Creative Technologies

3rd Symposium on Digital Art in Ireland [April 22, in person, UCC] Registration Open

Registration is now open for the 3rd Symposium on Digital Art in Ireland

April 22nd, 2026 in University College Cork

The symposium is a collaboration between Sample-Studios and University College Cork’s Department of Digital Humanities and Future Humanities Institute. The Symposium is generously supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

Registration is now open for the 3rd Symposium on Digital Art in Ireland. The symposium is a collaboration between Sample-Studios and University College Cork’s Department of Digital Humanities and Future Humanities Institute. The Symposium is generously supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

The Symposium will take place at University College Cork & the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, Fitzgerald’s Park 22nd April, 2026. It is chaired by Stephen Roddy, James O’Sullivan, Aoibhie McCarthy & Emer Yip.

Book tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/3rd-symposium-on-digital-art-in-ireland-tickets-1985523941558

Participants and attendees may also be interested in submitting to Digital Art in Ireland: Theory, Practice, Futures, a new book that will be published in late 2026/early 2027:
https://www.blackwaterpublishing.com/digital-art-ireland

Symposium Programme

DATE 22nd April 2026

Symposium: 10am-5:15pm | Exhibition Opening Reception: 5:30-7pm 
Venue: Dora Allman, University College Cork
10am Opening Remarks
10.15am – 11.30am Session 1
  • FAILING SMALL: TRAINING A GENERATIVE AI MODEL WITH IMPERFECT DARKROOM IMAGES. Alaz Okudan with James McDermott , Centre for Creative Technologies, University of Galway
  • ARTISTIC ACCESS TO COMPLEX DIGITAL SYSTEMS THROUGH PARTICIPATORY DESIGN. Dr Paul Green and Juan Francisco Martinez, MTU Crawford College of Art & Design &  Nimbus Research Centre
  • A PRACTICE-LED APPROACH TO MUSIC VISUALISATION IN THE IRISH DIGITAL ARTS CURRICULUM. Guang Yang, University College Cork
Break 11.30-11.45am
11.45am – 1.00pm Session 2
  • FULLY SUBMERGED: COLLABORATIVE WORK AND IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES. Barbara Denier, University College Cork and Dr. Paul Green, MTU Crawford College of Art & Design
  • A MULTI-MODAL ADAPTIVE MICROTUNING ARCHITECTURE: BRIDGING MTS, MPE, AND MIDI 2.0 FOR REAL-TIME JUST INTONATION. Rui Su, Joseph Timoney, Damián Keller, Maynooth University
  • A LEGION OF DEVILS- THE ROLE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SCULPTURE OF JAMES L HAYES. James L. Hayes, MTU Crawford College of Art & Design

Lunch 1-2pm
2.00pm – 3.15pm Session 3
  • CHROMAESTHESIA IN CURGENVEN’S AGENESIS. Robin Parmar, University of Limerick
  • CREATIVE TRANSPARENCY: REFLECTIONS ON A DEVELOPING HYBRID DIGITAL PRACTICE. Chris Falconer
  • ACCESSIBILITY AND MULTI-SENSORY INSTALLATION. Jane Cassidy, University of Galway’s Centre for Creative Technologies
Break 3.15-3.30pm
3:30pm – 4:15pm Panel
  • THE BODY AS HARDWARE: ENTANGLEMENT OF FLESH AND MACHINE THROUGH DIGITAL PERFORMANCE. EL Putnam (Maynooth University), Katherine Nolan (Technological University Dublin), Phaedra Shanbaum (Maynooth University)
4:15pm – 5:15pm Final Session
  • METAGARDENER: CULTIVATING LIFE IN INTERACTION DESIGN. Caileann Finn, University of Limerick
  • LUDDITE ACADEMY; TOWARDS A POLITICISED DIGITAL CREATIVE PRACTICE. David Benqué, Institute of Diagram Studies, Sample-Studios Member
  • COUNTER-ARCHIVAL METHODOLOGIES AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY: THE IRAQ PHOTO ARCHIVE AND HOUSE OF MEMORY. Basil Al-Rawi 

Exhibition Opening

House of Memory,  Basil Al-Rawi

The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, 5.30-7pm

CLICK HERE

Additional details: https://sample-studios.com/events/3rd-symposium-on-digital-art-in-ireland/

DARIAH-IE Visits UCC [March 19th, 2026]

Save the Date ! DARIAH-IE visits UCC on March 19th, 2026

DARIAH-IE will be continuing our visits to Irish HEIs with a trip to University College Cork on March 19th. We are looking forward to meeting with colleagues engaged in digitally-enabled arts and humanities activities across the university – from practitioners, researchers, academics to those involved in research support services.

The visit to UCC will include an Open Session with a short presentation on DARIAH and Ireland’s national node DARIAH-IE, followed by a Q&A with Joan Murphy (DARIAH-IE National Manager) and Prof Jennifer Edmond (DARIAH-IE National Coordinator). During the Q&A attendees will be given the opportunity to discuss their needs and wants from the national node in a relaxed and informal way. A number of smaller meetings will also take place.

Further details of the day will be communicated shortly, but if you have any questions in the meantime please contact joan.y.murphy@tcd.ie directly.

Location: North Wing Council Room (first floor, Main Quad)

Time: 11-12:30

Event: Open Session – Q&A / discussion

Digital Changelings: 3D Scanning Nature [Feb 17 @ 12:00 GMT in person (Galway) and online]

Digital Changelings: 3D Scanning Nature

Date & Time: 12pm, Tuesday 17th February

Location: Studio 3, O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance, University of Galway

Registration

In person: https://ti.to/creative-tech/masterclass-liing-heaney

Zoom: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jbqJZag_T0CrOoJBH1CAFA#/registration

Centre for Creative Technologies, University of Galway, Masterclass Series

In this session, multidisciplinary artist 1iing heaney will talk about the use of 3D scanning in her practice, and how it has informed her thinking on digital and ecological life. She will discuss the technical and creative application of the medium as she has implemented it across installation, sculpture, and video.

Speaker Bio
1iing heaney is a multidisciplinary artist based in Leixlip, Co. Kildare exploring the complex entanglements of the anthropocene, particularly between technology and ecology. She is currently a Masters by Research candidate in IADT, funded by scholarship from TU Rise Elevate. Working across diverse mediums such as 3D print, Extended Reality, stone, CGI, steel, and screen, her work is presented as immersive, sculptural, and screened experiences.

Upcoming:

Róisín Berg – Tuesday, 24 February

Tara Jaye Burke – Tuesday, 3rd March

Claire Healy  – Tuesday 24th March

Jane Cassidy – Tuesday 31th March

Futures in the Making: Identity, Speculation, and Digital Representation [Feb 10, online and in person, @12:00 GMT]

Futures in the Making: Identity, Speculation, and Digital Representation

Date & Time: 12pm, Tuesday 10th February

Location: Studio 3, O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance, University of Galway

The Masterclass Series continues with 

Aisling Phelan, an Irish multidisciplinary artist exploring digital doubles, speculative futures and human-machine interactions and entanglements.

In this masterclass, Aisling will present an overview of her artistic practice, tracing the research, processes, and technological explorations that shape her work in relation to identity, corporeality, and digital representation. Drawing on recent research into DeepFakes, doppelgangers, and robotics, the session will also invite participants to engage in speculative thinking around possible futures shaped by emerging technologies, using fiction and open-ended questioning as tools to reflect on contemporary technological anxieties.

Speaker Bio
Aisling Phelan is an Irish multidisciplinary artist exploring digital doubles, speculative futures and human-machine interactions and entanglements. Through 3D animation, AI, video, sculpture, and live interactive technologies, her work explores what it means to be human in an era of rapid technological advancement and pervasive algorithmic influence. 

Drawing from a transhumanist and speculative fiction perspective, Phelan explores how far we are willing to go in the pursuit of self-optimisation and the potential costs of such advances. Fusing the intimate with the artificial, her practice confronts the seductive promise of transcendence and enhancement, creating space for reflection on the role of current digital infrastructures in shaping how we understand ourselves and others.

In person: https://ti.to/creative-tech/masterclass-aisling-phelan

Zoom: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Fb4r-VXCTAOFEkSJdwm8iw

Upcoming Workshops:

Liing Heaney  – Tuesday, 17 February

Róisín Berg – Tuesday, 24 February

Tara Jaye Burke – Tuesday, 3rd March

Claire Healy  – Tuesday 24th March

Jane Cassidy – Tuesday 31th March

Immersive Storytelling in 360° [Feb 12, online & in person, @12:00 GMT]

Immersive Storytelling in 360°

Date & Time: 12pm, Wednesday 4th February

Location: Studio 3, O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance, University of Galway

This 2 hour workshop will explore 360° storytelling processes. Drawing on the artist’s experiences with making 360° pieces in multiple languages and within different contexts, James will share what he has learned while referencing his work along with other international artists making work in this realm. No experience needed, this workshop is for anyone interested in telling stories, and how you might go about it in the digital space – touching on narrative structure, plot, character and the use of text and audio.

James Riordan is Artistic Director of Brú Theatre. His work in the digital space includes Ar Ais Arís (2020) – a merging of Irish language literature on immigration and VR, which recently toured to the US and Canada. In 2024 he directed No Tempo por Agua, A 360° VR piece for Portuguese company Teatro Do Silencio which premiered in Lisbon. Ologon, a 360° musical experience shot throughout Mayo premiered in 2021. 

He was Digital Artist in Residence with University of Galway’s Centre for Creative Technologies in 2024 and has presented his work and facilitated VR workshops for multiple companies including Prime Cut (Belfast) and Central School of Drama (London) and Galway International Arts Festival.

Registration:

In person: https://ti.to/creative-tech/masterclass-james-riordan

Zoom: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ddeqz_QWR12QOhQ-sX4gJA#/registration

Upcoming Workshops:

Aisling Phelan – Tuesday, 10 Februaury

Liing Heaney  – Tuesday, 17 February

Róisín Berg – Tuesday, 24 February

Tara Jaye Burke – Tuesday, 3rd March

Claire Healy  – Tuesday 24th March

Jane Cassidy – Tuesday 31th March

Expanding Realities: XR at the Intersection of Hidden Histories, Biosciences, and Creative Technologies [Online and in person, Nov 4th, 12pm]. University of Galway Centre for Creative Technologies.

Expanding Realities: XR at the Intersection of Hidden Histories, Biosciences, and Creative Technologies

This masterclass with visiting Fulbright Specialist, Thomas Tucker of Virginia Tech, explores how Extended Reality (XR), including virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, has become a transformative tool across disciplines. Drawing from his own creative practice and collaborative research, he will present case studies that demonstrate how XR bridges cultural heritage, bioscience and veterinary research, and interactive art.

The session will combine project documentation, live examples, and conceptual framing to illustrate how XR operates as both a research methodology and a medium for storytelling. Attendees will gain insight into how immersive technologies are reshaping education, cultural preservation, scientific research, and artistic innovation.

Highlights

Creative Installations: Immersive XR artworks, including Drosera Obscura and Sound Arcade, which integrate animatronics, sound design, and sensory elements. These projects showcase how XR can provoke ecological awareness and emotional reflection while pushing the boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Historic Reconstructions: XR as a means of digitally repatriating artifacts and reconstructing lived environments, from WWI trenches and Civil War battlefields to overlooked rural landscapes. These projects illustrate how immersive experiences can expand access to cultural memory and hidden histories.

Bioscience and Veterinary Simulations: XR applications in veterinary training, animal care, and biological research—such as simulations of bat flight and sonar perception in China—highlight how immersive environments can serve both scientific understanding and empathy building for professionals and students.

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Registration: https://ti.to/creative-tech/masterclass-thomas-tucker

This masterclass is part of a series run by the Centre for Creative Technologies at University of Galway.