Space and Satellites Artist Residency

In November 2019, the DDI initiative and Design Informatics began a collaboration with the Bayes Centre, Space Tech Scotland Meet-Ups and creative practitioners to look at how space and satellite data could be envisaged by the creative sector, and communicated to the public.

DDI initiative and Edinburgh Futures Institute provided funding support to allow the creative and space and satellite collaborations. After an open call, five artists were selected from a wide range of disciplines, from sound artists to weavers, illustrators to dancers and photographers.

Each of their projects responds to how satellite datasets are helping track the changes of life on earth, from weather conditions to climate change and deforestation through to transport, including the impact of Covid-19.

We look forward to more industry mash-ups and collaborations with the creative sector to create new products and services, and new public works to express the power of data in our everyday lives.

The residency ran from May-July 2020 and concluded with an online exhibition.

Image credit: MetaMoroph by Julia McGhee.

Selected Artists

Victoria Evans is a contemporary artist and practice-based PhD researcher within the School of Design at Edinburgh College of Art. Evans will create a sound piece that asks: ‘’What might a collective conversation across the solar system sound like?’ She will look at data relating to the positioning of the satellites and receiving stations.

Elaine Ford is multidisciplinary artist and wildlife biologist. Ford will look at earth observation images of Scotland and satellite tracking data to map the movement of animals across Scotland. Ford will explore how technology can help illustrate the importance of wildlife conservation enabled by satellite data.

Stacey Hunter is a design curator working with Weaver and Rug Tufter Ben Hymers.  Hunter will look at data sets associated with the Covid-19 pandemic in order to track and map the impact of the virus over a 50-day period. This will be translated into a large-scale woven tapestry cartoon.

Julia McGhee is a dance artist working in collaboration with Geoff Robbins, science technician and John McGeoch, multi-media artist. McGhee will focus on satellite data from the North of Scotland, where the team are based and use choreography, animation and film to chart changes at a local level.

Cécile Simonis is an illustrator and visual artist. Simonis will create risograph zines and posters whose fictional illustrated stories reference satellite data as well as the science and processes behind the gathering of the data.