Creative Informatics, the research and development programme established to bring together Edinburgh’s creative industries and tech sector, is partnering with the Edinburgh Science Festival to celebrate the end of its funded programme and showcase the wide-ranging community it built.

Events and activities inspired by the programme, which began in 2018, will come together in a festival programme packed with creative experiences, demonstrations, and debates at the National Museum of Scotland and Summerhall.

A new interactive exhibition “Unleashing the Power of Data” runs throughout the two weeks of the festival at the National Museum of Scotland, and showcases some of the incredible artworks, objects, and innovations developed by Creative Informatics community.

VR and AI tools are set to combine with light, sound and music across a series of immersive installations, combing Scotland’s burgeoning tech sector with its bustling creative scene.

Exhibits will include a VR obstacle course through digital landscapes traversing forests, valleys, and cliffs from game designers Bear Hammer; a collaborative music making app that transforms phones into magic wands, allowing audiences to make music together in real time, created by Ray Interactice; an interactive light-box from artist Dominka Jackowska combining art, sound, and animation; an AI-driven, Lego-powered DJ centre which allows visitors to create their own music using building-blocks, designed by Playable Technology; data-inspired art and sculpture from artists  Rebecca Kaye, Mella Shaw, Caitlin Macdonald and Inge Panneels; and a digital exploration into Edinburgh’s fabled ‘lost’ Empire Palace Theatre.

Other events include ‘Creative AI for Creative Work’, a talk at the National Museum of Scotland exploring the burgeoning world of AI and its positive potential for use across the creative sectors, as Chair Frauke Zeller – Professor of Human-Computer Interaction and Creative Informatics at Napier University – is joined by creative professionals working with AI to enhance their projects – from developing playful innovations to creating new revenue streams for sound and audio production. 

Lastly, experience why Scotland has a global reputation in the video game, film and TV industries at Let’s Play, a data-driven evening for adult audiences at Summerhall, part of the festival’s ‘Nights Out’ programme. This playful evening features interactive experiences, short talks from industry creatives and researchers, and AI-generated beats creating a live soundtrack to the event.

‘We’re really excited to be celebrating the achievements of the Creative Informatics programme at this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival,” Professor Melissa Terras, professor of digital cultural heritage at the University of Edinburgh said.

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“Our events have been specially curated to highlight some of the extraordinary work developed through our programme – from innovations in gaming and audio production to artistic creations that push the boundaries of how we think, feel and interact with the world around us.

“These events and exhibits showcase the incredible Creative Informatics community that has been built over the last five years, whose practice, products and networks will form a lasting and supportive legacy for creative professionals across Edinburgh and South East Scotland.”

The event will begin on 30 March and run until 7 April, with venues at both the National Museum of Scotland at at Summerhall.