The third lecture in the Virtual Realisms public series, curated by CSNI PhD researcher Teodora Sinziana Alata in collaboration with Tadej Vindis, will take place on the 6th of February 2025, 18:00-20:00, Lecture Theatre 3, at Harrow Campus, University of Westminster.
Decades after canonical media theorists predicted that new media software had ‘collapsed’ old media into endless ‘hybrid’ combinations, the walls really do seem to be crumbling: games engines are a crossroads of 21st century creative practice where the work of the architect, animator, filmmaker, games developer, contemporary artist, fashion designer and computer scientist increasingly overlap. But what does this mean for ideas of creative practice, for media or art? Are we all now multi-specialists, forced to constantly adapt as platforms automate our work? How do we stay afloat in this convergent, AI-assisted media ecosystem? Can media theory save us?
Alan Warburton is an artist, filmmaker and video essayist who has spent 18 years experimenting and reflecting on computer graphics, AR, VR, visual effects, motion graphics, projection mapping and 3D animation. Bluesky: cgwtf.bsky.social, website: https://alanwarburton.co.uk/
The event is free and open to all, but registration is required. Please register to attend here .
The Virtual Realisms public lecture series critically investigates the evolving forms of reality created through algorithmic worldbuilding, where advanced digital technologies give rise to new and diverse interpretations of what is considered ‘real.’ Spanning both technical and speculative practices, the lectures will explore how real-time virtual environments, and the technologies that underpin them, are redefining the logics of cultural production, creativity, and power in our increasingly rendered world.
The series is curated by Tadej Vindis, Lecturer in Creative Technologies, and Teodora Sinziana Alata, Lecturer in Creative Computing and Algorithmic Cultures, at the University of Westminster.
For further information about the lecture series and other upcoming lectures, please visit www.virtualrealisms.com.