Broad Vision - 'Wired Up'

Wired Up - exploring social, neural and bacterial networks through art and science collaboration.

Since January of this year a group of artists and scientists, from the University of Westminster's Broad Vision project, have been exploring how we are Wired Up to our surroundings: physically, psychologically and virtually. At the end of March they will share the results of their collaborative research and experimentation at arebyte gallery in the heart of Hackney Wick.

The interdisciplinary group will be in residence at arebyte from 21 March to finalise projects and will be open to the public on the weekend of 28 and 29 March, 12-6pm, to showcase a collection of interdisciplinary artworks and experiments derived from collaboration between different people and organisms, materials and technologies.

Integrating art and science, Wired Up invites visitors to engage with hybrid approaches in microbiology, imaging technology, interactive programming, design, animation and photography - a culmination of the exciting things that happen when a group of curious and questioning minds come together to explore alien territories and develop new ways of working and thinking.

Zooming between micro and macro perspectives, reasoning between reality and speculation, projects include: explorations into cellular communication courtesy of an intelligent slime mould and bioluminescent bacteria; sensory relationships between biological and technological interfaces; the social and psychological impact of the internet on our identities; and many other interpretations on how intrinsically cross-wired we are in our complex lives. Collectively the residency reveals connectivity between diverse realms of social, technological and biological existence.

Heather Barnett, Broad Vision Project Lead at the University of Westminster said: 'Broad Vision is an innovative interdisciplinary learning project, which puts the students in charge of their own research and allows them to explore new and stimulating interactions between art and science. The residency at arebyte gallery offers a fantastic opportunity for the students to share their experiences of interdisciplinary inquiry and showcase the results of their creative collaborations with public audiences.”