The winner of IK Prize 2015, an annual prize presented by Tate celebrating creative talent in the digital industry, was announced today by artist, Mat Collishaw. The winner is Flying Object (Tom Pursey, Peter Law and Tim Partridge) for Tate Sensorium. The project will use the latest innovations in technology, including binaural sound and ultrasonic touchless haptics in an immersive installation, to create sensory experiences that relate to specific works of art.
Tate Sensorium was chosen by a panel of industry experts from a shortlist of four proposals. Flying Object, a London based creative agency, will receive £10,000 and a £60,000 production budget to turn their idea into a reality. The winning project, Tate Sensorium, will be unveiled at Tate Britain in late summer.
Flying Object will create bespoke applications of technology to bring Tate Sensorium to life, with help from a cross-disciplinary team of technologists, scientific experts and artists. The installation will allow visitors to engage with artworks using sound, smell, taste and touch, highlighting different aspects of each work and exploring the way the senses interrelate to influence our overall experiences. To create the impression of dynamic, tactile sensations, the team plan to use an ultrasonic device to deliver touchless haptics, while binaural audio will be used to produce 3D sounds. Following the project, the binaural audio experiences will be made available online and through Tate’s audio guides.
Tate Sensorium will incorporate technology to explore how visitors react to the multi-sensory installations. They will be given the option to track their response by wearing physiological measurement devices, andgiven graphical information showing how their body reacted to each of the exhibits. The project is informed by recent research from disciplines including neuroscience and experimental psychology.
Flying Object said: “We’re thrilled to have been awarded the 2015 IK Prize. We founded Flying Object on the belief that technology can be transformative in the way that people connect to the world and to each other. The IK Prize gives us a tremendous platform to develop those ideas in the world of art. And we’re incredibly excited to be collaborating with both Tate and a top team of scientists and creatives to bring the project to life’.
Kerstin Mogull, Managing Director, Tate said: “I am delighted that Flying Object is the winner of the IK Prize 2015. This prize was originated to celebrate digital creativity and their proposal, Tate Sensorium, combines advanced technologies to give visitors a fresh way to experience and engage with great works of art.”
The IK Prize, named in memory of the philanthropist Irene Kreitman, celebrates creative talent in the digital industry. Supported by the Porter Foundation, the Prize is presented by Tate to a team, company or individual for an original idea that uses the power of digital technology to connect Tate’s collection of 500 years of British Art to a wider audience.
This is the second year of the IK Prize. The inaugural winners were The Workers for After Dark, a project featuring robots in the collection displays at Tate Britain.