Creative Technologies

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.