The Virtual Studio (Work in Progress) 1994-1998

ISEA 1998 was held jointly in Manchester Metropolitan University and Liverpool John Moores University and partnered by the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT).

Liverpool John Moores University, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology have worked together as a partnership to host the lnternational Symposium on Electronic Art for the first time in the UK following host destinations that have included Minneapolis, Sydney, Montreal, Rotterdam and Chicago.

I took part in the panel 'Digital Aesthetics' and presented The Virtual Studio: Work in progress. ln 'Work in Progress' real-time virtual reality technology is used to bring to life a series of drawings in order to examine the possibilities of an artificial life beyond the frame. A still image leaves much to the interpretation of the viewer, but virtual reality technology can place us inside the image where we can explore and interact. The work presents new paradigms for virtual space as an evolving hybrid studio, exhibition space and sketchbook where ideas can be dynamically realised developed and experienced immersively in real time.

The relationship between the artist, the work and the audience is key in the Virtual Reality artwork and in this presentation 'Work in Progress' is presented as a tour by the artist to an audience, drawing on the 'art of memory' techniques discussed by Frances Yates. lt acts as a consensual memory space where the architecture and its features shape the narrative and where the placement of objects within the space prompts the recall of significant points to be addressed in the talk.