Audience agency & AI: Insights from Nick on lessons in Rider Spoke
To me, the stand out Blast Theory projects are those that nest authentic, undeniably human narratives within innovative, carefully crafted digital interfaces.
Blast Theory announced as embedded artist for responsible AI project
Blast Theory have been announced as the embedded artists in residence for an ongoing research project that will help define the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Where were you in 1997?
“It’s not ‘natural’ to speak well, eloquently, in an interesting, articulate way.
Holding audiences to account
“Questions and answers depend on a game – a game that is at once pleasant and difficult – in which each of the two partners takes pains to use only the rights given him by the other and by the accepted form of dialogue.
A message from Ju
I am turning my tanker around and I don’t know where I will be heading exactly or even what my tanker might look like.
I could ask you anything
Ju has been at the heart of Blast Theory since the very beginning, so with Ju’s move to creating work independently, it seemed like a good time to think about how Blast Theory ticks.
Cat Royale’s Audience Advisory Panel
As a part of Cat Royale, we have engaged an Audience Advisory Panel who are coming along with us on this journey, as we try to work out and develop the complex nest of subjects that is the project.
The things that made us: Streaming
In 1998, we created our first project available online: Kidnap.
The things that made us: The Red Dot
Many of our works have high thresholds to entry: sometimes novel structures or difficult ideas; sometimes ways of using everyday devices just a little ‘off’ from what we mostly use them for.
The things that made us: Front of House
Our first project using mobile devices with audiences was Uncle Roy All Around You in 2003.
The things that made us: A tech run with no tech
In 1992 we made Chemical Wedding, our second piece of work.
The things that made us: the pre-mortem
We often make risky projects.
The things that made us: spontaneous participation
Disobedient participants, or rather people who find their own way into our work, have become a strength of some of our work: a heart that is largely invisible to the outside, which we cherish greatly.
The things that made us: learning to back it up
After an early incident where the first year and a half of all of Blast Theory’s files were accidentally deleted in an Amstrad floppy drive, we thought that for a long time we had our shit together with archiving and backups.
The things that made us: Kidnap
We kidnapped two people in 1998.
Blast Theory at 30: How we started
When you’re young you occasionally take unwise risks and we were no exception.
December Artist in Residence: Maja Spasova
So you’re here because you want to take part in my latest project HUNGER – thank you!
The latest part of HUNGER is THE WORLD’s DINING TABLE.
Blast Theory turns 30
So, Blast Theory is 30 years old.
Creative Fortnight: Week Two
We looked at quite a lot last week – still focusing on Cat Royale but also, more generally, what we enjoy or not creatively, and the platforms and spaces we may want to work in in the future.
Creative Fortnight: Week One
The creative fortnight is something we three artists try to do at least every year.
Support for artists: Mentoring and virtual residencies
https://vimeo.
BLOG: Pandemics and Public Health
Watch: WHO expert Dr Mike Ryan is leading the fight against COVID-19
12th March 2020
In the current climate of fear and uncertainty around COVID-19 and the misinformation and fake news which can distort our understanding of the spread of the virus, we wanted to share our work on infectious disease, in the hope that it can offer some insight into past cases of infection; the way public health officials respond and the personal stories at the heart of such tragedies.
Blast Theory video
Blast Theory has a long history of making social and political work, drawing on popular culture, performance, technology and games.
Don’t be afraid of the label
Plastic Tiger Factory: James Shreeve
While 2019 felt like a tough year across the globe, one thing that filled us with pure joy was having James Shreeve intern with us for three months.
2051: What if Nature Had Rights?
Early in 2019, artist and Blast Theory resident Marina Wainer ran a project with the students of the Product Design course at the University of Sussex.
Blog: How we created GIFT – making noise in museums
Stepping into the main gallery at Brighton Museum is like entering an oasis of calm.
Digital gifting at the Munch Museum, Oslo
Gift will be available to try at the Munch Museum until March 2020.
Ask the Artists
We have been inviting you all to ask the artists and team here questions (absolutely anything!) relating to our practice, and have been sharing these in our monthly mailouts.
Guest blog by resident artist Marina Wainer
I arrived at 20 Wellington Road with the intention of writing a new project.
Meet our new pvi and Australia Council resident
We’re thrilled to welcome our new resident Cat Jones who joins us as part of the international residency program from pvi collective and in partnership with the Australia Council.
A Serious Game
Operation Black Antler is an immersive theatre piece in which the audience are tasked with infiltrating a protest group.
Games Can Help Us Understand Power
– Matt Locke is Director of Storythings, Deputy Chair of British Science Association and also runs The Story.
Going undercover: what is Operation Black Antler?
With our collaborators Hydrocracker, we have just launched Operation Black Antler – an immersive theatre work in which members of the public are invited to go undercover at a protest meeting on the fringes of British society.
20 years of Blast Theory and Mixed Reality Lab
From VR warfare installations, to interrogations at the Venice Biennale about political violence, our work with the University of Nottingham’s Mixed Reality Lab has produced 12 new works since the nineties.
Blast Theory and Mixed Reality Lab in conversation
Our development as a group of artists working with technology has been made possible by, to our knowledge, the longest and deepest collaboration between an artists’ group and a university in the world.
Teddy Freeman on interning with Blast Theory
Like every charity we rely on volunteers.
126,000 tune in to watch Bloodyminded
On October 14th, Europe’s first ever interactive feature film Bloodyminded was broadcast live from an army base to cinemas and online.
Read the knockout reviews for Operation Black Antler in Manchester
…like a shot of adrenaline straight to your moral compass.
Welcome to the World of Serious Games
– A guest blog by Caleb Lewis
It starts with a text message.
Pushing Boundaries and Transforming Spaces through Play
– A guest blog by Sofia Romualdo
As a former art curator turned PhD researcher, who studies the use of videogames and gameful design as interpretation and engagement tools in museums, one of my main interests is play.
‘We saw fascists as the poison and ourselves as the antidote’
The thought of seeing a production with audience participation – my participation – would have been bad enough, but the word “immersive” really set me on edge.
Through a wall
– a guest blog by Alinah Azadeh
For many years I have made work – installations, sculptures, performances – which have been sparked by my own personal narratives – as a bridge for the public to bring their own stories to the work, through objects or texts and latterly, by performing them with me.
Another person’s shoes
– a guest blog by Sarah-Jayne Butler, cast member for Operation Black Antler
As an actor a huge draw to this project was the opportunity to work collaboratively, creating a piece of work that seeks to challenge and question our own perceptions and understanding rather than to offer answers.
Everybody Is Perfect
Here’s a few images from my whirlwind introduction to Indonesia courtesy of the British Council.
Prematurely Stunned
Tomorrow I am going for 10 days to the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent in the world, according to Wikipedia, I am going to Africa.
Why we are making Operation Black Antler
We have just launched our next project, Operation Black Antler – an immersive theatre work in which members of the public are invited to go undercover at a protest meeting.
Blast Theory 25 Years
Blast Theory will be exactly 25 on the 10th April this year.
How to make your own tools
– a guest blog by Rachel Henson
I like finding ways through an unfamiliar place.
A little bit about workshops
We run workshops and smaller projects quite a lot and I think they sometimes go unnoticed amongst Blast Theory’s bigger projects.
Operatic Tradition vs. an approach toward an “Interactive Music Theatre”
– a guest blog by Thanos Polymeneas Liontris
This short text is a reflection on contemporary approaches to Music Theatre.
The First Team meeting in Brazil
Last night I met the team, a wonderful group of people on this independent Mesa, who have signed up to go on a journey into the unknown with Blast Theory with me at the helm.
Off To Change The Entire World – Starting in Sao Paulo
OK, so this is going to be more than just a workshop, let me explain a little.
Guest blog from resident artist Katie-Dale Everett
It has been proposed that our digital information will last longer than we will ourselves in the flesh.
A Room of One’s Own..
It’s all about processes for me this month – I’ve just finished a months unexpected studio residency here at Blast Theory.
Cables, connectivity and Toronto.
My One Demand may be our most ambitious project to date – I feel like I’ve said this before, but this is certainly pushing all of our boats way out.
Matt Adams on psychological profiling in Karen
Our latest work Karen is an app that uses psychological profiling techniques to adapt the story to you.
Matt Adams explains how Karen uses interactivity
Our latest work Karen is a mixture of game play and storytelling.
Crowdfunding – A Guide by Blast Theory
In October 2014 we ran a crowdfunding campaign to fund the minimum amount of development time needed to deliver our new artistic app Karen.
Operation Black Antler: collaborative project in development
In 2012 we began collaborating with fellow Brighton based company Hydrocracker.
Playing Dead
One of the romances of writing is in the simplicity of tools required.
One Year On – A Force Of Nature, By Force Of Will Power – The Thing I’ll Be Doing For The Rest Of My Life
A year ago Matt began editing the footage from Nagoya, of the trawler being moved onto the land, through the night and across the park – 5 days to edit, then straight back to Japan on the 5th of August, to install onto 40 tablets in Japanese and English, train invigilators, meet press, thank everyone involved and open to the public on 10th August 2013.
Krautrock R&D
Last week we spent five days doing research and development on a new project.
The Gift by Marcel Mauss
I am reading The Gift (Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Society) by Marcel Mauss at the moment, ongoing research for a yet undefined project and just wanted to share a quote from the introduction section.
Reflection on my time at Blast Theory’s residency studio
In April and May this year I was lucky enough to once more be one of Blast Theory’s artists in residence.
We Whisper In Your Ear A Great Secret. 100th Anniversary of BLAST.
Blast Theory are currently here at Cambridge Junction as we open Rider Spoke tonight, as part of the city’s Velo Festival, celebrating the Tour de France coming to Cambridge on Monday.
Long Live the Vortex! 100th Anniversary of BLAST
On July 2nd 1914 BLAST, Wyndham Lewis’s Vorticist’s literary magazine, was first published.
From the bunker. .(hello hello)
Sometimes it’s good to go to a place where there are few distractions.
Assuming you’re not delusional. . .
We’ve just had Nina Reynolds and Kelly Page here for two days.
Cash money
This is an open letter in response to blogs by Bryony Kimmings and Andy Field about money.
Trip to Buffalo
So we’ve been in Buffalo at University at Buffalo for about a week working with a fantastic and smart group of people in media studies, visual studies and theatre studies courtesy of the lovely Mark Shepard and Sarah Bay-Cheng.
Fixing Point at Brighton Festival
Fixing Point is sold out at this years’ Brighton Festival already, which is amazing, and so I wanted to let you know a few things about the work before I go into lock down mode.
Reality film
Today I’ve been watching some of Alan Clarke’s amazing films about Northern Ireland.
Disaster utopia
The next day I did an interview with Daisuke Oono, a journalist with NHK who is from the Sendai area.
To Kesennuma: ships out of place and fishermen
Up at 5am today to head north by car.
Trip to Sendai
Some days make me realise all over again what a privilege it is to be an artist.
Thinking about behavioural profiling
Today, I’m working on a new project for National Theatre Wales.