The 'sensory' riverbank art showcase inspired by historic showpeople culture in Scotland
The riverbank showcase has been backed as part of a £1.2 million Immersive Arts fund
A “sensory exploration" of riverbanks inspired by historic travelling show people culture in Dumfries is one of 15 Scottish projects to benefit from new funding.
Audio visual performance Phanto Spectra will receive a grant from a £1.2 million fund from Immersive Arts to celebrate the spirit of Scotland’s travelling show people through sound, light, and storytelling.
The ambitious project, by Dumfries-based artist Martin Joseph O’Neill and host organisation The Stove Network, will blend innovative technologies with community narratives on the banks of the River Nith to tell the story of the show people, described as “guardians of travelling fairs and masters of illusion since the 1200s”.
Other Scottish work to benefit from the fund include Glasgow-based stone-carver James Winnett’s research into how immersive technologies can be used to bring carvings to light and Aberlour dancer and choreographer Debbie Mackenzie exploring the potential of virtual reality dance films.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh multi-media tech artist and interaction designer Jiarong Yu, whose work challenges the boundaries between STEM and the arts, human-AI collaboration, human-computer Interaction and multimodal storytelling, will also receive a grant.
The 83 successful projects UK-wide explore many different art forms, including dance, theatre, visual arts, music, games, animation, film, sculpture and live art. They will work with a broad range of technologies, including virtual, augmented and mixed reality, spatial audio, interactive projections, machine vision, responsive environments, artificial intelligence, haptics and connected textiles.
With three distinct grant amounts available - £5,000, £20,000 and £50,000 – the funding supports artists at different stages of their creative development to explore, experiment or expand how they make work that uses technology to actively engage an audience.
Immersive Arts received 2,517 applications from across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland – a much higher than expected volume, revealing a high level of interest and demand for opportunities from artists seeking to make and share immersive work.
The 15 Scottish projects were co-selected by Cathie Boyd, artistic director of Glasgow's Cryptic.
She said: “Cryptic is thrilled to have worked with the Immersive Arts team to help showcase and support the next generation of pioneering artists. Based in locations across Scotland, the 15 projects selected will be supported to be bold in their research and ambitions.
“The fund will help them to carve their way in the exciting and ever-evolving world of immersive art, alongside their contemporaries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
The programme is funded by UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), alongside Creative Scotland, Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Wales, and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI).
AHRC executive chair Christopher Smith said: “Immersive technologies offer the UK’s artists and creatives new and exciting ways to produce work that engages the public and promotes growth in our creative industries.
“This programme is designed to give them access to these cutting-edge creative technologies to see how they can be used, and it is clear from the number of applications that it is an opportunity they are eager to take. We cannot wait to see what further innovations they can unlock and which new creative frontiers they can explore.”
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