Cultivating spaces for extraordinary artists
D2ART
The project aimed to understand better the current issues that disabled artists face during their creative process and the potential impact that digital tools might have on that process.
A digital approach can help address many of the issues faced by artists with physical disabilities by supporting and extending their existing practice, transforming their creative opportunities in terms of artistic freedom and expression.
The project was comprised of a multi-disciplinary team and advisory panel including DASH (Disability Arts Shropshire), Birmingham City University, SCOPE, the University of Illinois in Chicago, and the University of Birmingham's Human-Computer Interaction Centre.
Dr Chris Creed from University of Birmingham said: "We are delighted to have been awarded the opportunity to work with these partners. We will be working collaboratively to better understand the current practice of disabled artists and to conduct extensive user evaluations with a suite of novel technologies".
Paula Dower from DASH said "DASH are excited by the opportunity to be a partner with the Digital Humanities Hub. The work has the potential to increase the profile of the work of disabled artists."
Digital Humanities Hub
The Digital Humanities Hub at the University of Birmingham focuses on collaborative triple helix working across the Arts and Humanities with cultural and heritage organisations, digital and creative industries and academics to develop collaborative and innovative digital prototypes. A core part of the team's work is exploring and researching the impacts of innovative and novel technology (such as touch tables, Oculus Rift), providing both digital SMEs and cultural organisations with access to equipment and opportunities for R&D.
The Hub aims to develop new collaborations across the arts and humanities and has developed several projects to contribute to different aspects of this aim including CATH (The Collaborative Triple Helix Project), The Digital Cultural Heritage Demonstrator Project, SMARTCulture and D2Art.
The Hub Team has worked in collaboration with museums, galleries, libraries as well as cultural organisations in dance, performing arts, visual arts, creative writing, theatre, music as well as digital SMEs working in VR. AR, gaming, apps, data mining developing collaborative research partnerships with academics across the College of Art and Law.