Organiser/Producer of N.I.P. and Participating Artist

newinterfaces.net

Teresa’s artistic practice and research explores the interface between real and virtual environments in a variety of settings. Her background as a researcher in educational psychology, technology and design and live arts informs her multidisciplinary perspective. Having worked in academia (1999-2003) she left to persue more applied research, working at Futurelab, Bristol as their Innovations Researcher (2003-6). Teresa has presented her work nationally and internationally and has published on collaborative creativity, music technology, innovation and design.

Since the late 1990s Teresa has also worked as a producer/director and performer. In 1996, when she was a student she formed Polar Produce, a media and performance group working across various disciplines. Between 1996-9 the company produced a variety of one of events in clubs and community centres. In 2005, Teresa resurrected the company and since then worked has worked as its artistic lead. Alongside Polar Produce, Teresa has worked as a freelance performer for various companies and partnerships including Pearson/Brookes et al and Paul and Paula.

Teresa’s live art and performance-based work is often durational, site-specific and participatory. The notion of chance, play and emergence are key themes in her performance, research and design work. She is particularly interested in creating work, which peels back the architecture of a place or space (building, outdoor space) to examine how people navigate and use it, revealing the visible or explicit and invisible or implicit histories, discourses and knowledge that it contains. This kind of work is best illustrated in her recent collaborative projects as part of the collective Polar Produce, namely Measc (2005), a three-hour performance, which took place in a 18th century museum/chapel and explored our responses to consumerism and production. The piece used tag technologies as a means for performers and audience members to interact (eg by using the tags to navigate the space and trigger content - music, graphics, film, sound). Similarly Taking Ground (2006), also worked physically with the architecture and layout of the site. A completely lo-fi piece, it extended the idea of journeys and navigation through space as the audience were lead on a ‘tour’ by six performers on a section of Bristol’s Harbor side, where facts and fictions about the place were recounted and revealed.

Currently Polar Produce is commissioned by the BBC to work on the pervasive computing project, Participate. Aside from working on developing NIP, Teresa is also leading on developing OFFLOAD, media arts festival on nature, sustainability and ecology, 13th-16th Sept, Bristol.