Presenting the six selected artists for hotel generation 2023…
Working closely with arebyte’s team, six shortlisted digital artists from regional UK cities are provided with professional guidance, studio visits and general mentoring in producing a proposal for a body of work based on arebyte’s 2023 theme The Body, The Mind and The Soul.
At the end of the four months development programme, one of the six proposals is selected by the judging panel to be fully developed into a solo exhibition at arebyte Gallery.
The 2024/25 shortlisted candidates are David Matunda (BROCKWEIR), Issy Robertson (LEATHERHEAD), Kinnari Saraiya (GATESHEAD), Maria Than (LONDON), Ryan Heath (NOTTINGHAM) and Shae Myles (GLASGOW)
Meet the artists
David Matunda is a digital artist and freelance web developer working in the medium of code to explore generative art, live code performance and machine plotting algorithmic work. He is informed by politics, history, philosophy, fashion, religion and cultural ideas surrounding wealth and legacy.
Sleeping Upright (Issy Robertson b.1999, U.K) is a 3D based artist who uses elements of sculpture and animation to create work that reflects on our changing post digital world and investigates the critical narratives that arise from this. Their work focuses on wider societal issues linked to hyper capitalism and the representation of marginalised groups.
Kinnari Saraiya’s recent work िकनर’s prakrṭih,̣ nrṭya, laya premiered at QUAD in Derby and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. Her upcoming exhibitions will be at The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle and FORMAT festival in Derby. She has previously exhibited at Kyiv Biennial, Frieze Art Fair, VISUAL Carlow, Russell-Cotes Gallery and Museum and many more.
She was the artistic lead and curator at a Roadside Picnic, where she won an Honorary Mention at the Prix Ars Electronica under Computer Animation. Helen Starr’s pioneering essay on her practice will be published in Archivo Papers and presented at their Symposium.
Maria Than is a Viet-British-French creative technologist, educator, activist & co-founder of Ricebox Studio. Using AR, illustration and AI-generated content, she explores her identity as a chronically online Asian woman surrounded by themes of buddhism, over-productivity, anxiety, internalised racism, burn-outs & escapism. She has exhibited in London, Paris, New York and Toronto. In 2021, she became a Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts, an award based on her period activism and AR work. She lectures in BA Graphic Design and in MSc Data Science and AI in the Creative Industries at UAL CCI.
Ryan Heath is an artist and facilitator based in Nottingham, creating moving image, painting and sculpture. His work often explores the history and potential future of specific spaces, framing new possibilities for them; often blending critical urbanism with mysticism.
He has exhibited in the UK and internationally, receiving commissions from organisations including LEVEL Centre, UK New Artists and Ignite Futures. He delivers creative workshops for young people. Previous partners include Nottingham Refugee Forum, Harris Museum and Tate Modern.
He is both a BACKLIT and Near Now studio artist and a founding member of Chaos Magic arts space.
Shae Myles (b.1998) is an artist and community facilitator based in Glasgow. She graduated from Contemporary Art Practice at Gray’s School of Art in 2020; since then, her work has been shown in London, Canada and Switzerland. Her multidisciplinary practice centres around ideas of intimacy, secrets, play, shared eating habits, and mess.
Notable projects include Food Between Culture and Nature, Basel, Switzerland (2021), Healing The Hostile Environment, Jupiter Artland, digital residency (2021), and Myles is also the co-founder of Jiggle n Juice, a collective that focuses on bridging the gap between art school and professional practice.
