Manchester-based arts and culture organisation FutureEverything will kick start their exciting programme of public-facing digital arts activities, as part of the Stockport Creative Campus initiative, with a residency, workshop programme, and a world premiere of a new digital artwork by acclaimed artist Di Mainstone.
Di Mainstone is a multi-disciplinary artist and international award-winning filmmaker, who collaborates with communities, scientists, historians, and musicians to develop powerful films, playful public installations, and immersive experiences. Her recent work focuses on themes of climate change, biodiversity loss, and forgotten women’s histories.
Di’s commissions include the award-winning climate-inspired film ‘Time Bascule‘, celebrating the 125th anniversary of London’s Tower Bridge; ‘Human Harp’, a digital musical device that transforms suspension bridges into giant harps that people can play and ‘Time Mirror’, an interactive kaleidoscope for the public realm, installed at BlackwellArts & Crafts House and later Grizedale Sculpture Park. Her work has been exhibited and screened at the Royal Institute of British Architects, V&A, Design Museum, Barbican, The National Portrait Gallery, Tower Bridge, The Roundhouse, The Cannes Film Festival, Eyebeam NYC, and the Swedish National Touring Theatre.
Building on Di’s international reputation for innovative and accessible art installations and her ongoing quest to emphasise the importance of ecological issues, the Stockport commission ‘Emotional Biodiversity’ will invite us to examine our emotional and neurological response to biodiversity loss, through the lens of soil.
Drawing on her passion for community collaboration, this Spring will see Di co-design and deliver a series of creative engagement workshops for a diverse range of communities from across Stockport. Workshop participants will be invited to explore their emotional connection to the landscape and biodiversity of Stockport, in a way that feels current, accessible, and fun.
Participants will be invited to unearth and decorate a bulb from the soil, before imagining and creating a species of bulb which will later be 3D scanned and planted in the digital artwork. They will be asked to consider the name of their species, what kind of environment it might inhabit, and what its message to future citizens of Stockport would be.
Di will facilitate discussions about climate change and record participants’ feelings around emotional biodiversity: What connection do they feel to Stockport? What does it mean to become part of the fabric of a place? These interviews, in addition to the bulb creations, will become part of the final digital artwork.
The workshops will provide a space for people across Stockport to re-engage with their surroundings, connect the past, present, and future, as well as reflect on the town’s rich heritage, innovation, and community.
Participating Community Groups: Stockport Race Equality Partnership; Coffee, Chill & Spill; Wellspring Centre; Re-dish; Stockport Women & Girls; Sector 3; PossAbilities; Asian Heritage Centre; and Culture Bridge.
The ‘Emotional Biodiversity’ digital artwork will be presented in Stockport town centre later this year.
This programme of work forms part of the Stockport Creative Campus. Funded primarily by DCMS via Arts Council England’s Cultural Development Fund (CDF), Stockport Creative Campus aims to make Stockport a centre for creativity and digital innovation in the North.