Bath Digital Festival: Thursday Showcase
Part of the Bath Digital Festival – FREE EVENT
On Thursday 21st May, The Studio will be showcasing several of our Residents at Newark Works, bringing their ideas, products and experiments – from live demos to hands-on sessions.
We’re excited to be part of Bath Digital Festival this May as it returns for three days of big questions, bold thinking and open experimentation. This year’s festival is built around one simple idea – What if? More than a theme, it’s an invitation to challenge assumptions, explore new possibilities and take part in shaping what comes next.
Studio Residents Showcasing at Bath Digital Festival
Silvia Carderelli-Gronau — Sonic Dancer
Sonic Dancer reimagines remote connection through movement and sound, creating inclusive shared experiences without screens or visual dependency. Developed with support from The Studio, Silvia’s work explores how accessible technology can deepen human connection and wellbeing.
Nick James — insight-space
insight-space creates digital twins of underused buildings to help communities, councils, and landlords collaboratively reimagine urban spaces. Supported by The Studio, Nick combines technical expertise with a community-led approach to sustainable regeneration.
Philip Sibson — Animotion Technologies
Animotion Technologies develops artist-led AI tools that automate time-consuming animation tasks while preserving creative control. A resident at The Studio, Philip is helping studios expand what’s possible across 2D, hybrid, and stop-motion workflows.
Charlie Hooper-Williams — Play & See
Play & See transforms live piano performances into real-time visuals, making musical structure visible and accessible to anyone. Supported by The Studio Innovation Fund, Charlie’s work blends creativity, technology, and human connection.
Benjamin Winstone — Octopus Immersive
Octopus Immersive creates interactive installations that merge robotics, engineering, and creative design into memorable live experiences. Supported through The Studio’s Create Growth programme, Benjamin’s work puts human experience at the centre of creative technology.
Nigel Fryatt — Polymathic Agency
Polymathic designs immersive creative technology experiences for cultural spaces, from generative art installations to surround-sound performances. With support from The Studio, Nigel has grown an award-winning practice focused on accessible and engaging arts experiences.
James Bickerton — Advance Scout / nocaps.biz
nocaps.biz helps people rapidly test creative business ideas using live landing pages and real-world feedback. Built by James Bickerton of Advance Scout, the project turns entrepreneurial instinct into evidence in under an hour.
Michelle Marie Forrest
Michelle Marie Forrest explores the tension between systemic pressures and personal experience through physical and digital art. A new resident at The Studio, her work uses disrupted algorithms and fragmented media to reflect contemporary instability and uncertainty.
Gaz Lawrence
Gaz Lawrence combines oil painting with digital modelling, using tools like Unreal Engine and Blender to expand traditional artistic practice. Supported by The Studio and Arts Council England, his work bridges classical technique and experimental technology.
Charlie Troman
Charlie Troman combines photography, light, sound, and creative technology to explore how modern environments shape human attention and perception. A new resident at The Studio, his practice asks how technology might help create more thoughtful, human-centred spaces.
Bashart Malik & Helen Farmer — Frank Conversations Collective
Frank Conversations Collective and the University of Bristol’s ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures explore who gets to shape emerging technologies like AI and virtual reality. Supported by The Studio, their work centres young people and underrepresented voices in conversations about the digital future.
Keep an eye out for the other FREE events taking place at The Studio in Bath:
David Sloly – Notes from Your Universe
20 May, 15:30 – 16:30
Join David Sloly, one half of Lux Nova, for a talk and listening session exploring how sound can reveal hidden patterns and musicality within data drawn from space phenomena. Built using datasets from NASA and the European Space Agency, Notes from Your Universe draws on data from solar storms, the Voyager 1 mission and high-energy particle activity.
Hack Sprint: What if Data Could Speak for Us?
21 May, 12:00 – 15:00
A 180-minute Creative Technology Sprint led by Benjamin Winstone, Octopus Immersive
Bath Digital Festival is built on conversation. This session, delivered by Benjamin Winstone of Octopus Immersive, gives those conversations a pulse. With the overarching idea of ‘Tech For Good’, we’ll spend a few hours exploring a simple question: “What if we used data not just to measure, but to express, question, and advocate?”
Outside The Studio
What if… teachers were replaced with avatars?!
Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution
19 May, 13:30 – 14:30
This hour-long session includes the screening of a new film, The Digital Scholar (2025), and a hosted conversation with the makers: collaborative artists, Studio residents’ Kilter, and University of Bath and Bristol researchers.
Jessi Frey – Creating with AI: What Changes, What Stays the Same?
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
19 May, 14:00 – 15:00
Jessi Frey has been building real projects with AI: music, videos, photoshoots, agentic systems, and vibe-coded sites. What she discovered along the way is not what the headlines suggest.