Merging Minds is a live multiplayer art installation, that has been co-created as a result of a collaboration between artist/creative technologist duo Yambe Tam & Albert Barbu and the ‘Rethinking Collective Minds’ research strand, part of the Wellcome Centre of Ethics and Humanities at the University of Oxford, at Fusion Arts, 95 Gloucester Green, OX1 2BU.
The work explores the philosophical questions of how we think and act as collectives; a phenomenon made increasingly more sophisticated through technological advances, brain-computer interfaces and digital social networks. As artists in residence, Yambe Tam & Albert Barbu have developed a bespoke multiplayer art videogame and accompanying sculptural artworks, which are inspired by this line of research at the WEH.
This free public exhibition explores the human role in these digital realms, and poses questions such as: Who am I? Where do I end and you begin? What are my responsibilities and rights in a connected and collective space?
To find out more please read: Merging Minds: The Conceptual and Ethical Impacts of Emerging Technologies for Collective Minds.
About the Welcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities
Based at the University of Oxford's Big Data Institute, the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities responds to a pressing need for ethics and humanities research on the challenges presented by advances in neuroscience, big data, genomics and global connectedness, and by their convergence. The Centre provides a flexible multidisciplinary research platform capable of engaging with the new and profoundly difficult questions presented by the form, scale, scope and societal implications of these developments. Through its research and public engagement activities, the Centre aims to lead debate on the ethical requirements for scientific research and technological innovation capable both of improving health and of commanding well-founded public trust and confidence.
About Yambe Tam and Albert Barbu
We are an artist and creative technologist duo based in London, creating work that explores the entanglement in humans, nature, and technology. Using interactive and immersive technologies, we give form to invisible realities in virtual worlds and sculptural installations: for example, the sensory embodiment of a wild bee or plankton, the unknown depths of the sea, a primordial cosmic Zen garden, a post-extinction Earth. These serve as places of contemplation and transcendence - where perspectives shift, consciousness evolves, and viewers explore other ways of being by reconnecting with the primal instinct to explore and play.
About Fusion Arts
Established in 1977, Fusion Arts connects artists with communities, promoting dynamic creative projects that drive social justice and celebrate diversity. We respond to challenging social circumstances by delivering meaningful, participatory artistic experiences that provide tangible value for all involved. Fusion Arts is a catalyst for creativity in Oxford and beyond.
