News/April 2018
Promotional image for Desert Rain (1999). A white woman standing in a big parka coat. Behind them is a projector featuring a image of a desert. CGI numbers overlay the image.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Blast Theory and the University of Nottingham’s Mixed Reality Lab creating work together.

During our 20-year relationship we have collaborated on research leading to the creation of 12 new artworks. Beginning with Desert Rain in 1999, the partnership continued through projects such as Can You See Me Now? (2001), Uncle Roy All Around You (2003), Day Of The Figurines (2006), Rider Spoke (2007) and Ulrike And Eamon Compliant (2009), and most recently the award-winning Karen app in 2015.

Our development as a group of artists working with leading edge technology has been made possible by – to our knowledge – the longest and deepest collaboration between an artists’ group and a university in the world. Working closely together, we have taken audiences into VR warfare installations (see Desert Rain) and interrogated visitors to the Venice Biennale about political violence.

In this, our 20th year, we are once again working with MRL to create virtual museums in which visitors can engage with collections in personal and meaningful ways – more on this one in the coming weeks.

From May to December, we will be revisiting each of the 12 projects we’ve made with the MRL, looking back on the work we’ve created together and speculating future works.