Key details
Time
- 10:30am – 7:30pm
Location
- Battersea
-
Royal College of Art, 1 Hester Road London SW11 4AY
Price
- Free
Who can attend
- Everyone
Type
- Exhibition
You are warmly invited to the Reverse Alchemy Exhibition at the Royal College of Art. The exhibition celebrates the work of the 2023 Information Experience Design Cohort, a collaborative project between the RCA and the Korean National University of the Arts (K-Arts).
Reverse Alchemy is a metaphor for our times, symbolising the transformation of complex technological processes into more organic outcomes. The exhibition highlights the innovative spirit of young creators as they explore intersections of AI, XR, and sustainability. Through immersive VR experiences and interactive installations, Reverse Alchemy asks how, as artists and designers, we can intervene in technical processes to produce experiences that are organic, magical, or even uncanny.
The exhibition will also feature hands-on workshops and panel discussions. Visitors are invited to engage with these technologies, consider the role of art and design in shaping technology, and explore how we can create experiences that support sustainable futures and amplify marginalised voices. The exhibition is open to all, particulary those curious about or involved with Virtual Reality, Interaction Design or Cultural Discourse.
REVERSE ALCHEMY WORKSHOPS
Spatial Storytelling: Happy Place
Run by artist: Mado Kelleyan
11:00 - 13:00
This workshop invites participants to collaborate to create a VR experience that represents the idea of a 'happy place'. Happy places can be real or imaginary, natural or human made, figurative or abstract, visual or sound based. Sometimes they are places we go to or places we come from, sometimes they exist only in our mind. Working collaboratively, participants will reimagine their Happy Place in virtual reality, exploring how we can know through feeling, sharing stories and experiences through spatial environments that invite audiences into alternative ways of seeing the world.
Immersive AR: Micro Voyage
Run by artist: Jaein Lee
11:00 - 13:00
Participants are invited to enter the world of microorganisms in this workshop, shifting their perspective to embrace a symbiotic understanding beyond human-centered views. By observing our surroundings under a microscope, we explore the non-human species around us. Participants will sculpt their observations, scan them using a 3D scanner, and bring the resulting sculptures into a virtual space. These creations will then be placed in a location-triggered AR environment, inviting participants to embark on an immersive journey into the Microbioscene.
REVERSE ALCHEMY PANELS
From Product Design to Experience Building
2 – 3pm
This panel explores the collaborative relationship between artists and technology designers in the development and implementation of immersive technologies.
In conversation: Petra Zhivkova (Meta), artists Nahuel Basterretche (RCA), and Nathan Smith (RCA).
What is the future of XR as a practice and space for creative exploration?
3.15 – 4.15pm
This discussion will examine how emerging tools enable new forms of cultural production and documentation alongside the challenges they present for archiving and curation.
Panellists: Campbell Orme ( Meta Reality Labs), Mado Kelleyan (RCA artist), Marc Barto (V&A curator TBC), Atif Ghani (RCA Educator)
Chair: Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa (RCA).
Project lead
Dr Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa (Royal College of Art)
Information Experience Design
Artists
Mado Kelleyan
Nahuel Basterretche
Jaein Lee
Boluwatife Kolawole
Yashika Goel
Emerald(Chia Hsin) Chen
Vaishakhi Wasnik
Nathan Smith
Lidi Fu
Kalina Panova
Head of Programme
Dr Danielle Barrios O'Neill
Korean National University of the Arts Lead
Professor Kyuha Shi
