Plymouth University’s status as a global pioneer in combining art and technology has been further enhanced after two innovative projects were highlighted in a European Commission publication.
A biocomputer, developed by Professor of Computer Music Eduardo Miranda, and the Planetary Collegium, founded by Professor of Technoetic Arts Roy Ascott, have been listed as successful examples of technological projects driven by artists in the new report.
Produced as part of the ICT Art Connect study, an European Union FP7 funded initiative, the report aims to identify evidence for the integration of the Arts as an essential and fruitful component within research and innovation in ICT.
The study connected artistic communities of ICT researchers at all levels and aimed to contribute to enhancing creativity and innovation in society, technology, science and education.
The report into the research contains 11 case studies where these practices are already in existence, with projects from Germany, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium alongside the two Plymouth projects as the only UK representatives.
Professor Miranda’s biocomputer is an innovative computing device based on slime mould, and was built in collaboration with PhD student Edward Braund at Plymouth University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR).
Recently premiered at the Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival, the biocomputer listens to a pianist and generates musical responses in real-time. It then plays the piano through electromagnets that set the strings into vibration, producing a distinctive timbre.
The Planetary Collegium is concerned with the advancement of emergent forms of art and architecture, in the context of telematic, interactive and technoetic media, and their integration with science, technology, and consciousness research.
It is based within Plymouth University’s School of Art and Media – with nodes at the Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture in Kefalonia, Greece; the Fondazione Ahref in Trento, Italy; the De Tao Masers Academy in Shanghai, China; the NGL – SAA Neue Galerie Luzern – Swiss Academic Association in Lucerne, Switzerland; and the Zurcher Hochschule der Kunste in Zurich, Switzerland– and has around 40 PhD candidates enrolled with more than 50 already having completed their doctoral qualifications.