SHIFT: Shared Hub for Immersive Future Technologies

Supported by the Arts and Humanities Research council (AHRC) as a World Class Labs investment and part of the Creative Research Capabilities network, SHIFT is made up of three complementary practice research laboratories, high-powered rendering lab and an array of mobile equipment for fieldwork.

Objectives

Fundamentally “Shared”, SHIFT is designed to facilitate collaboration and exchange of ideas, enabling exploration of the social, political and artistic implications of new immersive tools, engaging communities in South-East London and beyond.
Our facilities bring together expertise from across our faculty and beyond to innovate at the intersection of creativity and technology working with key partners to raise the profile of practice research.
We recognise that collaboration and partnership are key to delivering on our goals, and we therefore welcome proposals from organisations and individuals for research and development projects that apply creative practice methods, leveraging the expertise of our staff and our facilities.
If you have a proposal, or would like to enquire about a proposal for potential research collaboration, please email:

Goals

Through our outputs we will:

• Develop new experiences, forms of expression, and ways of bringing people together with new technologies to better understand and connect with one another and the environment.
• Create innovative training resources for research and work in these emerging and growing areas of film, tv and theatre, thereby increasing skills in the workforce and providing cutting-edge, evidence-based guidance for professional practice.
• Provide robust critical reflection upon new immersive and virtual technologies via a practice research arts and humanities frame.
• Explore the liminal spaces of liveness/pre-recorded media, real/virtual spaces and the potential of new immersive technologies, applying practice research methods from the complementary perspectives of film, music, sound and performance to find new possibilities where they intersect.
• Work collaboratively to reduce inequalities in people's lives, and demonstrate the significance of the creative arts, culture, and social sciences in understanding the complexity of the human condition as it relates to wellbeing, social justice, environment, sustainability and place-making.