Mechanical Bloom Lab at the Swindon Designer Outlet as part of Festival of Tomorrow (2024). Photo by Tiger Watts.
We had an amazing time in Swindon this half-term, giving visitors of all ages the chance to fill their week with arts, science and technology in a special one off Mechanical Bloom Lab at Swindon’s Designer Outlet.
Over 13-hundred people attended the installation, part of the town’s popular Festival of Tomorrow, that showcased our live performance robots, developed in partnership with experts at Bristol Robotics Lab.
A force for creativity and connection
The bio-inspired robots were initially created to explore how robotics could influence social connectivity and collaboration. The lab saw young robotics enthusiasts get the chance to meet and interact with the robots, learn about how they work, and share their own ideas on what the role that robots should and could have in our society.
Our founder, Neon’s Artistic Director, Adrienne Hart, said: “Why, given our hyper connectivity, loneliness is so prevalent today? We increasingly embed technology into our daily lives, without much thought on how we can use it to connect with our own creativity, and with each other.”
Creativity for everyone
Adrienne continued: “I am particularly excited about what both robotics and virtual reality have the power to achieve in the world of dance. Imagine experiencing up close a performer interacting with your robot avatar and choosing where you’d like to be in the space and what you’d like to see. You move your arms and the robot mimics your movement. It’s these kind of ideas we’re interested in exploring to open up live performance to more people and make it accessible to everybody.”
What’s next for performance robots?
The Lab follows on from a previous project, Prehension Blooms, a contemporary dance performance with robotics that premiered and toured in the UK in 2022, and Beyond Body and Things an interactive installation with sand, robots and dance that took place at Setouchi Art Triennale in Japan the same year.
“At every step of the way we’ve had a range of different people with different lived realities feeding into the design of our robots including visually impaired communities in Bristol and young people aged 9-18 in Swindon”, says Adrienne. “The next step is to get our robot creatures moving untethered (no easy task) and complete the design of the body.”
Neon Dance is currently researching a wearable robot that can enhance embodied communication; a collaboration with Air Giants and Bristol Robotics Lab. So, watch this space for more dance and technology in Swindon very soon!