Artworks
"Contemporary meditations influenced by The Sankey Archive"
Futuristic images generated using stability AI
After being introduced to the tubthumping 1911 Coronation Airship Song at The Dock Museum, Barrow in Furness Artfly were keen to delve into the Sankey Archives to find visions of an optimistic future from history, to compare to what future visions could be. The photographs selected alternate with futuristic versions generated by Artificial Intelligence.
Relax Into 2050 Exhibition - December 2023- January 2024
This new artwork using AI generated Sankey images formed part of their exhibition Relax into 2050 presented in Signal Film and Media’s Gallery. 'Relax into 2050- Adventures in an Optimistic Future' was a playful installation set in a flourishing future where nature and technology work in harmony. A future collectively built with airship rides, bountiful rewilded nature and AI-led cures for many of our ills.
"Using each Sankey image as a starting point we added a written description of the sort of image we wanted to prompt the AI to generate images for us. It was a case of tweaking the wording and various sliders to get results we liked. In the end we ended up using a second AI called Leonardo AI to help us perfect the text prompts! It’s quite exhilarating to see what it comes up with each time and I’m sure I’m just scratching the surface of what it can do."
Field Notes - Niki Colclough & Young people - August 2024
Part of our Sankey Lives through the Lens Project. Inspired by field trips with a group of youth participants around the Barrow-in-Furness coastline, Manchester based artist, Niki Colclough used this research alongside exploring the Sankey archive.
The resulting exhibition, Field Notes included sculpture, sound and projection.
