself in a deeply personal journey to the future of our oceans and sailors’ time at sea. Experience the Mediterranean sea through the eyes of Molga’s late father, Tadeusz Molga, a devoted sailor. During his voyages, he meticulously documented his passion for the ocean, a love he shared with young Kasia as she accompanied him on his ship. Fifteen years after his passing, Molga is left with a profound sense of loss and a collection of his cherished diaries. When the memories of their time together begin to fade, she turns to these diaries, clinging to the remnants of his voice and their shared experiences at sea. Molga’s work captures an emotional and environmental journey highlighting the fragility of our oceans, the ever-changing work conditions of sailors, and speculates on the future and what her father would say.
Molga uses The New Real’s specialised experiential AI platform, The New Real Observatory, to reimagine her father’s words, projecting them 50 years into the future. This project is a powerful fusion of memory and technology, blending generative AI tools with climate data to create an emotionally charged narrative that visualises both the past and future of our oceans.
Molga’s exhibition uniquely combines English and Polish, creating a bilingual experience that delves into the profound topics of personal connection to climate change and the digital afterlife. Her work not only honours the enduring power of memory but also showcases the potential benefits and drawbacks of various artificial intelligence tools to preserve and transform our personal histories.
This work is the result of The New Real 2023-2024 commission “Uncanny Machines” supported by the Scottish AI Alliance. Hosted at Inspace Gallery with additional support from Arts Council England.
Kasia Molga (UK/PL) has refused to be labelled – design fusionist, artist, environmentalist, creative coder and technologist who for over a decade has sought ways of collaboration with nature, predominantly focusing on the ever-changing human relation to and perception of the natural environment and fellow ‘earthlings’. Her award winning work has been exhibited worldwide (i,e. Ars Electronica, Tate Modern, MIS (BR), Centre Pompidou and more). Kasia has taken part in many international art & science residencies and has lectured and mentored regularly in the EU and UK. An affinity with the ocean is evident in Kasia’s work, born from her time growing up on merchant navy vessels with her sailor father and she is the proud holder of a diving licence. studiomolga.com
About the organisers
The New Real is a leading research hub on arts and AI at The University of Edinburgh, fostering innovative projects at the intersection of technology, creativity, and society. The New Real explores how AI impacts life at a profound level, often interacting with us in fascinating and unanticipated ways, and illuminates how emerging technology can become a creative, playful and deeply impactful part of everyday living. The New Real is developed in partnership with The Alan Turing Institute, Edinburgh College of Art, and The Edinburgh Futures Institute. The New Real | Home
The Scottish AI Alliance is tasked with the delivery of the vision outlined in Scotland’s AI Strategy by empowering Scotland’s people, supporting Scotland’s businesses and organisations, and influencing policy impacting Scotland. The Scottish AI Alliance is a strategic collaboration between The Data Lab and the Scottish Government and is led by a Minister-appointed Chair and overseen by Senior Responsible Officers from The Data Lab (CEO) and the Scottish Government (CDO). Its activities are overseen and advised by governance and outcomes focussed advisory groups with representation across society and Scotland’s AI community. www.scottishai.com
Scotland’s national Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy was launched in March 2021 and set out a vision for Scotland to become a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI.
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.
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. They help people in every corner of the country to experience and benefit from creativity. They do this by investing in artists and organisations that make and deliver exceptional, inspirational work for our communities. Homepage (artscouncil.org.uk)
Kasia Molga Unveils the First Iteration of her Immersive Multimedia Experience, How to Find the Soul of a Sailor, at Inspace
Kasia Molga, an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist, designer and storyteller invites you to explore her first iteration of How to Find the Soul of a Sailor, a deeply personal and innovative project that fuses the past, present, and future through the lens of artificial intelligence and memory. This work is the result of The New Real 2023-2024 commission “Uncanny Machines” supported by the Scottish AI Alliance. Hosted at Inspace Gallery with additional support from Arts Council England, this unique early access version runs from December 12-21, 2024, and January 6-11, 2025.
This event will feature an Artist Talk and light refreshments will be provided. Tickets are limited. Please reserve a ticket here.
How to Find the Soul of a Sailor, is a deeply personal and innovative project that fuses the past, present, and future through the lens of artificial intelligence and memory. Immerse yourself in a deeply personal journey to the future of our oceans and sailors’ time at sea, through the eyes of Molga’s late father, Tadeusz Molga, a devoted sailor.
This exhibition is a must-see for those interested in the intersections of art, technology, and the environment, offering a poignant reflection on the future of our planet and the boundless possibilities of human-AI collaboration.
Dates: Thurs – Sat| 12-21 Dec 2024 (closed on Sundays) Mon – Sat | 6 -11 Jan 2025 (closed on Sundays) Time: 10:00 – 17:00 | Free/Drop-In Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
Kasia Molga (UK/PL) has refused to be labelled – design fusionist, artist, environmentalist, creative coder and technologist who for over a decade has sought ways of collaboration with nature, predominantly focusing on the ever-changing human relation to and perception of the natural environment and fellow ‘earthlings’. Her award winning work has been exhibited worldwide (i,e. Ars Electronica, Tate Modern, MIS (BR), Centre Pompidou and more). Kasia has taken part in many international art & science residencies and has lectured and mentored regularly in the EU and UK. An affinity with the ocean is evident in Kasia’s work, born from her time growing up on merchant navy vessels with her sailor father and she is the proud holder of a diving licence. studiomolga.com
*Please register your seat for the Artist Talk and Opening Event. The exhibition is open to drop-In.
For more information, please contact Courtney Bates, Project Manager of The New Real at c.bates@ed.ac.uk.
For inquiries about accessibility, please contact the DI team at designinformatics@ed.ac.uk or visit the Access webpage for more venue information: https://inspace.ed.ac.uk/venue-access/
About the Organisers
About The New Real:
The New Real is a leading research hub on arts and AI at The University of Edinburgh, fostering innovative projects at the intersection of technology, creativity, and society. The New Real explores how AI impacts life at a profound level, often interacting with us in fascinating and unanticipated ways, and illuminates how emerging technology can become a creative, playful and deeply impactful part of everyday living. The New Real is developed in partnership with The Alan Turing Institute, Edinburgh College of Art, and The Edinburgh Futures Institute.
About Scottish AI Alliance:
Scotland’s national Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy was launched in March 2021 and set out a vision for Scotland to become a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI.
The Scottish AI Alliance is tasked with the delivery of the vision outlined in Scotland’s AI Strategy by empowering Scotland’s people, supporting Scotland’s businesses and organisations, and influencing policy impacting Scotland. The Scottish AI Alliance is a strategic collaboration between The Data Lab and the Scottish Government and is led by a Minister-appointed Chair and overseen by Senior Responsible Officers from The Data Lab (CEO) and the Scottish Government (CDO). Its activities are overseen and advised by governance and outcomes focussed advisory groups with representation across society and Scotland’s AI community.
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.
About Arts Council England:
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. They help people in every corner of the country to experience and benefit from creativity. They do this by investing in artists and organisations that make and deliver exceptional, inspirational work for our communities.
Revolutionising Design for the Climate Emergency Student Exhibition, presenting works that challenge us to rethink our relationship with the environment and confront the urgent realities of the climate
Private View
Private View: Friday 29th November 17:00 – 20:00
Exhibition Details
Date: Sat – Sun | 30 Nov – 1st Dec 2024 Time: Sat 11:00 – 16:00 | Sun 11:00 – 15:00 | Free/Drop-In Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
This exhibition presents a collection of student works that challenge us to rethink our relationship with the environment and confront the urgent realities of the climate emergency. Through their designs, students explore how we can foster a sense of responsibility and care, while addressing critical issues such as global inequalities, food waste, microplastics and the impact of fast fashion.
These projects envision a future where design fosters equity and sustainability, where the true cost of consumption is acknowledged, and where the health of our planet and its people are prioritised.
Visit Inspace across the weekend to celebrate this exciting new course and support Edinburgh College of Art design students’ innovative work.
