On Friday I visited ONCA Gallery as part of Brighton’s Digital Festival (BDF).
BDF, the UK’s fastest growing festival, runs for a month and showcases over 150 events across Brighton & Hove reflecting the growth that the digital sector has enjoyed here in recent years. Brighton’s digital economy, which is worth over £1bn a year, shows that our city is leading the way in creative, digital innovation in the UK.
As a patron, I was delighted to attend a special event at ONCA, an innovative gallery in the centre of Brighton with a particular focus on the combination of art and environmental action. Keeping with this theme, the BDF exhibition, ‘Mephitic Air’ is a data visualisation installation, which explores ‘the spaces between human and machine interpretations of air pollution’, a big issue in the city at the moment.
Artists, Wesley Goatley and Tobias Revell, use an air pollution sensor outside the gallery to send live data into the installation, which is then visualised as projected images and surround-sound data sonifications – it’s fascinating, trust me!
This is just one example of how BDF is not only promoting exciting technology, but also acting as a space for social change, highlighting the vital role that Brighton’s digital economy has to play in encouraging more people to care for our environment, and to take action to defend it.
I look forward to watching the exciting festival grow even more in the next few years.
‘Mephitic Air’ runs until the 1st October at ONCA: http://brightondigitalfestival.co.uk/events/mephitic-air.
A panel discussion will take place at the gallery on Wednesday 27th September. Panellists will include Wesley Goatley, Alice Bell, a climate action campaigner, Dr Kevin Whyce, an atmospheric scientist, and Martin Harris, Managing Director at Brighton and Hove Bus Company. Details of the event are online here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talking-mephitic-air-tickets-36896110259.
You can see a full schedule of Brighton’s Digital festival here: http://brightondigitalfestival.co.uk/events
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