We are excited to announce a new collaboration with artist Madi Boyd on Digital Forest – an installation artwork that will be exhibited in April 2018 in Royal Holloway’s new exhibition space.
This multi-sensory moving image installation will be informed by the latest attention research – in particular, the notion that the ‘soft fascination’ provided by natural environments can restore people’s mental resources, helping them to focus their attention. Sculptural forms, tactile encounters and multiple projections, while not mimicking a forest directly, create a ‘natural’ environment within a constructed performative space. In this way visitors to Digital Forest are not only offered a complex and compelling indoor experience, but also one that engages attention in ways that are similar to natural environments, using light, sound, motion and texture. Indeed as well as being ‘art’ in its own right, the work will function as a research environment, hosting a series of scientific experiments to investigate the potential restorative effects of installation art.