Bio

Studio Above&Below is a London based art and technology practice founded by Daria Jelonek (DE) and Perry-James Sugden (UK) after graduating from the Royal College of Art.  Their work combines Mixed Realities experiences (XR), digital art and data in order to grow potential connections between humans, machines and the environment - working towards preferred future interactions with our surroundings. 

Believing in research based art, Studio Above&Below often works with science, technology, communities and ecologies to push the boundaries of digital media for future living. Established in 2018, over the last years the duo has created groundbreaking large-scale public artworks using advanced technologies with live data inputs in order to make invisible phenomena visible and give our environment a voice to express itself.

The duo’s work has been exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Royal Academy, Tate Modern, V&A London, Photophore during the Venice Biennale, London Design Festival, MEET Milan, UCCA Shanghai, WRO Biennale, SONAR+D Barcelona, Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing and NRW Forum Diisseldorf.

Previous prizes and fundings include the STARTS Future of the city prize (winner), WIRED Creative HackAward (finalist), Bloomberg Bursary, Battersea Sculpture Prize, Arts Council England project grant, Repairing The Present fellowship.

Jelonek and Sugden regularly give public talks at culture and technology institutions such as Global Design Forum, Fiber Festival Amsterdam, Retune Berlin, New Now Festival, Arebyte Gallery, Nottingham Contemporary.

Synopsis:  Regenerative Symphony Excerpt

"Regenerative Symphony" is an immersive installation investigating the desirable future of critical minerals, which are rare essential building blocks of emerging technologies. The project utilises synthetic and natural material data through a custom AI model for regenerative purposes, imagining a future between 2030-2050 in which humankind is purely dependent on recycling critical minerals, rather than extracting them from the landscape, challenging the current extreme difficulty of recycling critical minerals on a social and microscopic level. The project results in a generative projection artwork that focuses on revealing the beauty of reuse through the metaphor of sound symphonies, manifested as an immersive audiovisual canvas which can be adjusted by visitors through predictive future data of material resources via parameters on an iPad.

ABOUT THE ALGORITHM

The artwork's algorithmic model is rooted in the Lotka-Volterra Predator-Prey model. It emphasises recycling and resource interdependence by simulating interactions among the three main material groups reliant on critical minerals: consumer electronics, renewable energy, and electric transportation. These elements are integrated into an AI architecture, illustrating the cyclic, symbiotic balance within ecosystems. This algorithmic influence extends to the audiovisual elements, shaping their behaviour and choreography in a poetic and critical manner. It provides insight into resource exchange and recycling, portraying critical minerals as essential players in the ongoing landscape of regeneration.

WHAT ARE CRITICAL MINERALS 

(17 RARE EARTH ELEMENTS)

Critical minerals are essential raw materials crucial for the manufacturing of high-tech products, renewable energy technologies, and advanced technology. Their importance lies in their necessity for economic security and technological advancement, coupled with potential supply chain risks due to geopolitical factors and limited availability.

Credits:

Concept & Design:  Studio Above&Below

Production:  Studio Above&Below, MEET | Digital Culture Center

Computational programming:  Tommaso Rodani, Cuturello Francesca

Research partners:  Area Science Park

Sound design:  Einar Fehrholz

Director of Photography:  Riccardo Rolandi

This artwork is realised by Studio Above&Below, and co-commissioned by MEET Digital Culture Centre with the support of Area Science Park Trieste as part of S+T+ARTS In the City, project co-funded by the European Union.MEET Digital Culture Centre with the support of Area Science Park Trieste as part of S+T+ARTS In the City, project co-funded by the European Union.