I am an academic, artist and musician, exploring the relations that emerge when humans and technology become entangled. I work with metaphors, prototyping, speculation, tinkering and mess to re-think technological propositions, whether robots, intelligence, music or distributed systems. My interactive installations have won the Lumen Prize for AI and Art as well as a people’s choice New Technology Art Award, and have been shown at ZKM Karlsruhe, Athens Art Fair, Kinetica, Talbot Rice Gallery. I blend creative practice with technological research, winning a best paper at Human Robot Interaction 2024 for speculative design work around a robotic artwork and showing design work at Tate Exchange. I have also curated residencies and exhibitions exploring the connections between art and data and exploring art and AI at Inspace gallery in Edinburgh. I am part of the Experiential AI/New Real group, and have spoken at ZKM, Ars Electronica, Conflux festival and more, making links between the various practices of AI, art, music and design.

Works

Artificial Otoacoustics

(photo credits to Pieter Kers https://beeld.nu/)

Artificial Otoacoustics is an investigation into a physical deep learning synthesiser with an unconventional soundmaking apparatus that comes to understand its noise making potentials.

Lichtsuchende

Lichtsuchende, a collaboration with Rocio Jungenfeld, is a small society of robot sunflowers that interact by exchanging beams of light. Over the years, they have morphed from a study in distributed embodied algorithms into an exploration of what robot imaginaries might be.

Thawing Colours

Thawing Colours is a collaborative piece with Rocio Jungenfeld, involving ice, pigment, wool, contact microphones and concatenative synthesis.

Chaodependant

Chaodependant, in collaboration with Owen Green and Agelos Papadakis, investigates the use of technology to explore invisibly structured spaces, in particular the attraction and repulsion of magnetic fields. A pendulum hangs from the roof, with a magnet encased in glass as the bob. A circular base supports a collection of glass pods containing magnets, sensors and lights.

Outputs

Selected Shows and Awards

Papers

1. On Creative Practice and Generative AI Vidmar, Matjaz and Hemment, Drew and Murray-Rust, Dave and Black, Suzanne R. (2024) Data-Driven Innovation in the Creative Industries: Creative Data Catalysts

1. Spatial Robotic Experiences as a Ground for Future HRI Speculations Murray-Rust, Dave and Lupetti, Maria Luce and Ianniello, Alessandro and Gorbet, Matt and Van Der Helm, Aadjan and Filthaut, Liliane and Chiu, Adrian and Beesley, Philip (2024) Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

1. Experiential AI: Between Arts and Explainable AI Hemment, Drew and Murray-Rust, Dave and Belle, Vaishak and Aylett, Ruth and Vidmar, Matjaz and Broz, Frank (2024) Leonardo

1. Decentralised Creative Economies and Transactional Creative Communities: New Value Discovery in the Performing Arts Elsden, Chris and Speed, Chris and Murray-Rust, Dave (2024) Data-Driven Innovation in the Creative Industries: Creative Data Catalysts

1. Actor-Flower-Mesh-Work: Making Environments Together von Jungenfeld, Rocio and Murray-Rust, Dave (2023) Creating Digitally: Shifting Boundaries: Arts and Technologies—Contemporary Applications and Concepts

1. Thinking through Robotic Imaginaries Murray-Rust, Dave and von Jungenfeld, Rocio (2017) RTD2017

1. Lichtsuchende Murray-Rust, D. and Von Jungenfeld, Rocio (2016) Interactions

1. Lichtsuchende: A Society of Cybernetic, Phototropic Sunflowers Murray-Rust, Dave and von Jungenfeld, Rocio (2015) Creativity and Cognition 2015

1. Lichtsuchende : Exploring the Emergence of a Cybernetic Society Murray-Rust, Dave and von Jungenfeld, Rocio (2015) Evolutionary and Biologically Inspired Music, Sound, Art and Design, 4th International Conference, EvoMUSART 2015 (LNCS 9027)

1. Linking Science and Arts: Intimate Science, Shared Spaces and Living Experiments Perelló, J. and Murray-Rust, D. and Nowak, A. and Bishop, S.R. (2012) European Physical Journal - Special Topics

1. Thawing Colours: Dangling from the Fuzzy End of Interfaces Murray-Rust, Dave and von Jungenfeld, Rocio (2012) Physicality 2012 - Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Physicality