Neal White

University of Westminster, Media Arts and Design, Faculty Member

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Professor of Art/Science, Co-Director of CREAM at University of Westminster (Sept 2016). In addition to having the pleasure of managing a large and highly engaged research environment that covers photography, experimental media, documentary and fine art, amongst other subjects, I am an artist and researcher, currently working with a group of talented PhD students in the Deep Field Lab at the University, and more widely with a range of leading academics, engineers and musicians on commissions for exhibition spaces with Office of Experiments (est. in 2004). My research is situated at the critical intersection of contemporary art, experimental technologies, and ecological and environmental issues. I am explicitly interested in non-institutional research centres, projects and networks (self-organising, independent and autonomous) led by rigorous artists whose work is incidental to, or transformative of, society, shaping ideas, identities and knowledge from new perspectives.

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Judit Bodor

University of Dundee

Katherine Jackson

Utah Valley University

Amy Tobin

University of Cambridge

Helen Kaplinsky

Goldsmiths, University of London

Helena Bonett

Kingston University, London

Fabio Colonnese

Sapienza University of Roma

Din Heagney

RMIT University

Linda Williams

RMIT University

Eleanor Roberts

Independent Researcher

Devo Cutler-Rubenstein

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Videos by Neal White

06:17

The Deep Field (Trilogy) Part One: Initial Conditions (v1). With Jol Thoms Screened at UN/GREEN. Naturally Artificial Intelligences RIXC Festival and the 4th Open Fields conference on Art-Science Research July 4 – 6, 2019, Riga

The viewer is led through three visually described deep field locations shot by Neal White and Jo... more The viewer is led through three visually described deep field locations shot by Neal White and Jol Thoms in Utah, USA and Siberia, Russia. All are recognisable as either having scientific or artistic context, set within vast and remote landscapes. What is less apparent is that two of the locations; Mullard Cosmic Ray Laboratory / Fly Eye Camera, Great Basin in Utah - shot by White, and the Lake Baikal Deep Neutrino Observatory in Siberia - shot by Thoms, are landscape-scale cameras whose tasks are to detect speculative matter (Cosmic Rays, Neutrinos) passing almost undetected through our planet, whilst the third location location documents Getty Museum archivists undertaking basic aerial surveillance of land art (Robert Smithson Spiral Jetty, Utah, shot by White). The narrator addresses these landscapes as places in which the deep field engages with the challenges of scalar, temporal and spatial ranges.

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Papers by Neal White

Deep freeze (commissioned art work, with Neal White)

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Ott's Sneeze

‘On January 7 1895, Frederic P Ott stood before the world’s first movie camera and sneezed. But t... more ‘On January 7 1895, Frederic P Ott stood before the world’s first movie camera and sneezed. But the droplets and globules expelled by Ott were too fast, too small or too many for the primitive camera to record. The sneeze recorded here is the one of the camera did not see’. Commissioned following a call by Bookworks for the New Writing Series edited by Jane Rolo and Michael Bracewell. Co-authored with British author Lawrence Norfolk (acclaimed for his novels of historical fiction - Somerset Maugham Prize for Literature 1992), it followed earlier collaboration into the area of knowledge and genetics (Inheritance Hotel -Wysing Arts Center 1999, I Need to Know, Artlab5, Imperial College, London 2001). The historical artifact of Thomas Edison's film negative, the first piece of copyrighted moving image ever recorded, is at the heart of the concept. The books’ historically referenced fiction, alongside the actual images of a one second sneeze filmed using laser-imaging equipment at Oxford Lasers, and the 42 frames of the original film, are used to explore the development of technology between the chemical and digital imaging technologies, as well as a conceptual engagement with time and its mediation through the form of the book as a work in itself. A reflective account of the making is included in the Afterword.

An incidental meeting with Tina O'Connell and Neal White, a discussion with Barbara Steveni

Neal White realises a Skoob. Henry Moore Institute

Henry Moore Institute, 2016

Commissioned as part of A Lesson in Sculpture with John Latham at Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. T... more Commissioned as part of A Lesson in Sculpture with John Latham at Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. Time-based events were intrinsic to Latham's research across all of the provocations forming the narrative of A Lesson in Sculpture with John Latham. Throughout the exhibition three event sculptures take place directly outside the Institute building. The first is a 'Skoob Tower' burning, described by Latham as a 'sculpture in reverse' - skoob being the word books inverted - is realised by Neal White

13 Overt Research

Cold War Legacies, 2016

An incidental meeting with Tina O'Connell and Neal White, a discussion with Barbara Steveni

Sculptors’ Papers from the Henry Moore Institute Archive

Why do public art commissions spark such controversy? The stories behind radical proposals for pu... more Why do public art commissions spark such controversy? The stories behind radical proposals for public sculptures in London – some realised, others thwarted – are drawn from the Henry Moore Institute’s rich collection of sculptors’ papers. Laurence Bradshaw’s (1899–1978) iconic Karl Marx memorial (1956) became an ideological site prompting both pilgrimage and attack. Jacob Epstein’s (1880–1959) explicit nudes for the British Medical Association became a battleground for Modernism and are the subject of a new work by Neal White (b. 1966). Other featured artists include Rose Finn-Kelcey, Alfred Frank Hardiman, Paul Neagu and Oscar Nemon whose drawings and documents reveal sculpture’s passage into public life.

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Modern British Sculpture Catalogue

From Leighton to Lucas this fascinating book explores sculpture in Britain from the end of the Vi... more From Leighton to Lucas this fascinating book explores sculpture in Britain from the end of the Victorian era to the dawn of the new millennium. With incisive essays, and previously unpublished archive material, this compelling book documents the seismic shifts in sculpture in the last century. Edited by Penelope Curtis (former Curator of the Henry Moore Institute, now Director of the Tate Britain) and Keith Wilson (Sculptor, tutor at the Royal College of Art and Reader in Fine Art at University of Westminster).

The body in contemporary art

"The Body in Contemporary Art" presents an international survey of art made over the la... more "The Body in Contemporary Art" presents an international survey of art made over the last two decades in which the human form is central. Featuring work across a range of media, from painting and sculpture to installation, video art and performance, the book examines the different roles played by the body in art, from being the subject of portraiture to becoming an active presence in live and participatory events. Including the work of both internationally renowned and up-and-coming artists from Francis Alys, Marlene Dumas and Matthew Barney to Oleg Kulik, Olafur Eliasson and Ernesto Neto, the book shows how the body continues to be pivotal to our understanding and expression of our place in the universe.

Cultures of the Anthropocene

Cultures of the Anthropocene In this discussion of artistic research practices, Neal White will f... more Cultures of the Anthropocene In this discussion of artistic research practices, Neal White will first address his ongoing fascination with large scale sensing networks. Examining existing and new sensor networks, White examines what Ryan Bishop has referred to as a 'long cold war’ in which sensing seismic activity and molecular detection are leading cultural practitioners into a re-imagining a collective experience of global scale scientific and military systems. Driven in part by ongoing research into deep time and the concept of contingency, the discussion examines the critical importance of the ‘anthropocene’ in framing new cultural practices.

9 Events

Truth Serum

Truth Serum was commissioned by Jens Hauser (independent Curator) for the International touring e... more Truth Serum was commissioned by Jens Hauser (independent Curator) for the International touring exhibition; sk-interfaces. Exploring the borders of art, science and technology. Commissioned with FACT and Arts Catlayst supported by Arts Council, England. It was exhibited at FACT, Liverpool 1 Feb to March 31 2008 as part of FACT's 2008 Human Futures programme for the European Capital of Culture 2008 and at Casino Foundation for Contemporary Art, 26 Sept 2009 to Jan 10 2010. A museum installation and offsite research project conducted and documented as an experiment. Drawing parallels between self-experimentation, the use of clinical trials and interrogation techniques used by FBI and CIA, the experiment examines the ethical limits of science and the socio-cultural implications of this. Audience and volunteers were able to engage at a range of levels, including an offsite experiment which involved psychological testing and self-experimentation with so-called truth serums. Documenta...

Overt Research Project- 'A Fieldguide to Dark Places - South Edition

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The Third Campaign: Extracts

Why do public art commissions spark such controversy? The stories behind radical proposals for pu... more Why do public art commissions spark such controversy? The stories behind radical proposals for public sculptures in London – some realised, others thwarted – are drawn from the Henry Moore Institute’s rich collection of sculptors’ papers. Laurence Bradshaw’s (1899–1978) iconic Karl Marx memorial (1956) became an ideological site prompting both pilgrimage and attack. Jacob Epstein’s (1880–1959) explicit nudes for the British Medical Association became a battleground for Modernism and are the subject of a new work by Neal White. Other featured artists include Rose Finn-Kelcey, Alfred Frank Hardiman, Paul Neagu and Oscar Nemon whose drawings and documents reveal sculpture’s passage into public life. Curated by Yiakoumaki, N (Whitechapel Gallery) & La Fevre, L (Henry Moore Institute).

On Being Overt

How can you engage institutional settings to intervene into discussions about science and technol... more How can you engage institutional settings to intervene into discussions about science and technology? How can might collaborative art/ethnographic practices aid the formation of a more ‘open’ politics and futures? How do experimental practices in art and ethnography entail the production of or interventions into ‘dark’ data? George Marcus (Anthropology, UC Irvine) and Neal White (Office of Experiments). Chair: Gail Davies (Geography, University of Exeter)

Brownsea: An Imaginary Island (An Island of the Imaginary)

This installation draws on artist Neal White's ongoing Test Sites research into Brownsea Isla... more This installation draws on artist Neal White's ongoing Test Sites research into Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in Dorset with Arts Catalyst, London. Brownsea: The Imaginary Island as an installation does not provide an informational view onto this idyllic space, but explores its role as part of deeper psychological, political and creative projections by the various gatekeepers, wardens, guards, enthusiasts and conservationists who call this place their own. The installation becomes a space in which the artist reflects on these shared social and spatial imaginaries – the romantic, sublime, utilitarian, economic and social – as they interact with deep and hidden aspects of the landscape; oil extraction, marine pollution and leisure overload. It acts as an analogue to the Island; a space for an exchange of views in which the burden of our imaginations are shared, and our political views and personal desires for the sublime projected. Ultimately, it aims to explore the possibility...

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The Office of experiments: experimental research in the expanded field of contemporary art

Challenging established academic and techno-scientific enclosures of interdisciplinary or boundar... more Challenging established academic and techno-scientific enclosures of interdisciplinary or boundary research between art and other disciplines, the thesis provides an analysis of a series of critical research projects undertaken since 2004. The author argues that through critical forms of artistic research, new forms of knowledge production are possible that operate beyond current enclosures. Using Office of Experiments' (est. 2004) publicly exhibited works, research databases and publications, a body of evidence is described that represents a sustained contribution to artistic and academic discourse through collaborative and collective practice. This research and the formation of The Office of Experiments by White, provides the basis for the argument that artists are becoming engaged in ‘instituent’ forms of practice (Raunig) that are indirectly beginning to challenge the monopoly of established and hegemonic institutional spaces; the Museum and the University, gallery and the a...

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Space on earth station

Collaborative research project with Danish Architects, N55. Commissioned by The Arts Catalyst. Fu... more Collaborative research project with Danish Architects, N55. Commissioned by The Arts Catalyst. Funded by Arts Council, England. This project continued an enquiry through collaborative practice into relationship of sites and methods of research in the visual arts and science. It investigated possibilities for practice-based models of knowledge transfer in terms of living structures, social regulatory structures, environmental impact of housing and scientific analysis of environmental locations. Architectural modules were developed over two years, and built in Denmark and London respectively. The installation at Camden Roundhouse, London, consisted of four modules, one was made in London by students at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. Additional artists joined the final project form the UK and Germany, giving the project international co-operative members. The physical research outcome included a vast image acquired through NASA Mars Rovers. Developed alongside an onl...

Dislocated Data Palm (in Two Parts)

Portikus presents the work of late British conceptual artist John Latham (1921-2006) and a new wo... more Portikus presents the work of late British conceptual artist John Latham (1921-2006) and a new work by artist and researcher Neal White. By facilitating a dialogue between these two practices, the show decodes Latham’s expansive and hugely complex oeuvre and the conceptual legacy of art in relation to the ‘event’ as a structural entity.

06:17

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Deep freeze (commissioned art work, with Neal White)

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Ott's Sneeze

An incidental meeting with Tina O'Connell and Neal White, a discussion with Barbara Steveni

Neal White realises a Skoob. Henry Moore Institute

Henry Moore Institute, 2016

13 Overt Research

Cold War Legacies, 2016

An incidental meeting with Tina O'Connell and Neal White, a discussion with Barbara Steveni

Sculptors’ Papers from the Henry Moore Institute Archive

Download

Modern British Sculpture Catalogue

The body in contemporary art

Cultures of the Anthropocene

9 Events

Truth Serum

Overt Research Project- 'A Fieldguide to Dark Places - South Edition

Download

The Third Campaign: Extracts

Why do public art commissions spark such controversy? The stories behind radical proposals for pu... more Why do public art commissions spark such controversy? The stories behind radical proposals for public sculptures in London – some realised, others thwarted – are drawn from the Henry Moore Institute’s rich collection of sculptors’ papers. Laurence Bradshaw’s (1899–1978) iconic Karl Marx memorial (1956) became an ideological site prompting both pilgrimage and attack. Jacob Epstein’s (1880–1959) explicit nudes for the British Medical Association became a battleground for Modernism and are the subject of a new work by Neal White. Other featured artists include Rose Finn-Kelcey, Alfred Frank Hardiman, Paul Neagu and Oscar Nemon whose drawings and documents reveal sculpture’s passage into public life. Curated by Yiakoumaki, N (Whitechapel Gallery) & La Fevre, L (Henry Moore Institute).

On Being Overt

Brownsea: An Imaginary Island (An Island of the Imaginary)

Download

The Office of experiments: experimental research in the expanded field of contemporary art

Download

Space on earth station

Dislocated Data Palm (in Two Parts)

Tuning the Hyperdrone

The HyperDrone is an instrument that generates acoustic waves taken from the data generated by se... more The HyperDrone is an instrument that generates acoustic waves taken from the data generated by seismic sensors across the surface of the entire globe. The data here is supplied by the Atomic Weapons Establishment Blacknest, Reading UK, which is part of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) which monitors the ground for nuclear-scale explosions. This data is now contributing to other systems, such as early warning earthquake and tsunami alerts data.The entire network acts as a 'hyper' object, that is, a form which is too large (in scale of space/time etc), or too small in scale (of visibility etc), to be perceived by humans without the use of scientific systems. Data is arranged to be played back to generate resonance - a hyper 'drone' through the radome panel itself. The panel has been developed to work with a resonating geometric ‘tensegrity’ structure which was designed and made from aluminium and steel by Rob Smith during his artist residency at W...

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The Politics and Practices of Secrecy: Free Symposium

by Clare Birchall, Mikkel Flyverbom, Jack Bratich, Vian Bakir, and Neal White

King’s College London 14-15 May, 2015 In the wake of the Snowden revelations about the surveill... more King’s College London
14-15 May, 2015

In the wake of the Snowden revelations about the surveillance capabilities of intelligence agencies, this interdisciplinary symposium gathers experts to discuss the place and implications of secrecy in contemporary culture and politics.

Thursday 14th May
6.30-8.30
Opening Talk: Jamie Bartlett, Demos, Author of The Dark Net
Respondent, Zach Blas on the ‘Contra-Internet’
Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre, The Strand Campus, King’s College London
Free Registation at: https://secretsofdarknet.eventbrite.co.uk/

15 May: Symposium
Free registration at: https://politicsofsecrecy.eventbrite.co.uk/

9-9.15
Introduction: Secrecy’s Frame
Clare Birchall (King’s College London) & Matt Potolsky (University of Utah)

9.15-10.45
Roundtable 1: Between Opacity and Openness

Mark Fenster (College of Law, University of Florida)
(Secrecy and the Hypothetical State Archive)

Zach Blas (Artist, University of Buffalo)
(Informatic Opacity)

Mikkel Flyvverbom (Intercultural Communication and Management, Copenhagen Business School)
(Transparency and the Management of Visibilities)

Vian Bakir (Creative Studies and Media, Bangor University)
(Deceptive Organised Persuasive Communication: (a) Misdirection and (b) Secretly Altering Reality to Fit the Lie you want to Tell)

11.15-12.30
Roundtable 2: Aesthetics of the Secret

John Beck (Institute of Modern & Contemporary Culture, University of Westminster)
(Photography’s Open Secret)

Neal White (Artist, Bournemouth University)
(Secrecy and Art in Practice)

Clare Birchall (American Studies, King’s College London)
(Art “After” Snowden)

12.30-1.30
Lunch

1.30-3.00
Roundtable 3: Open Secrets

Jack Bratich (Communication and Information, Rutgers University)
(Spectacular Secrecy and the Public Secret Sphere: Rumsfeld, Anonymous, and Snowden)

Deme Kasimis (Political Science, Yale University)
(Passing as Open Secrecy: Migrants and the Performance of Citizenship in Classical Greek Thought)

Adam Piette (English, Sheffield University)
(The Open Secret of Nuclear Waste)

Matt Potolsky (English, University of Utah)
(Beyond Fiction: The NSA and Representation)

3.30-4.45
Roundtable 4: Covert Spheres

Timothy Melley (English, Miami University)
(The Democratic Security State: Operating Between Secrecy and Publicity)

Øyvind Vågnes (Visual Culture, University of Copenhagen)
(Drone Warfare and the Language of Precision)

Hugh Urban (Comparative Studies, Ohio State)
(The Silent Brotherhood: Secrecy, Violence, and Surveillance from the Brüder Schweigen to the War on Terror)

5.00-5.30
Summary: Secrecy’s Future

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AN INTERVIEW WITH NEAL WHITE OF THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENTS: http://whatisamedialab.com/

In this interview with Jussi Parikka, Neal White explores how Office of Experiments deals with co... more In this interview with Jussi Parikka, Neal White explores how Office of Experiments deals with concerns ranging from artistic research and authorship through to knowledge networks and collective agency. A series of interviews that runs concurrently with research by Darren Welsher (Concordia University), Jussi Parikka (Southampton University) and Lori Emerson (University of Colarado at Bolder) for a forthcoming publication with University of Minnesota Press; The Lab Book.

WHAT IS A MEDIA LAB? SITUATED PRACTICES IN MEDIA STUDIES

Media labs are liminal but increasingly powerful spaces in many contemporary settings. They appear in universities and colleges, wedged uneasily between traditional departments and faculties. They’re also in basements, warehouses, strip malls and squats. They are stable to varying degrees; many have long-term addresses and an itinerant roster of occupants. Some pop up in one location for a few days, then relocate to another. Sometimes they’re even in mobile trucks in the streets, bringing tools and expertise to children in schools and the general public. As clusters of tools and talent streamlined to produce economic value, labs sometime align with the most ruthless of venture capitalists; in other cases, they are free and open for all to use, disdainful of all commercial motivations.

This is one of a series of interviews the authors and their graduate students have conducted with scholars/practitioners/directors affiliated with labs and digital humanities centers; generally the interviewees are affiliated with the arts, humanities, or media studies programs.

See Website for more:
http://whatisamedialab.com/

Neal White

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