Live Art Lab: Pixel Play sessions

Are you an aspiring artist with a brilliant imagination? Do you find yourself being hypnotised by spectacular animations? Do you love the idea of making video art where you can change everything with an Xbox controller?

Our Pixel Play sessions for ages 13-17 can open a vibrant new world where art and technology combine to bring your wildest visual ideas to life – whether that’s morphing colours and shapes, or cut-outs of marine animals warping, dancing and swimming across the screen. You’ll be creating art with collages and visual textures and using TouchDesigner, a free program that can make your visions a video-based reality. Sessions are designed to allow you to work in a way that interests you.

We’ve teamed up with visual artist Jess Pemberton for these sessions. In her work as an artist and live visuals creator for ESC, a Falmouth-based dance music collective, Jess uses TouchDesigner to make incredible visuals that warp, melt, shape-shift and blend together in strange new ways – resulting in experiences that always leave audiences amazed, and wondering how she did it.

In our sessions, Jess will share her secrets with you. You’ll brainstorm creative ideas, use fun visual coding software, and manipulate visuals using Xbox controllers and mixers. As a group, you’ll work together to create art that can also be used as projections for a concert by our Cornwall Youth Noise Orchestra this summer. This means we’ll even be making visuals that are audio-reactive, and working in the same space that the orchestra are rehearsing so that you can feel the vibe of the music and get inspired.

1. Sign up by emailing matt@moogiewonderland.co.uk and telling us whether you want to join the 4pm group or the 5pm group (sessions last 50 minutes)
2. Put us in your safe email contacts list to make sure you receive the form we’ll send you (check your junk folder if not received within 48 hours).
3. Return the booking form.

Most sessions will be held at AMATA, Falmouth University but there will be two sessions at a different venue. Sessions will take place at the same time as our Cornwall Youth Noise Orchestra so that we can use audio-reactive image manipulation techniques and because we’ll also be designing the visuals for the orchestra’s summer concert.

Jess Pemberton is an artist based in Penryn, Cornwall who graduated from Fine Art at Falmouth University in 2015 and an MA in Digital Art at Brighton University in 2020. Jess is the in-house artist and live visual performer for ESC, a local electronic music event organisation. She is also currently part of the Screen Cornwall’s Immersive Innovation programme and in recent years has exhibited in Cornwall, Barcelona, London and Greece.

Grow skills at your own pace and with your own interests
Sessions will nurture your skills and creativity, you don’t need to be a tech whizz. You’ll also be able to develop skills beyond art. You’ll be working as a group and can choose to what level you want to use software and tech – you may want to source images to form digital collages, you might want to spend time manipulating moving images with video game controllers, or you might want to learn how to use live visual programming software to design your own interactive system.

Develop skills in creative engineering too
We’re the first in the UK to map where techniques used in visual programming are applied in industries such as Space, Marine and Renewables. We’re working with those local sectors so that we can show you where else the creative processes you’ll learn to are utalised – it could lead to a new career choice!

Work towards an Arts Award
You can choose to work towards a recognised Arts Award qualification to further explore your artistic skills. Moogie Wonderland is trained on the Arts Awards SEND standard.

Design and control the visuals for the Cornwall Youth Noise Orchestra
You’ll work as a group to create art that can be used at the Cornwall Youth Noise Orchestra’s summer concert on 16th July.

Is this suitable for people with sensory issues?
While we aim to create calm environments, due to the nature of learning live visual programming (and electronic music which will be happening in the same space) there is a strong chance of occasional loud (or complex) noises and flashing images.

I have always struggled to join in with art or tech activities – will this be suitable?
The aim of the Pixel Play sessions is to counter that issue. There is no ‘wrong’ way to do something, and you can choose whether you want to focus more on collage creation, the tech, or both. We provide nurturing support and help people learn at their own pace and focus on what they enjoy.

I don’t want engineering skills or to do an Arts Award – can I still join in?
Our activities are designed for you to get what you want from them. You do not need to do an Arts Award. If you want to focus just on making cool art that’s great – it’s our main focus – it just so happens that many of the same techniques we’ll show you are used in engineering.