Slade Centre for Electronic Media in Fine Art
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| Slade Centre for Electronic Media in Fine Art | |
|---|---|
| Name | Slade Centre for Electronic Media in Fine Art |
| Formation | 1995 |
| Headquarters | University College London |
| Location | London, England |
| Leader title | Director |
| Parent organisation | Slade School of Fine Art |
Slade Centre for Electronic Media in Fine Art is a research and exhibition hub within the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London that focuses on the intersection of contemporary art practice and electronic media. The centre has contributed to debates across curatorial practices, digital arts, and new media through exhibitions, publications, and educational programmes. It operates within London’s museum and gallery ecology while engaging internationally with artists, technologists, and institutions.
History
The centre was established in the mid-1990s during a period of rapid expansion in digital arts when institutions such as the Tate Modern, British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and Barbican Centre were responding to networked cultures. Founding activity intersected with initiatives at Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, Camberwell College of Arts, Chelsea College of Arts, and the Royal Academy of Arts. Early programmes involved collaborations with curators from Serpentine Galleries, Kunsthalle Basel, Hayward Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery, and international partners such as New Museum and Centre Pompidou. Directors and convenors have included staff and visiting researchers affiliated with British Council, Arts Council England, Wellcome Trust, and research labs linked to Imperial College London and King's College London.
Mission and Activities
The centre’s mission aligns with supporting experimental practice that combines art, code, hardware and critical theory, resonating with practitioners associated with Bauhaus, Fluxus, Postmodernism, and more recent generative traditions. Activities emphasize exhibition-making, artist residencies, critical symposia, and technical support for media production in partnership with departments across University College London, Royal Holloway, University of London, Goldsmiths, and international art schools like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and MEDIA Lab. The programme often addresses public-facing debates raised by exhibitions at MoMA, Centre for Contemporary Arts (Glasgow), and Documenta.
Exhibitions and Projects
The centre has presented curated projects featuring moving-image, interactive, net art and installation work, often in dialogue with major events such as Venice Biennale, Berlin Biennale, Frieze Art Fair, Whitney Biennial, and Skulptur Projekte Münster. Projects have highlighted artists connected to institutions like FACT Liverpool, Arnolfini, Transmission Gallery, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, and international venues including ZKM and CCA Montreal. The centre’s exhibitions have foregrounded practices from figures and collectives who have exhibited at Guggenheim Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Hayward Touring, and Sonic Acts, as well as collaborations with media labs at NESTA and DACS initiatives.
Education and Workshops
Teaching and workshops integrate techniques in video art, interactive design, motion capture, and software development in partnership with workshops and studios connected to British Film Institute, Royal Television Society, Adobe Systems Incorporated, and hardware partners evident in collaborations with Arduino, Raspberry Pi Foundation, and makerspaces tied to Fab Lab Network. The centre organises masterclasses, technical bootcamps, and seminar series drawing visiting tutors from Yale School of Art, Columbia University School of the Arts, University of California, Los Angeles, and European schools such as École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and Zurich University of the Arts.
Research and Publications
Research outputs have included catalogues, essays and monographs that respond to exhibitions and technological change, distributed alongside partner publishers and cultural organisations like Routledge, MIT Press, Bloomsbury, Tate Publishing, and independent presses involved with practice-led research. The centre's public programming has generated papers and conference contributions to forums such as ISEA International, SIGGRAPH, ACM Digital Libraries, CHI, and symposia convened with British Library and Royal Society. Fellows and researchers have engaged with projects funded by bodies such as Arts and Humanities Research Council, European Research Council, and foundations like Ford Foundation and Gates Foundation.
Collaborations and Partnerships
Institutional partnerships span museums, universities, technology firms and funders: notable partners have included Tate Britain, Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, Design Museum, Google Arts & Culture, Microsoft Research, IBM Research, Sony Research, and independent collectives and networks such as Nettime, Furtherfield, Rhizome, and Artangel. Cross-disciplinary collaborations extend to scientific institutions including Natural History Museum, London, Science Museum, London, and clinical research groups at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
Notable Artists and Alumni
Alumni and associated artists who have shown work, taught, or engaged with the centre reflect a range of practices visible in collections and exhibitions at Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, Whitney Museum, and Serpentine Galleries. Names connected through teaching, residencies or exhibitions include practitioners represented by commercial galleries active at Frieze London and biennales such as the Venice Biennale and Documenta 14.