Two people standing/sitting next to a projected image of a ball like machine sitting on a river bed

British Council Ireland are delighted to partner with Beta, a festival critically engaging with technology's impact on society through a combination of creativity, debate and experimentation.

Taking Ireland’s role as a central node in today's wired world as a starting point, this festival showcases and celebrates Ireland’s research and artistic communities through a combination of creativity, debate and experimentation. Beta allows members of the public to engage playfully and critically with new technologies, essentially beta testing ethical issues facing society.

The festival also creates a network, international platform and anchor for the community of digital artists and researchers based in Ireland. Providing commissioning, upskilling, residency and mentorship opportunities as well as nurturing a creative pipeline and creating pathways for industry collaboration. The festival explores AI and creativity, immersive technologies and big ethical questions on topics from the environmental impacts of our networked society, data equity and web 3 to the third quantum revolution and the metaverse.

Co-founded by The Science Foundation Ireland and The Digital Hub, the event increases tech and digital literacy in the general public through a programme of panel discussions, exhibitions, screenings and workshops. British Council Ireland were delighted to partner with Beta Festival in bringing two UK artists to Dublin for the 2023 festival.

 

Potatoes with screws stuck in them and wires connected to some of the screws leading back to a machine that's out of focus in the background

2023 UK Programme

Potato Internet - Caroline Sinders

Potato Internet is an experimental small-scale social network, created by Caroline Sinders and Trammell Hudson to envision the internet in times of climate emergency and the global energy crisis. When imagining alternatives for today’s toxic and extractivist online world, the common criticism often comes down to: "but they don’t scale up". But what if the future of the internet is all about scaling down? In Potato Internet, the small scale allows the artists to build a functioning social network from scratch, rethinking all layers of the system, from hardware to protocols and governance. 

Ent - Libby Heaney

Ent-, by UK artist and quantum physicist Libby Heaney, the first immersive experience using quantum computing as both medium and subject matter. The 360˚ projection Ent- takes audiences through three earthly layers of quantum experiments containing quantum hybrid lifeforms and pulsating liquid worlds filled with fantastical creatures zipping in and out of dimensions. This new presentation of Ent- pushes the rhetoric surrounding the use of quantum technologies and all it encompasses forward to a more critical space of enquiry and parody.

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