01229 825085
Art Gene, Bath Street, Barrow-in-Furness,
Cumbria, LA14 5TY England, UK
Vi Trinh, Escape, Digital U: Extreme Views, 2019
About Digital U
Digital U is an online exhibition space for artists that started in 2017. Each year, Art Gene works with a Digital Artist-Curator to show a new programme of work from a group of international, national, and local artists.
It is a platform for artists working in digital media; from film, animation, video, sound, html, and more. Inspired by our long-established U-Hang Exhibition Programme, where artists place work in surprising places within our building, Digital U uses our website as a central hub to share elements of their work across our digital platforms.
In both opportunities we encourage a spirit of curiosity and experimentation, allowing artists to test their ideas in new spaces and build on their research.
Digital Notes, physical exhibition 2021
Past Programmes
Digital Gene Pool
Digital Gene Pool was our first Digital U programme. It was curated by Ruth Pringle, who previously curated our physical U Hang exhibition. It explored internet safety, chronic pain, creativity, technology, privacy, nuclear power, and internet culture.
It showed work from video artist David Theobald, musician and sound designer Ant Dickinson, graphic artist and printmaker Ciara Chapman, and the collaborative duo Post-Internet Landscapes (PILproject). It was made up of Facebook conversations, a blog, CGI animations, audio sculptures, and a website invasion.
Extreme Views
Digital U: Extreme Views took place in 2018 and was curated by artist Alejandro Ball. Alejandro is one half of PILproject, who shared their project The One – The Many in the previous years Digital Gene Pool programme.
Extreme Views showed work from artist Benjamin Grosser, artist, animator and musician Paul Dolan, and artist and software developer Sarah Friend. Through a browser extension that disrupted Facebook, a digital moving image vista, and a machine learning algorithm, this programme highlighted different aspects of internet culture to examine the radical nature of artistic activities in digital space.
Spruce Pine, North Carolina, Paul Dolan, 2018
Extreme Views Part 2
Following on from the previous year, Alejandro Ball curated Extreme Views Part 2 in 2019. He expanded on the previous years programme to examine the collision of art & environment in the digital age.
This included work from the curatorial studio Agorama (who specialise in artist development in emerging technologie), illustrator and moving image designer Olivia Sullivan, collaborative work from Dana Olărescu + Paulina Sidhom, artist/drawer Angela Eames, and artist Vi Trinh.
Cycle, Angela Eames, 2019
Digital Notes
Curated by Cardiff based artist Sophie Lindsey in 2021, Digital Notes explored themes of food, futures and biodiversity, to consider the potential of note making as a method, practice, and process.
Through a series of webpages, live events and interventions, Digital Notes shared work/research from Sebastián Calfuqueo, Amanda Gatti + Gustiele Fistaról, James Scott, and Ashley Yuqi Zhang + Hua Zhang.
Find out more here.
Mapu Kufüll, Sebastián Calfuqueo, 2021
Beyond Breaking Point
Artist Sophie Lindsey returned in 2022 to curate Beyond Breaking Point, which considered how work structures and attitudes can nurture unsustainable approaches, expectations, and practices. It questioned how we can care for our environment when struggling to care for, and sustain ourselves.
It brought artists Bingyi Liu, Ruth Waters, Paul Shortt and Aminder Virdee together in a series of webpages (exhibitions), videos, live screening, printable posters, GIFs and texts.
Find out more here.
On Repeat
On Repeat was our 2023 programme, and was the third programme developed by our regular Artist / Curator Sophie Lindsey. Through revisiting and repeating work, On Repeat questioned the need for constant production by encouraging artists to delve into their archives, making the most of what they’ve already got.
The result was a collection of work from the recent past by artists Amy Wright, Beth Fox, Marianne Vieules, Simon the Last, Sophie Broadgate, and Ting-Ting Cheng.
The programme was made up of series of webpages (exhibitions), videos, live screening, an ambient sound piece, website, and interactive game.
Find out more here.
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