Hybrid Realities :Lab 2 (HRL2)

Lab → Output
9-week hybrid development and exhibition programme

Overview

Hybrid Realities :Lab 2 continued the experimental studio model developed in HRL1, bringing together artists to explore how practice can evolve within digital environments.

Across nine weeks, participants engaged in a structured programme combining orientation, critical dialogue, technical exploration and exhibition development within Newart.city. Weekly live sessions created a framework for collective discussion and feedback while allowing artists to independently develop projects that would ultimately form part of a shared virtual exhibition.

The programme investigated how artists might:

• Develop a digital toolkit for working in virtual environments
• Translate practice for audiences encountering work online
• Navigate emerging virtual exhibition platforms
• Combine physical and digital modes of artistic production

The lab concluded with the launch of a collective exhibition hosted within Newart.city.

Structure

Part 1 - Orienting Practice in Digital Space

• Programme introduction and orientation to Six Minutes and Newart.city
• Dialogue session: building a digital toolkit and working practices for virtual space
• Guest talk: Jake Harper (SOOT)
• Discussion session exploring virtual exhibition platforms and modes of interaction

Focus: establishing shared tools, frameworks and reference points for working in digital environments.

Part 2 - Developing Voice for a Virtual Audience

• Dialogue session: Our Virtual Selves - how artists present and position work online
• Guest talk: Tina Rivers Ryan
• Dialogue session: Shifting Landscapes - locating opportunities in digital contexts
• Collective discussion: Hybrid Modalities - integrating virtual and physical practice

Focus: examining how artistic identity, presentation and audience engagement shift in virtual space.

Part 3 - Building a Virtual Exhibition Space

• Guest talk: Cosmo D
• Two structured critique sessions with visiting guests
• Programme post-mortem and reflection session
• Public opening of the collective virtual exhibition

Focus: project development, critical feedback and exhibition launch.

Timeline

March – May 2024
9 weeks
Weekly live sessions and project development

Context

HRL2 extended the Hybrid Realities model by strengthening dialogue-based learning and peer critique while continuing to treat the virtual exhibition environment as a site for experimentation.

As with HRL1, the programme documented an evolving approach to digital-first studio practice, combining research, conversation and exhibition-making within a distributed framework.