Ben Neal

Spotted a bunch more UK Arts people/orgs leaving X & Facebook etc. Maybe this will help if you're new to BlueSky. I'm still updating now & then, recommendations welcome go.bsky.app/BZ8Tmob

A black background with white bold text which reads: We are Hiring

We’re hiring! 📣

Join us as an Officer, Grant Management and help deliver smooth, efficient funding processes across Arts Council England.

You’ll manage grant workflows, support improvements and work closely with colleagues nationwide.

Apply by 20 Feb 👇

buff.ly/IrBQzdn

@robchafer.bsky.social starter pack on my profile to get you started & connected on here

Yeah this is an brilliant review! Recommended watching

"On The Other Earth" was really good! You wouldn't believe how effective a cylindrical (phenomenally expensive) screen and some 3D glasses were! Other bits - less good (the Google AI piece has aged REALLY badly). But there was some cool stuff on show (although it sometimes felt very $$$ indulgent!)

Off to Somerset House to see the Wayne McGregor show :)

www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/way...

@incollusion.bsky.social Are your ART / TECH / PLAY events online? Can I join via zoom or similar without driving all the way to you?

To celebrate the Venetian Carnival, (and my game Carnival winning Best Lines of Dialogue -Adventure Games of the Year), it will be 25% off for two weeks! Not even the might of Mussolini can truly kill the Carnival.

store.steampowered.com/app/2928770/...

What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit The long read: Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take collectiv...

What technology takes from us and how to take it back.

Thoughtful writing on why tech has contributed to modern life feeling artificial, disconnected and empty.

www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

A.I. is like a microwave meal. You can pop it in, wait 3 minutes, and maybe it will taste good, but you won't have any pride in making it, and no one should admire you for making it.

Check out the back of my head and my hand! :O Note to self : remember to check out Reality Scan

Digital Arts becomes Arts Council England's tenth supported artform ‘Digital Arts’ joins Collections and Cultural Property, Combined Arts, Dance, Libraries, Literature, Museums, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts as Arts Council England’s tenth supported artform.

For the first time in decades, we are introducing a new artform: Digital Arts. 💻🎨

Find out why we have made this decision and what it means for you 👇

Great to pop into @bomlab.bsky.social to check out their Virtual Production studio set-up, as part of the CreaTech Frontiers workshops on Unreal, compositing, camera tracking, model making, AI, photogrammetry & 3D scanning, Motion Capture. Skilled team working in central Birmingham + artist-friendly

‘A Philosophy of Shame’: What’s Wrong With Everyone? We seem to be living in an era of competitive shamelessness

We seem to be living in an era of competitive shamelessness artreview.com/a-philosophy...

Double Agents: Play and Performance in Digital Worlds FACT x SODA presents a new series of monthly evening seminars exploring the social, political and cultural impacts of working with advanced digital technologies.

Amazing talks on digital performance in Manchester, thanks to FACT & SODA www.fact.co.uk/event/double...

Call for Birmingham Artists: Fierce Jams - Fierce Festival Fierce Jams is a new, ongoing, and nomadic performance series that indulges in small-scale experiments in contemporary performance and live art. It is an excuse for Birmingham’s performance community ...

Amazing ongoing opportunity for Live Art performers based in Birmingham from Fierce Festival!

wearefierce.org/fierce-jams/

Scanning, shooting, testing.. repeat! 😆

Here's a peek at the team experimenting with virtual production using some of the 3D environments scanned in the past couple of months.

#MBD #InnovateUK #3DScanning #VirtualProduction #BTS

Compensare: For the Swallows We Weigh Eastside Projects makes art public.

See dancer Kim Bormann who works on Displace Studio's Replica in this exhibition by Marley Starskey Butler at Eastside Projects in Birmingham on Friday at 6pm eastsideprojects.org/projects/mar...

So much interesting stuff in here! Nice to see someone take the knife to big tech

Our deadline for our XR Developer role is on Monday at 12pm!

If you’re passionate about XR, an expert in Unity and have coding expertise and love what we do at BOM, we would love to hear from you.

Read more and apply: bit.ly/4pDjNVr

Sound Arts UK (@pinkloudspeaker) Issue 113 out now with 49 exhibition and event listings across the UK and Ireland. In 2025 we listed over 1200 sound art exhibitions and events, wrote detailed features about the work of hundreds of a...

Comprehensive UK Sound Art listings & Exhibitions! substack.com/@pinkloudspe...

@beyondbooleans.bsky.social hey! I've really loved everything you've made! Incredible work! Really love the dark retro vibes on these old point and click adventures

The video covers best practices for anchor placement, how to achieve content stability with world locking, and how to enable persistence and sharing using enhanced spatial services.

📌Additional Spatial Anchors 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 is available at:

Unity - bit.ly/4b4ymNn
Unreal - bit.ly/3Y8beGg

Interesting!

Brain Rot, AI Slop, and the Enshittification of the Internet: A Symposium (In-person) - ARU Join us at ARU in Cambridge on 5 December for a symposium investigating the recent phenomena of Brain Rot, AI Slop, and the so-called 'great Internet let down'.

There was even a conference on it in Cambridge. Shame to have missed it!

www.aru.ac.uk/events/brain...

📣 Free workshops alert! 📣 In partnership with CreaTech Frontiers, we’re running free Immersive Arts Workshops for Micros, SMEs and Freelancers. From XR project planning to Motion Capture and Virtual Production. Workshops begin on 20th January. Find out more: bit.ly/4arhkZC

New categories in YoutubeVR spatial tab for VR180 and "spatialized" (2D to 3D conversion) videos...

Looks like they're getting ready for a big release.
Let's hope it also comes with a big update for this mess of an app.

I really liked Spheres. Getting old, but a good one

Love this!

Dramaturgy Department - Expression of Interest Please fill out this EOI form if you would like to be in with a chance of being given a free dramaturgy session or script report, as part of our Dramaturgy Department funded by Arts Council England :)...

Free Dramaturgy available!

Our @artscouncilengland.bsky.social funded Dramaturgy Department is open to EOIs from any playwrights or immersive theatre makers in the UK looking for free support this year :)

Deadline: 10:00 Monday Jan 12th for our first 3 months of support

forms.gle/7YQU9c5mhfAa...