I’ve been selected for the Vice Chancellor’s Early Career Researcher development scheme to support work looking at the impact of technical bottlenecks within XR development processes, the orthodoxies they create and, ultimately, the tropes and standards of cultural experience they enable.
Seemingly unchallengeable technical defaults sit upstream of all sorts of cultural experience: visual, sonic, networked, embodied.
I’m interested in understanding what bottlenecks multisensory storytellers are grappling with as they develop new work.
This work is part of a larger project growing out of MyWorld – Bristol Bath research, supported by University of the West of England, the DCRC and in association with Immersive Arts UK, engaging with the evolving field of Multisensory Storytelling.
The first task is to construct an equitable, accessible, inclusive and engaging way of collaborating with people working in this space. To that end, I’m gathering an advisory board to consult on a range of issues, from ensuring IP security for artists engaging in University based research, to understanding how the experience of the bottleneck – the moment when solutions are found, but opportunities lost – varies from artist to artist.
The long-term research aim is to understand the fissures, overlaps, risks and opportunities inherent within an increasingly multisensory media environment, the evolving story forms and formats that grapple with this context, and the technologies (and associated roadmaps) that underpin both.
For more information please get in touch. More details about how the scheme will be reaching out to people engaging with the Immersive Arts programme will be available here.