Digital Arts Innovation Laboratory (DAILab)

Digital technology is routinely used in the arts, but modern trends see innovative kinds of artworks which blur traditional boundaries--between art forms, and between artists and audiences--and lead to art which is immersive, interactive, and simultaneously private and shared. These trends require access to computing facilities beyond those normally available to artists and arts researchers. Science departments in universities have for a long time had high-performance computing facilities and associated specialised equipment. In this project we propose to set up a facility with an equivalent role for artists and arts researchers. Recent experience demonstrates that innovative arts projects often push at the boundaries of the capabilities of available computing equipment.

The Digital Arts Innovation Laboratory (DAILab) will lift that constraint so that artists and researchers will be able to explore the artistic potential of the latest technologies. Examples of possible projects include
* creation of continuous variations of a piece of music in response to a dancer's movements,
* theatre pieces involving high-definition projection of images captured on stage and processed in real-time to recognise the actors' features and project an altered image in response,
* artworks which draw in material from the environment, the internet and responses from a large audience to modify their appearance accordingly.

The Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) is a leading centre for research and innovation in Art, Design, Music and Theatre Studies. A new building is currently under construction which will house DAILab. LICA has a strong track record of high-quality research involving digital technologies, and strong links for artistic dissemination. The Nuffield Theatre, for example, is a well-known centre for innovation in Theatre which has seen the origination of many cutting-edge shows which have gone on to play throughout the UK and beyond. LICA is also associated with FutureEverything (formerly FutureSonic) an annual festival and conference centred on Manchester which has attracted world-wide attention for its innovations. All this has been achieved with computing facilities acquired on an ad-hoc basis. The proposed project will put this proven tradition of digital arts innovation onto a firm footing.

Work conducted in DAILab will benefit the general public through the artworks created there, and also indirectly through artworks created elsewhere which draw on work done in DAILab. There will also be a benefit for arts practitioners who come to work in DAILab as visiting artists, and indirectly through drawing on the novel artistic possibilities arising from research conducted in DAILab. A broad range of disciplines will be affected: performance, fine arts, video arts, digital film, music, site-specific art and intermedia works.

The Public Arts at Lancaster University (Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster International Concerts, Peter Scott Gallery) will form a ready conduit for impact to wider audiences. There is a strong track record of workshops, fostering emerging artists, outreach programmes to schools, etc. Such activities and the support of the Public Arts administrators provide an existing framework through which work originating in DAILab can be disseminated to have an impact with a wider audience of practitioners and the public.

Two other institutions associated with LICA provide channels of impact to commercial and policy-making bodies. The design research centre Imagination@Lancaster works with government bodies and other agencies to engage directly in the creation and testing of public policy. The new Digital Economy Innovation Centre will have close links with commercial enterprises. Doctoral students of the Centre will all have a placement in industry as part of their studies, providing a mechanism for two-way exchange of ideas and information between LICA, and therefore DAILab, and enterprises in the digital economy.

To ensure that work undertaken in DAILab has maximum impact, those applying to work in the facility will be asked to include an explicit impact plan in their proposed projects. These plans will be assessed by the DAILab management committee when taking decisions on the use of the facility. On completion of a project, a report will be required describing the project's impact and activities carried out to enhance impact.