International Visitors Programme
From 27 September to 2 October, Ashley Baccus-Clark, Sara Ellis and Mark Atkin visited NFF 2019 via the Open Call of the International Visitor Programme of Het Nieuwe Instituut. Ashley, Sara and Mark were part of the _Lab Life: In Search of the Miraculous _programme during the festival. Ashley also organised the two-day workshop Miraculous Futures in collaboration with Klasien van de Zandschulp.
_Lab Life: In Search of the Miraculous _is a programme about the rapid development of new and complex techniques such as artificial intelligence, apps, online platforms and multiple realities such as MR, VR and XR and the possibilities these technologies offer to filmmakers, storytellers and artists.
In the speculative storytelling workshop Miraculous Futures, biologist and multidisciplinary artist Ashley Baccus-Clark and artist Klasien van de Zandschulp focused on Feminist Futures and World Building. Speculative storytelling is a way of looking differently at the present and the future and offers tools for original solutions and radical new ideas. The results of the workshop consist of several stories, which form the beginning of an international 'future thinking archive' for Miraculous Futures.
Ashley Baccus-Clark is a biologist and multidisciplinary artist. She uses new media and storytelling to explore themes such as deep learning, knowledge, memory, race, trauma and systems of belief. She regularly works with Hyphen-Labs and is part of the Ida Rubin Artists in Residence programme of the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology.
Mark Atkin is a British filmmaker and director of London-based Crossover Labs. As a former commissioning editor of the TV and online department of SBS Australia, and as a producer, curator and workshop developer in the field of cross-media and film productions, he shares with the public his knowledge of both the artistic and financial aspects of interdisciplinary production.
As director of Digital Development at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sara Ellis talks about how she set up a new Lab together with Leap Motion. Sara is an award winning producer and is in the top 100 of 'most influential people working in Gaming and Techonlogy' by The Guardian.