Every year at #CyberFest we try to do something a little different. I have always been fascinated by the possibility of using cyber security as a creative force and so last year we worked with Creative Fuse North East, CoLab Sunderland and Breeze Creatives to support a creative collaboration between the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries and the Faculty of Technology at University of Sunderland. Three University of Sunderland academics working across Arts, Design and Technology came together to combine their skills and expertise and consider the impact of escalating risks associated with cyber security on individuals, the economy and wider society.
The interdisciplinary project was revealed at the final event that year and were used to explore how collaborations between art and technology can play a vital role in expanding public understanding of how this increasingly complex threat can impact our lives.
Of course last year we were in the midst of COVID and we had to move the planned event from a physical onto an online one.
This year we are going to try again but this time with a collaboration between the arts and the business communities.
We are looking for participants from companies with an interest in cyber security to work with creative practitioners on the conjunction of art, technical and creativity to explore perspectives, visions and understanding of cyber security. The aim of the intervention is to leave participating businesses with a new creative way to think about their business and represent its values.
The intervention will span a 3-month period over summer 2021. We will begin with a physical workshop, starting the creative process and form working teams to develop exciting ways to innovatively visualise, perform and represent cybersecurity. Through weekly meetings concepts from the workshop will be collaboratively developed culminating in an exhibition in the last week of #CyberFest.
Time commitment and involvement will be as little or as much as you feel able to give, though some time will be required to work out the focus of the project. There has never been a greater time to investigate the role of creativity and the arts in cyber security.
Interested? Then please get in touch.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 