Culture Lab Director talk at Nottingham University MRL

Atau Tanaka speaks at the MRL (Mixed Reality Lab) at Nottingham University

The MRL was first established in 1999 with £1.2M funding under the JREI programme and its facilities were updated in 2005 through a further £1M under SRIF 2. The laboratory is currently home to over fifty academics, research associates and PhD students who are undertaking a wide ranging programme of research into mixed reality and its applications. Between 2000 and 2007, the MRL was the lead partner in EPSRC's Equator IRC, a £10M, eight partner, initiative exploring the interweaving of physical and digital interaction for everyday life.

MRL's fifth monthly Lecture Series for 2009/2010, the MRL Distinguished Speaker Series which aims to invite senior researchers in industry and academia to present their research in the area of ubiquitous computing and identify areas for collaboration, will feature Culture Lab's Director, Atau Tanaka.

Atau is Chair of Digital Media and Director of Culture Lab at Newcastle University. He bridges the fields of media art, experimental music, and research. He worked at IRCAM, was Artistic Ambassador for Apple France, a researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratory Paris, and also an Artistic Co-Director of STEIM in Amsterdam. Atau creates sensor-based musical instruments for performance, and is known for his work with biosignal interfaces. He seeks to harness collective musical creativity in mobile environments, seeking out the continued place of the artist in democratized digital forms. His work has been presented at Ars Electronica, SFMOMA, Eyebeam, V2, ICC, and ZKM and has been mentor at NESTA. His research interests encompass mobile and locative media art, interactive performance and creative practice on public displays.

 http://www.mrl.nott.ac.uk/index.php

Published: 30th June 2010