Alex May
Alex May (b. 1972) is a British contemporary artist questioning how our individual and collective experiences of time, and formation of memories and cultural record, are mediated, expanded, and directed by contemporary technologies. His work forges creative links between art, science, and technology through a wide range of digital new media, including virtual and augmented reality, photogrammetry, algorithmic photography, interactive robotic artworks, video projection mapping, generative works, performance, and video and sound art.
His international exhibition profile includes Ars Electronica, LABoral (Spain), IMPAKT (Netherlands), FACT (Liverpool), Furtherfield (London), WRO Media Art Biennale (Poland), HeK (Basel), The Francis Crick Institute, Bletchley Park, Eden Project, Science Gallery in Dublin (Ireland) and Bengaluru (India), ZHI Art Museum (China), and the Beall Center for Art + Technology, University of California, Irvine
He gives talks about many aspects of digital art, art/science collaboration, digital preservation, and public engagement with social robotics through art (UCLA, USC, School of Visual Arts (SVA) New York, University of Boulder, SUNY, TEDx Bucharest, Chelsea College of Art (in conversation with curator Robert Storr), Waag Society in Amsterdam) and runs workshops for artists using his own software (UCLA, for Fluxmedia at Concordia University in Montreal, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) in Istanbul), and gave the 2012 Christmas lecture for the Computer Arts Society.
Alex is a Visiting Research Fellow: Artist in Residence with the computer science department of University of Hertfordshire since 2011, and a Digital Media Arts MA sessional lecturer at the University of Brighton since 2012, and the University of Hertfordshire since 2019.
He is the Head of Projective Geometry at The Institute of Unnecessary Research.
Exhibitions
2021 - Capture the Future(s): OUR BIO-TECH PLANET – Art Science Node, Berlin
2021 - SUPERNATURAL: In the Same World – Oulu Museum of Art, Finland
2021 - Atmospheric Encounters – Birmingham Open Media
2020-2021 - Sapporo International Art Festival, Japan
2020 - Quarantine – Ars Electronica Garden Dubrovnik, Zagreb
2020-2021 - SUPERNATURAL: Sculptural Visions of the Future – KUNSTALLE TÜBINGEN, Germany
2020 - Digital Wild, Meta.Morf – The Trondheim International Biennale for Art & Technology, Trondheim, Norway
2019-2020 - SUBMERGE - Science Gallery Bengaluru, India
2019-2020 - Growing - ZHI ART MUSEUM, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2019 - Tetramatyka Festival of Audiovisual Art – Lviv, Ukraine
2019 - WRO Media Art Biennale, Wroclaw, Poland
2019 - HeK, Basel, Switzerland
2019 - Furtherfield, London
2018-2019 - IMPAKT, Utrecht, Netherlands
2018 - Bandits-Marge, Bourges, France
2018 - LABoral, Gijon, Spain
2017 - ERROR - POSTCITY, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
2017 - Flow State (installation), The Francis Crick Institute, London
2017/2018 - “The Art and Science of Linen” and “Human Superorganism” featured in Anna Dumitriu’s exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
2017 - “Uniform Glitch 5x” – CLINIC //2, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower, London
2017 - “HARR1” and “Antisocial Swarm Robots” – Our Friends Electric, QUAD Derby
2017 - “Sequence VR” – Imperial Festival, Imperial College London
2017 - “Sequence VR” – Yellow Magic (as part of British Science Week), Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
2017 - “Antisocial Swarm Robots” – HUMANS NEED NOT APPLY, Science Gallery Dublin
2016/2017 - “Shadows of Light” – Embodied Encounters, The Beall Center for Art + Technology, University of California, Irvine
2016 - "My Robot Companion" - NESTA, London
2016 - "Sequence VR" and "Sequence Dress" - The Games Europe Plays, London
2016 - "My Robot Companion" - Digital Festival 2016, Brussels
2016 - Space Bio-Hack, Birmingham Open Media (BOM)
2016 - “Sequence” and “Super-Organism” – Gut Reactions: The Microbiome and Human Nature – Princeton University, New Jersey
2016 - “Fallen Angel” – Ingenious and Fearless Companions, Birmingham Open Media (BOM)
2016 - “No Violence To The Sky” – Level 39, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London
2016 - Solo Exhibition: Shadows of Light – University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2015 - "Sequence VR" - Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2015 - "Waterlight" - Watermans, London
2015 - "Sequenced" - Data Body as Artifact, ISMAR 2015, Fukuoka, Japan
2015 - "The Human Super Organism" (part of the permanent Invisible You exhibition) at Eden Project, Cornwall
2015 - "40 Minute Painting" - Cultivamos Cultura, Portugal
2015 - "Super-Organism: The Living Microbiome" - Bacteria Light Lab, Wellcome Collection, London
2015 - "My Robot Companion" - FutureFest, NESTA, London
2014 - "My Robot Companion" - Creative Machine, Goldsmiths, London
2014 - "Room 40" - Watermans, London
2014 - "Painting With Light: Video Sculptures" - Phoenix, Brighton
2014 - ISEA 2014 - Dubai
2014 - "Wunderkammer" - Kinetica, London
2014 - "Super-Organism" - Cinekid, Amsterdam
2013 - "Caracas Remixed" - Museum of Contemporary Art, Caracas, Venezuela
2013 - "My New Robot Companion" - Watermans Arts Centre, London
2013 - "Brighton Remixed" - The New Sublime, Clearleft, Brighton
2013 - Gone Viral, Marion Art Gallery, Rockefeller Arts Center at State University of New York (SUNY), Fredonia, New York
2012 - "Conwy Video Sculpture" - blinc Digital Art Festival, Conwy, Wales
2012 - Intuition and Ingenuity, AISB/IACAP World Congress, Birmingham
2012 - Intuition and Ingenuity, blinc Digital Art Festival, Conwy, Wales
2012 - Intuition and Ingenuity, Lighthouse, Brighton
2012 - Intuition and Ingenuity, Lovebytes, Sheffield
2012 - Intuition and Ingenuity, Phoenix Square, Leicester
2012 - Intuition and Ingenuity at The British Science Festival, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
2012 - London Digital Design Weekend, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London
2012 - Robots and Avatars UK selection, Europe House, London
2011 - HUMAN+, Science Gallery, Dublin
2011 - Like Shadows: A Celebration of Shyness, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton
2011 - London Digital Design Festival, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London
2011 - Robotville, Science Museum, London
2010 - Artificial Light, Bournemouth Gardens, Bournemouth
2010 - Solo in Azione Festival, Studio28, Milan
2009 - Shadows and Falling Light, Drawing Room, Portobello Road, London
2008 - The Hours of Folly, Muse Gallery, Portobello Road, London
Live Performance
2015 - Serre Numérique Inauguration - Valenciennes, France
2013 - #HYPERLINK - live video mapping and painting performance, Tate Tanks, Tate Modern, London
2012 - Alan Turing: a Portrait in Video and Sound, Waterman's Gallery, London
2010 - Monotone Symphony, GV Art Gallery, London
2009 - Video Street Art, Various Locations, London
Commissions
2020 - A Mirror For Remembering - The Amelia, Tunbridge Wells
2018 - Flow State - The Francis Crick Institute, London
2010 - Video mapped sculpture, Canon Expo Europe, Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris
2009 - Interactive video installation, Selfridges, Oxford Street, London Projects
2009 - Chasing Shadows video artwork, GV Art Gallery, London
2009 - Out of White (interactive video mapping), GV Art Gallery, London Public commissions
2009 - Animation Decathlon (interactive experience), Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall, London
2008 - Kaidan (video mapping), Holland Park, London
2008 - Statues Alive (video mapping), Chelsea Embankment, London
2007 - Haunted Holland Park (video mapping), Holland Park, London
Awards
2017 - VR artwork about CRISPR techonology - Bio-Art Contest, Seoul, South Korea
2015 - Brighton Digital Festival Education Award
2011 - 'My Robot Companion' was awarded joint first prize for public understanding of Artificial Intelligence by the AISB, AISB
2009 - 2012 Inspire Mark for Animation Decathlon, London 2012, London
Collections
2020 - A Mirror For Remembering – The Amelia, Tunbridge Wells
2019 - Algorithmic Photography – Computer Arts Society Collection
2015 - The Human Super Organism – Eden Project
2014 - The Art and Science of Linen - The Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum, Lisburn
Residencies
2021 - CAPABLE – Cancer Patients Better Life Experience
2020 - Fermenting Futures at BOKU, Vienna
2019 - CHIC: Biotechnology from the Blue Flower
2019 - VERTIGO STARTS: Human/Robot Co-mobility with Schindler, Switzerland
2018 - EMAP/EMARE at LABoral, Gijon, Spain
2016 - International Visiting Artist, University of Calgary
2011 - Current - Visiting Research Fellow: Artist in Residence, University of Hertfordshire
Artist Talks
2021 - Value(s) of NFT-ART: A critical discussion about Cryptoart and NFTs – UCLA Art/Sci
2021 - Fermenting Futures - TABOO – TRANSGRESSION – TRANSCENDENCE (TTT), Vienna (2020)
2020 - A Mirror For Remembering – #WeMissiPRES, Digital Preservation Coalition
2020 - A Mirror For Remembering – Kent and Medway Museum Conference, Historic Dockyard Chatham
2019 - Artistic Exploration of BioRobotics and Sequencing – SynBio19 Conference
2019 - Future Digital Life: A World Without Us? – Panel chair and talk, IMPAKT, Utrecht
2018 - LABoral, Gijon, Spain
2018 - Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
2018 - Eden Project
2018 - Texas A&M University
2017 - Technology and Emotions Conference - Oslo, Norway
2017 - MAKE 2017 Symposium: Art + Biology – CIT Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork
2016 - Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) – University of Westminster, London (15th November)
2016 - HCI 2016 - University of Bournemouth (13th July)
2016 - Digital Festival 2016 - Brussels (21st June)
2016 - Colloquium – University of Hertfordshire (13th April)
2016 - Gut Reactions: The Microbiome and Human Nature – Princeton University, New Jersey (31st March)
2016 - International Visiting Artist talk – University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (1st March)
2016 - ATLAS Speaker Series – University of Boulder, Colorado (8th February)
2015 - Mendel’s Legacy: Exploring Bacterial Genomics through Art - Mendel Museum, Brno
2015 - Wet Media conference - Sogang University, Seoul
2015 - In conversation with Robert Storr - Chelsea School of Art, London
2015 - Art That Makes Itself symposium - Watermans, London
2015 - Computer Arts Society - Leicester
2014 - TEDx Bucharest, Romania
2014 - The Lightbox, Woking
2014 - Willem de Kooning Art Academy, Rotterdam
2014 - Painting With Light - Music Tech Fest, LSO St Lukes, London
2014 - An Afternoon with HARR1 - Fabrica, Brighton
2014 - My Robot Companion - Waag Society, Amsterdam
2013 - Painting With Light - Museum of Contemporary Art, Caracas, Venezuela
2013 - Video Street Art, State University of New York (SUNY), Fredonia, New York
2012 - "Smoke and Mirrors" - Guests @ Gray’s, Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen
2012 - “Making Art By Writing Code” – in conversation with digital art pioneer Manfred Mohr, Site Gallery, Sheffield
2012 - Code as Art?, Lighthouse, Brighton
2012 - Computer Arts Society Christmas Lecture 2012, October Gallery, London
2012 - Introduction to “My Robot Companion” and “Smoke and Mirrors Machine”, AISB/IACAP World Congress, Birmingham
2012 - Intuition and Ingenuity: The Impact of Alan Turing on Art, Lovebytes, Showroom Cinema, Sheffield
2012 - My Robot Companion, Kinetica Art Fair, London
2012 - My Robot Companion, Lighthouse, Brighton
2012 - My Robot Companion, The Hoxton Mix Mixer, Digital Shoreditch, Shoreditch, London
2012 - Painting With Light, Phoenix, Brighton
2012 - Sinclair and Me, British Film Institute (BFI), London
2011 - Bending Light, Ahmed Shawky Museum, Cairo
2011 - My Robot Companion, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire
2011 - The Institute of Unnecessary Research Panel, ISEA 2011, Istanbul
2010 - Quadratura, Farnham University, Farnham
