THE PROJECT
Space and Satellites was our first Artist-In-Residence Programme for Inspace. We selected 5 artists from 35 international applications, who focussed on the theme of space and satellite data. These residencies created a space for exploration and aimed to create genuine collaborations between science and creative practice.
The chosen artists represented a wide range of disciplines, from sound artists to weavers, illustrators to dancers and photographers. Artists were teamed up with scientists to make data visible highlighting changes on earth from the movement of Puffins to environmental changes through to the impact that the Coronavirus has had on our cities.
Our artists were:
- Victoria Evans (contemporary artist and PhD researcher)
- Elaine Ford (multidisciplinary artist and wildlife biologist)
- Stacey Hunter (design curator) and Ben Hymers (Weaver and Rug Tufter)
- Julia McGhee (dance artist), Geoff Robbins (science lab technician) and John McGeoch (multi-media artist)
- Cécile Simonis (illustrator and visual artist)
The programme ran from the 1st of May to the 31st July 2020 with a series of Work in Progress events, culminating in an on-line exhibition. Due to the restrictions of Covid19 these events and the exhibition had to take place on-line but it is hoped that a physical exhibition will be able to take place in Inspace in 2021 when it is safe to do so.
The inspiration for our theme of Space and Satellites came from a Space Creative Mash-up event developed by Caroline Parkinson (Sector Lead for Creative Industries, DDI) and Terry McLarney (Envisage Space Ltd and meet-up group Space Tech Scotland) held at Inspace in November 2019. The University of Edinburgh (through the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal) is setting up a new Space and Satellites Centre at Bayes and this event included Dr Murray Collins who leads the innovation programme of the centre and who is a DDI Chancellors Fellow. As part of the residency project we worked with the Space and Satellites Centre at Bayes to involve university scientists and researchers including Murray Collins.
The Judging panel for the Residencies included:
- Caroline Parkinson, Sector Lead for Creative Industries, DDI
- Dave Murray-Rust, Inspace Director and Senior Lecturer in Design Informatics
- Suzy Glass, independent cultural consultant
- Terry McLarney, Co-Founder Envisage Space Ltd
- Jane Macdonald, Inspace Manager and Producer for Space and Satellites Artist Residencies
The project was funded by the DDI (Data-Driven Innovation) programme and supported by Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI). Each of our artists was also supported by the creative coding skills of Ray Interactive http://www.rayinteractive.org
Our launch event took place on the 16 July 2020, our speakers were Dr Dave-Murray Rust, Director of Inspace; Caroline Parkinson DDI (Data-Driven Innovation); Juan Cruz Principal of ECA and Dr Murray Collins, Chancellor’s Fellow in Data Driven Innovation: Space and Satellite Analysis. You can watch the video on-line below.
Space and Satellites Artist Residency
In our first Artist in Residence programme for Inspace we invited a group of 5 artists to focus on the theme of Space and Satellites data.
Space and Satellites Artists
The chosen artists represented a wide range of disciplines, from sound artists to weavers, illustrators to dancers and photographers. Artists were teamed up with scientists to make data visible highlighting changes on earth.
Space and Satellites Artist Talks
As part of the Space and Satellites Artist Residency programme we hosted a series of Work in Progress webinars where each of the artists spoke alongside an academic/scientist about their work. Each of the events was hosted by Inspace Director Dave Murray-Rust.