1991-2023
Ju Row Farr co-founded Blast Theory in 1991 and led the group alongside Matt Adams and Nick Tandavanitj until 2023.
Trained originally as a dancer, Ju is an artist who makes performances, installations, mobile games and interactive artworks. She studied Visual Art and Textiles at Goldsmiths from 1987-1990.
Blast Theory make interactive art to explore social and political questions. The group’s work places the public at the centre of unusual and sometimes unsettling experiences, to create new perspectives and open up the possibility of change.
Blast Theory have shown work at the Venice Biennale, Tribeca Film Festival, ICC in Tokyo, Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin, the Barbican and Tate Britain. Commissioners include Channel 4, Sundance Film Festival and the Royal Opera House.
The artists work closely with researchers and scientists and have collaborated with the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham since 1997, co-authoring over 45 research papers. The artists teach and lecture internationally including at the Sorbonne, Stanford University and the Royal College of Art. They curated the Screen series for Live Culture at Tate Modern.
Blast Theory have been nominated for four BAFTAs and won the Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica and the Nam June Paik Art Center Award. Blast Theory has developed cross platform works for BBC Fictionlab, Channel 4 and BBC Interactive. Ivy4Evr was a commission for Channel 4 Education in 2010.
Ju has been a consultant for a variety of commercial and cultural organisations such as adera+ in Stockholm and the Architecture Foundation. She was represented as an artist and games designer by Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles from 2005 to 2007.
With Matt Adams, she co-curated the Screen series of video works for Live Culture at Tate Modern.
In 2015, Ju led a workshop at Mesa & Cadeira in Sao Paulo to create Branch, a game with social impact for people who don’t usually have a voice. And in 2016, Ju was one of the UK artists who took part in Pervasive Media Studios’ Playable City in Lagos. She has taught and spoken extensively about her work from UCLA to De Montfort University, from Belgrade’s Play UK 2020 and as a Thinker in Residence for the South Australian Government in 2004.
Ju has a passion for working with creative people early in their career, with people from low socio-economic backgrounds and people with mental health issues. She created Blast Theory’s Learning and Participation programme, which included 90 international residencies, a mentoring and internship programme, and the Pot Luck Social Club for local makers.