Recently Falmouth University had an open call for three SWCTN Porthmeor Residencies in St Ives in October, November and December of this year for those based in the SW working in the field of immersion using tech in some way at some point. Five artists were shortlisted by our expert shortlisters: Hannah Brady, Nema Hart and Tanya Krzywinska and from those the BSJW Trust Selection Committee selected the following winners:

Christian Guerrini’s (October) a project that allows a large group of people to experience meaningful and immersive pieces of music, performed by themselves with no prior knowledge needed that could result in real feelings of community, bonded-ness and connection between the newly formed groups.

Joanna Mayes and Justin Wiggan (November) a joint collaboration that explores an extended notion of communication, incorporating human and non-human data. They will investigate sender / receiver information via haptic technologies to investigate the spaces between connection, the non spaces, the void where information is held but not perceived.

Adrienne Hart – Neon Dance (December) who will work on an immersive performance experience that forms part of a wider conversation around technology and humanity; bringing together award winning artists and technologists from the UK and Japan.

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Porthmeor Studios, on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, has attracted artists of international significance for over 130 years including Ben Nicholson, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Roger Hilton and Sandra Blow.

The Porthmeor Artists’ Residency Programme is inspired by events in 1959 – the year when emerging artist Francis Bacon rented Studio 3 for six months to work towards his debut solo show, and American painter Mark Rothko visited to share ideas with studio tenant artists

More info on Porthmeor’s history is on: www.bsjwtrust.co.uk

Guest artists are invited and given space to develop new work without the pressure of exhibiting but we do encourage visiting artists to share their practice in some way  – for example a public talk as part of the Porthmeor Studios Lunch Break series (supported by Cultivator) followed by a shared lunch of soup and bread.

This is the first time that the Residency Programme has invited artists working specifically with digital technologies, especially immersive technologies – traditionally painters have used the studios known for their good light.  Some of the tenant artists do work with film & photography.