September of showcases for Computational Arts

Computational Arts students and staff are taking part in exciting events at prestigious arts venues the Southbank Centre, the V&A and Tate Modern, which invite the public to consider how the relationship between technology and creativity is changing.

Dr Rachel Falconer, Head of Subject, Creative Technology, said, "It is fantastic to see our students involved in these events at some of the most respected arts venues in our city. These opportunities for the public to interact with their work at major events in the creative technology space are invaluable, not just as an opportunity for people to get a glimpse into some of the fascinating work going on here at Goldsmiths, but as a rare chance for our students to see how members of the public react to their projects and to gain valuable feedback."

Creative Intelligence, Southbank Centre

The inaugural Creative Intelligence Festival is taking place at the Southbank Centre from Friday 11 - Sunday 13 September and aims to explore how artists, digital innovation and AI are reshaping the world we live in.

Goldsmiths postgraduate and PhD students will be showcasing their innovative projects at the Exploration Bazaar, which offers visitors with an opportunity to meet with emerging creative technologists who are pushing the boundaries of art and tech. Our students will be participating alongside students, researchers and creative technologists from Royal College of Art, UAL Creative Computing Institute and City St George's.

Dr Rachel Falconer will be acting as 'provocateur' in a talk about the future of AI and creativity, hosted by Justin Spooner, co-curator of the Exploration Bazaar event and Co-founder and Director of Unthinkable, a digital innovation studio.

Digital Design Weekend, The V&A

The Digital Design Weekend is an annual three-day programme of digital art, creative technology and free workshops and talks. The focus this year is an exploration of how creative technologies are reshaping our relationships with ecology, care and community, while questioning our changing relationship with AI.

MA and PhD students will be participating in the Digital Design Weekend 18 - 20 September, as part of the Universities Showcase. Alongside peers from the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths Computational Arts students Rafa Roeder, Qiang Hei, Zhenzhen Xie and Ana Domingues will present a vibrant showcase of their work to visitors. More information about their projects and artworks can be found in the event programme.

And Andrea Fiorucci, who is a learning technologist and PhD candidate at Goldsmiths, presents LEDon - a physical game for two players inspired by classic arcade games but played on a glowing LED strip instead of a screen.

The Evolving Studio: Artists Working with Technology, Tate Modern

On the 26 September, the Tate Modern invites visitors to meet emerging artists at a marketplace, and to explore how this next generation of artists is transforming creative practice through technology. Our students will take part alongside students from the University of the Arts London and innovators from Restless Egg's accelerator programme for founders and artists.

Sensing Nature

London-based Chinese artist and Goldsmiths PhD student Tianyuan Zhang will be one of those demonstrating their work. 'Sensing Nature' is a multisensory virtual reality (VR) installation where participants interact with a haptic tree which responds to their touch through different vibrations, producing different visuals and sound in the VR visual and audio experience. The visuals and the original music evolve over time, depending on how long the participant interacts with different parts of the haptic tree, meaning that each person can have a truly unique experience. Visuals and sounds correspond to the textures on the haptic tree too, so interacting with softer fabrics produces different VR experiences than interacting with rougher fabrics. In the VR experience, particles of light come together to form the image of a growing tree, with colours shifting from cold to warm tones, and various other visuals such as blooming flowers can appear.

This is the first time Tianyuan is presenting the installation with a new modular haptic tree, which is enabled with 26 different haptic vibrations and is also wheelchair accessible.

Tianyuan hopes her work will help to address the twin crises of environmental breakdown and the human mental health crisis. The haptic tree allows people to interact with a virtual tree in a way that seeks to deepens appreciation and understanding for real nature, as the mixed reality experience visualises energy flows that are not usually visible to the human eye.

Talking about her expectations for The Evolving Studio, Tianyuan shared: "This is my first time formally presenting Sensing Nature outside of campus. I hope the audience can take away amazement, relaxation and inspiration, and I hope to show people how creativity and technology can combine to help connect us with, rather than isolate us from, the natural world."

How do AI and LLMs impact literary practice?

Lecturer in Computational Art Jérémie Wenger specialises in the intersection of computation, literature and writing. He will be presenting a workshop as part of The Evolving Studio which will prompt the participants to think about how algorithmic thinking can be used creatively, and how tech can be used to provide tools which generate possibilities and frameworks for writers.

Drawing on his own personal practice using LLMs to create constraints to write within, the workshop will introduce the historic and complex poetic form of the Sestina from France, which involves final words in lines repeating in a defined pattern. This algorithmic approach is hundreds of years old. Inspired by this approach, the workshop participants will be encouraged to use an algorithmic style of thinking to consider other novel forms, and the use of LLMs and AI to do so will be optional and feature as part of a broader framework of techniques.

Jérémie will also show some of his own writing, and the systems he uses to create computer-generated constraints he works within. Jérémie approaches the debate about the interplay between creativity and technology from an artistic background, rather than a tech background. He describes his approach in the past as a "mixture of fascination and reluctance" and now "cautious adoption together with critical examination" as he believes that there are ways to approach the use of technological tools which allow the artist to reclaim agency.

"It'll be exciting to open a dialogue with people who are not necessarily coming at this from a coding background, but who are interested in the arts and literature more generally," Jérémie says as he prepares for the workshop.

The Liminal Review 2026 launch

This event at the Tate Modern will also host the launch of the Lumen Prize's trend report 'The Liminal Review 2026', authored by Dr Rachel Falconer. The Lumen Prize is an annual award which celebrates digital artists working with technology. The Liminal Review brings together multiple perspectives on where digital art is heading, and was first released in 2025 when the report was also authored by Dr Falconer. There will be a panel discussion, drawing out the key themes from the new report.