Society and Artificial Intelligence - a curated series of debates, panels, presentations, videos and writings across 2018-19

In 2018 I was invited by several organisations to curate debates, present lectures and chair panels exploring some of todays societal issues with Artificial Intelligence. This included three debates for Nesta (FutureFest Forward), a panel for LORCA Cyber Security, a lecture for Simulation Training experts and a panel presentation at Milano Digital Week. The key questions I approached through these outputs were: — How can we ensure that the aims of human-level performance for AI takes into account morals and ethics, philosophical concerns and non bias judgements? — How can we ensure that human beings are empowered by the additionally of AI to our own intelligence, and that it expands and enhances our human experience, rather than manipulates and misuses us? — How can we participate positively within this burgeoning immersive and conversational collaboration with intelligent machines? — What is the best way forward in the use of AI to augment human beings, to help us advance with AI beyond planning, learning and reasoning into blended memory, decision making and creativity? - FutureFest Forward: AI and Future Society - curation and panel input- 19 Apr 2018 - held at Nesta The debate explored topical concerns of people today, concerns which have consequences for us as individuals as well as global citizens, issues which are facing us and have societal outcomes, both positive and negative. Experts explained how wider actions linked to our daily lives are shifting and changing our behaviours through the use of advanced machine learning and AI. - FutureFest Forward: AI and the Future of Work - curation - 17 May 2018 - held at Nesta This event explored changes in the world of work linked to advanced machine learning and AI. We are engaging deeper in the mixed reality of both the virtual and the physical workplace, with the future of creative collaboration through remote connected teams - robots, avatars and humans working together - and with future cognitive cooperations. How will AI effect the above and influence the ongoing moves towards the sharing economy, collective and agile working, zero hours contracts, universal income, home working and the gig economy? - FutureFest Forward: AI and Creativity Futures - curation and moderation - 14 Jun 2018 - held at Nesta Coinciding with London Tech Week, this event was specifically designed for academics, artists, product designers, technologists and funders interested in exploring the relationship between human creator and creative technologies. Is the artist of tomorrow an AI itself with its own outputs and presentations, or are we engaging from now onwards in a time of exciting creative collaborations and conversations with machine learning? Will artists set up the pattern definitions and allow the AI to create the flow? Can AI enable all of us to expand our creativity through “augmenting” ourselves? Please see attached doicument with links to extensive online documentation and videos of all speakers outputs to these three debates. - LORCA Live, London Office of Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement Conference panel "Me, Myself and AI" - curation and moderation - 14th March 2019 held at Plexal, Here East, London - “Artificial Intelligence and the Community of the Future - changes taking place and concrete solutions in key sectors of our society.” - panel presentation - 16th March 2019 for Nesta Italia as part of Milano Digital Week, Milan - Simulation & Training for Resilience & Safety Symposium - presentation - 27th March 2019 for the Halldale Group, London for Bristh rail, NHS, British and other EU Armies and Navy Head Training Directors I also wrote an article commissioned by London Tech Week, which was published in Tech365 online platform. "How Will Artificial Intelligence Affect Artists and Designers?" Ghislaine Boddington explores the question - can AI enable all of us to expand our creativity through 'aumenting' ourselves or is the artist/designer of tomorrow an AI itself

The Internet of Bodies - a series of keynotes, lectures, panels and presentations exploring new cyborg futures

‘The Internet of Bodies’ - a series of keynotes, lectures, panels and presentations exploring new cyborg futures. Ghislaine specialises in the future human, body responsive technologies and immersive experiences. She is Co-founder and Creative Director of body>data>space, a pioneering interactive creative design collective who have advocated for the living body to be at the heart of the digital debate since the early 1990s. With a background in dance and performing arts and a long-term focus on the blending of our virtual and physical bodies, she engages in highly topical and future digital issues for our living bodies, including personal data usage, identity and representation of the self, connected body enhancements and collective connectivities of the future. One of the most exciting and yet also the most challenging debates of our times is that of the integration of automata, machine learning and AI into our daily existences. Ghsilaine, a long term researcher and concept developer on the virtual physical blending, body connectivity and"liveness" and the hyper-sensory self. In the attached article “ What is it that makes us human?- exploring our future creativity and identity “ Ghislaine writes about her curatorial programme on the future human at FutureFest2016 - debates, experiences, talks, installation and presentations, formed from her research into the future creativities and identities in relationship to ourselves and our integration processes with our technologies. this output represents a live programme for 4000 public held in Tobacco Docks in London 7/8th July 2016. Through her research-led practise Ghislaine presents and extends her thought processes into the public realm, for debate and evolution, to enable access by creative industries, education and cultural experts to the imperative debate about our identity, our self -hood and our agency in the future, as we move through considerable issues on data ethics and personal / bio-signal data is no longer automatically belonging to us. ‘The Internet of Bodies’ has enabled Ghislaine’s research to become highly noticeable in a widening circuit, with complex debates post her topical presentations of ever expanding research materials. In 2017, Ghislaine was awarded the IX Immersion Experience Visionary Pioneer Award by Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) for her long-term innovative work in digital arts, and in particular her “passionate and inspirational engagement towards embodied intelligence”. Press is attached here, are links to the House of beautiful Business Lisbon to Mobile World Congress Barcelona to The Pioneers in Vienna 2019 as just a few examples of a strong body of research presentations throughout UK and Europe including :- Recent presentations - The Pioneers, Vienna; Milano Digital Week, for Nesta Italia; 4YFN-MWC2019 Barcelona; Fuute Life, Utrecht; General Assembly London; House of Beautiful Business Lisbon; V&A London; Imperial College London; London Tech Week; IX Immersion Experience SAT Montreal; King's College London; British Council; Toyota Europe; Market Research Society UK; Middlesex Univeristy, London; Convergence Festival London; IMWorld Bucharest; Stylus London; Manchester Science Festival; Mapping Festival Geneva; FutureLab London; Thinking Digital Newcastle; TEDx's Limassol and Vienna; Media Trendy Warsaw; BFI Sci-Fi​ Fest; Develop VR; ISEA; Crafts Council; Digital Catapult +++ Please see links below to:- - University of Salford HCC12 Conference - KEYNOTE: The Internet of Bodies - Ghislaine Boddington at University of Salford - 8th Sept 2016 - Nesta; AI and Future Society: Ghislaine Boddington talks about personal data ownership methods for the future - 19th April 2018 at Nesta - House of Beautiful Business - Academy of Science, Lisbon - The Internet of Bodies by Ghislaine Boddington - 4th November 2018 - 4YFN Mobile World Congress - Barcelona - OPENING KEYNOTE: Futurism Internet of Bodies by Ghislaine Boddington of body>data> space - 25th February 2019 - 4YFN Mobile World Congress - Barcelona - Expert speaker inputs by Ghislaine Boddington - Biohacking on Stage Live Human Chip Implant Show - 25th February 201

A nudge and a push: towards ethical sustainability in an era of (invisible) data harvesting

A series of future-looking public talks emerging from creators of participatory, immersive and interactive experiences. These debates examined topical issues for the VR, AR, XR, immersion, arts and gaming sectors in terms of sustainable and ethical processes, exploring approaches to the production and usage of such outputs, and within the content of the work itself. Across this last year of global pandemic, it has become totally clear that the technologies of our times have permeated into most aspects of our lives, becoming an inescapable part of our work, education, homes, health and leisure time. Public concerns regarding the collection and usage of our personal data, often harvested around us without our knowledge, have come to the surface. Health data pooling, required to combat the virus, is gathered through contact tracing apps, and digital vaccine passports are in global debate. This has increased awareness of the positive and negative consequences of such data gathering, already amplified by the media coverage of the increasing deployment of AI enabled facial recognition, surveillance cameras, biosensors and location trackers. There is a lack of public debate on the usage and the sustainability of such data gathering, and how this behavioural data is monetized (through business-to-business data sales) for the prediction of future consumption and on the role of corporations in leading sustainable practice. Additionally, this debate is not highly prevalent in the creative industries, in particular in the immersive gaming, entertainment and arts sectors who gathering biometric data (physical, behavioural and physiological traits such as voice, gesture, gaze, gait, motion, facial expression, location etc) for use in the analysis of immersion environments for ongoing revenue streams through in-business sales. Discussions will include the emergence of new frameworks through which we start to blur the boundaries between the recreational and the functional. This series of panels aimed to activate this debate about the emerging sustainable options with an aim to find win-win solutions between all involved - the user and the creator, the individual and the business sector. Speakers from a diverse range of backgrounds - creative industries, academia, policy, culture and business - from the UK and internationally, joined us to explore these topical and important issues online. This Webinar Series was prepared, curated, briefed and reported through educational post event download documents by Ghislaine Boddington (body>data>space/University of Greenwich). It was part of the DATUM R&D (Innovate UK) project, with the support of University of Greenwich, and with inputs from body>data>space, ZU-UK and research groups CLEI, BHRE and LETS Lab. The 4 webinars had a very positive response and led to ongoing debates, research and partnerships. Over 500 people registered for these live online events that took place during the pandemic from a wide range of international academic, creative industries and arts sectors. The archive recordings are published on the University of Greenwich Research Space You Tube site as a playlist with educational resource documents attached to each webinar. (650 views to date

Fast Forward: tech past, tech future

Fast Forward - a 6-episode podcast series of near-future narratives. Podcast | Season 2 - written and presented by Ghislaine Boddington. This international series explores the transformative shifts that emerging technologies will bring to our bodies, minds, and behaviours. Each episode features engaging conversations with global experts, delving into the past, capturing up-to-date knowledge, and unlocking future visions. From the exploration of digital realms and the power of avatars to the empowerment of women in gaming and the impact of technology on family dynamics, the series covers a wide range of fascinating topics. It also delves into personalised health data, the evolution of cyborg advancements, and the importance of diversity in the tech industry. Fast Forward Season 2 explores how emerging technologies will shape our lives and the world around us. Episode 1 - The Metaverse Blend - hyper-enhancing our hybrid future - explore individualised avatars, digital fashion, and the power of collaborative groups in virtual worlds, shaping our identities and empowering unprecedented self-expression. Episode 2 - Women in Gaming - empowerment leads to engagement - uncover the inspiring transformations in gender representation within the gaming industry, from under-representation to the inspiring tales of change that shape the landscape. Episode 3 - Telegram to Telepresence - is the family being swept away on a digital tidal wave? - delve into data transmission concerns, haptic technologies, and evolving family dynamics in the digital age, highlighting the widening generation gap in social media understanding. Episode 4 - Extended self - our future digital twins - navigate personalised health data, AI-led bio-digital twins, and bridging gaps in women's health innovation, unlocking the transformative power of apps, online medical support, and synthetic data collection. Episode 5 - Cyborg Shifts – embedding technologies into our bodies - focus on prostheses, implants, and the convergence of technology with the human body, unravelling the evolution of extended selves and the intricate relationship of the body-mind interface and proprioception. Episode 6 – STEM Women are changing the world - discover the impact of women in tech activism and networks, as inspiring stories of young women in STEM careers unfold, nurtured in their skills and fostered in their confidence by senior STEM women. Global distribution into all main podcast platforms

The Internet of Bodies — alive, connected and collective: the virtual physical future of our bodies and our senses

This paper is going to discuss, what will be called, ‘The Internet of Bodies’. Our physical and virtual worlds are blending and shifting our understanding of three key areas: (1) our identities are diversifying, as they become hyper-enhanced and multi-sensory; (2) our collaborations are co-created, immersive and connected; (3) our innovations are diverse and inclusive. It is proposed that our bodies have finally become the interface. This gives rise to salient research questions that will be addressed in this paper: - How do virtual forms of the body, created and transmitted through digital tools, change our relationship to ourselves and to others? - How does virtual/physical distributed embodiment redefine identity in socio-political terms? - Can working and living in virtual space enable and encourage collective intelligence, collaboration and co-creation? The last and key question looks to future insights : - How and with what effect will these collective virtual interactions be re-physicalised into the "real" world? The Internet of Bodies is Boddington's 4 year real-time and practise-led research programme (2016-2020) exploring the body’s integration with digital technologies and its effect on human identity. Boddington disseminates this new knowledge to a diverse range of outlets (academic, creative industries, arts, educational, corporate) with a large audience reach in UK and internationally. This paper outlines insights gained from the outcomes this dissemination through her curatorial and practise-led research work, as well as post presentation debates from her presentations. It has been written in expansion and following keynotes presentations at University of Cambridge, UKRI Beyond Conference, Women in Games European Conference, Manchester Science Festival, Mobile World Congress and FutureFest amongst others. Boddington specialises in the future human, body responsive technologies and immersive experiences. She is Co-founder and Creative Director of body>data>space (fka shinaknsen), a pioneering interactive creative design collective who have advocated for the living body to be at the heart of the digital debate since the early 1990s. With a background in dance and performing arts and a long-term focus on the blending of our virtual and physical bodies, she engages in highly topical and future digital issues for our living bodies, including personal data usage, identity and representation of the self, connected body enhancements and collective connectivities of the future. One of the most exciting and yet also the most challenging debates of our times is that of the integration of automata, machine learning and AI into our daily existences. Boddington is a long term practise-led researcher and concept developer and well recognised for her pioneer work on virtual physical blending, body connectivity, virtual presence, redfinitions of liveness and the hyper-enhanced sensory self. Feeding from her practise Boddington presents and extends her original ideas into the public realm, for debate and evolution, to enable access by creative industries, education and cultural experts to the imperative questions about our identity, our self-hood and our agency in the future, as we move through considerable issues on data ethics and personal / bio-signal data which, in many cases, no longer belongs to us. ‘The Internet of Bodies’ has enabled Boddington research to become highly noticeable in a widening circuit, with challenging debates following her topical presentations, where industry and government are questioned on the owneership of our persoanl data. These have fed into Boddington's ever expanding research materials. This journal paper puts forward Boddington's ongoing reflections to these discussions. In 2017, Ghislaine was awarded the IX Immersion Experience Visionary Pioneer Award by Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) for her long-term innovative work in digital arts, and in particular her “passionate and inspirational engagement towards embodied intelligence”. Boddington has been invited to present to a wide range of audiences in academia, creative industries and corporate contexts in the UK and internrationally 2016-2019. These range from small expert groupsings of 60 to huge corporate keynotes for up to 2k attendees:- 2019 - Keynote – ‘The Internet of Bodies – body data and ethics’ at UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy conference ‘BEYOND – AI and Creativity’, Edinburgh, UK - Keynote – ‘The Internet of Bodies – alive, collective and connected’ at Women in Games European Conference, London, UK - Keynote Speaker – ‘Internet of Bodies: Exploring the Future Human and Collective Engagement Scenarios’ for ‘Tacit Engagement in the Digital Age’ Conference, University of Cambridge, UK - Keynote – ‘Internet of Bodies – alive, connected and collective’ for the House of Beautiful Business, Academy of Science, Lisbon, Portugal - Opening Keynote ‘The Internet of Bodies – alive, connected and collective’ and ‘Biohacking on Stage Live Human Chip Implant Show’ for Mobile World Congress / 4YFN (4 Years From Now), Barcelona, Spain 2018 - Keynote – ‘Internet of Bodies – alive, connected and collective’ for the House of Beautiful Business, Academy of Science, Lisbon, Portugal - Presentation and curation – ‘Future humans: Augmented selves’ and ‘AI and Creativity Futures’ for Nesta’s FutureFest, London, UK - Presentation – Live Human Chip Implant Show ‘You have been upgraded’ for Manchester Science Festival, UK - Keynote – ‘The Internet of Bodies’ for the Simulation Training for Resilience & Safety Symposium, London, UK 2017 - Opening Keynote – ‘The Internet on Bodies – alive, connected and collective’ for Internet Mobile World, Bucharest, Romania - Keynote – ‘Internet of Bodies – alive, connected and collective’ for Manchester Science Festival, UK - Opening Keynote – ‘Internet of Bodies’ for IX Immersion Experience Symposium for SAT Dome, Montreal, Quebec - Presentation – ‘Internet of Bodies – alive, connected and collective’ for Thinking Digital, Newcastle, UK 2016 - Keynote Speaker and curation – ‘Live Human Chip Implant Show’ for Nesta’s FutureFest, London, UK - Presentation – ‘Women in Tech’ for Telefonica Digital Futures, London, UK - Presentation – ‘The Internet of Bodies – connected and collective’ for Develop:Evolve VR conference, Brighton, UK - Keynote – ’The Internet of Bodies” for Market Research Council Conference, London, UK - Keynote - 'The Internet of Bodies' for HCC12 Conference, University of Salford Additonally Boddington has proposed and debated her insights on the Internet of Bodies into panels and in group discussions at Milano Digital Week, for Nesta Italia; Future Life, Utrecht; General Assembly London; V&A London; Imperial College London; London Tech Week; IX Immersion Experience SAT Montreal; King's College London; British Council; Toyota Europe; Market Research Society UK; Middlesex Univeristy, London; Convergence Festival London; Stylus London; Mapping Festival Geneva; FutureLab London; TEDx's Limassol and Vienna; Media Trendy Warsaw; BFI Sci-Fi​ Fest; ISEA; Crafts Council; Digital Catapult London Please see links below to a range of evidence for these presentations

The Games Europe Plays

"The Games Europe Plays" was conceived and developed by curator/researcher Ghislaine Boddington to give visibility to the booming and vivid European gaming scene within the UK and to envision future scenarios in which gaming experiences are at the centre of work and play. In 2016 "The Games Europe Plays" brought to Londoners a selection of independent and innovative games made in Europe to experience and play. Coordinated by the Finnish Institute, and supported by EUNIC London, Ghislaine Boddington was invited to curate "The Games Europe Plays" as a series of three exhibitions, events and talks inviting developers, makers and academics from the UK and Europe to meet and debate with the London public. The project was covered by BBC Click World Service, Vice, BBC News, The Long and the Short and more (see selected Press Coverage attached). An interactive and playful exhibition, "The Games Europe Plays" at the Finnish Institute in April 2016, showcased the most exciting independent digital games for young people (4+) and families as part of the London Games Festival. It presented games by Gigglebug (Finland), Toca Boca (Sweden), Tine Bech (Denmark/UK), Peter Lu & Lea Schönfelder (Germany) and Amanita (Czech Republic). Exploring our body from its hidden micro bacteria to its digital incarnations "The Games Europe Plays" presented the second exhibition in the series of three – BODYTECH - at the University of Greenwich in July/August 2016 and took a playful look at how digital technologies are helping us to heal but can also disturb our wellbeing. Presenting the works of interactive artists and game makers from the UK and continental Europe, the show envisioned how we will inhabit and take care of our virtual and physical bodies in the future. Ghislaine presented the works of Anna Dumitriu with Alex May (UK), Ivor Diosi (Czech Republic), Marco Donnarumma (Italy), Blast Theory (UK), Designswarm (UK) and Grendel Games (Netherlands). A day-long Symposium was held at the university as part of the exhibition for students, staff and public. The last stop of the series was at Nesta’s FutureFest in September, where "The Games Europe Plays" presented ‘Molding the Signifier’ an installation by Ivor Diosi (Czech Republic), speaker input into mainstage panel by Marco Donnaruma (Italy) and supported the performances into the FutureFest2016 digital commission, Collective Reality (UK). The Games Europe Plays showcased the best of EU gaming from full-bodied gaming interactive installations as well as screen-based games and apps. The three exhibitions presented an immersive, playful journey through some of the most innovative gaming experiences from Europe in 2016, offering the audience the opportunity to envision how gaming is used today and can be used in the future. "The Games Europe Plays" was initiated by EUNIC London, and co-produced by the Finnish Institute and body>data>space. Supported by the British Council and Arts Council England it presented as part of the London Games Festival Fringe official programme, at the University of Greenwich and at Nesta’s FutureFest 2016. With additional support from the Czech Centre, the Danish Embassy, the Goethe-Institut London, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Embassy of the Netherlands and the Swedish Embassy

Digital Human Twins: Our Future Data Selves 2021 – 2027. MY AI HYBRID BIOTWIN: a series of keynotes, radio interviews, lectures, panels and presentations around key research focus

Across March 23 to June 24 I prepared and delivered a series of keynotes, radio interviews, lectures, podcasts, panels and presentations using topical materials from my key research theme My AI HYBRID BIOTWIN (part of my long term The Internet of Bodies research umbrella). These invited outputs are linked to my practice-led research into Digital Human Twins - our future data selves. This foresight work has gained a lot of interest. This is due to knowledge of my long term expertise and the high interest in digital twins in a wide variety of sectors. I work with my original content and foresight to translate and facilitate this research and bridge it into knowledge exchange. The aim is to engage a wider public alongside specialists in the field. This supports interdisciplinary and cross sector exchange on the evolution of new forms of virtual representation of the self, creating embodied insights for individuals into the future of the virtual physical blended body, liveness, intimacy and enabling debates about the positives and negatives (ethics) of the integration of AI and biometrics into future body technologies. My aim is to expand knowledge and enabling such discussions as understanding these shifts for the living body in relationship to technological advancements is important for us all. The audiences ranged from radio and podcast listeners (global) , to academics, creative industry experts, artists, students, festival goers, creative industry communities and policy makers (UK and EU). These outputs impact into public discourse on a variety of levels, into arts and cultural sectors, creative industry and corporate sectors and, through the media reach and podcast access, into a global public. I am also maintaining a close adherence to diversity and inclusivity as I explore the topic of future identities. Digital Human Twins - our future data selves is a practice-as-research initiative led by Ghislaine Boddington (2021-27), exploring and developing a personalised digital human twin, an AI hybrid biotwin, a digital counterpart that grows, learns, and evolves alongside their human partners, that supports and guidance from birth and beyond death. These digital twins are conceived to offer a unique blend of technological innovation and human experience, linked to AI and real-time biometrics. They push the boundaries of personal and professional development, health monitoring and identity management, while extending human presence far beyond physical limitations. Please see more information and links in attached PDF. - BOLD Unconference Austria (12-17 June 2024 Austria) Invited participant, presenter, panel moderator on digital human twins (MY AI HYBRID BIOTWIN). BOLD is the flagship event of the BOLD Community (Austrian Federal Economic Chamber). This Unconference brought together over 50 global visionaries from 27 countries involved in innovative activities in a range of sectors including business, research, policy-making, and the creative industries. - Plexal, Here East (creative tech hub) - Cyber Lates (12 Dec 2023) Panel member “How to have a better relationship with the internet, take control of privacy, and protect ourselves from online harms”. Creative industry community. - Frequency International Festival of Digital Culture and University of Lincoln - The Meet Up AI + Exploration: Innovation and Inclusion (27 Oct 2023) Research, preparation and moderation of a roundtable discussion. I bought together a panel of academics and artists to explore how rapid innovation in AI is enabling them to explore and challenge the parameters of practice, inclusion and engagement through experimentation and engagement with audiences and visitors. The opportunity these technologies present to nurture inclusion whilst navigating the ethical challenges and bias was discussed. - Hybrid Presence Round Table 2 - What is next for DHT Digital Human Twins? (19 Oct 2023) Ghislaine explored the near future potential of “owning and nurturing” our own AI Hybrid BioTwin. - BBC Radio 4 - "How to Spot Potential" (18 Oct 2023) - invited expert on future skills for young people linked to innovative digital tools, including AI companions for education and work searches. Ghislaine Boddington discuses the concept of digital twins, our very own personalised form of AI. - The Navigator Podcast - University of Greenwich Generator (3rd Oct 2023) "Mind over Machine' - participant in round table debate on the ethical implications and yet vast potential of using AI in the future and how it will affect both education and the wider world - AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) Online Learning Affinity Group (OLAG) (21 Sept 2023) lecture on the future student and learning / teaching shifts in next decade linked to research project MY AI HYBRID BIOTWIN - University of Greenwich Business School. - Synthetic Syntax Conference, Ars Electronica - Keynote Speaker (10 Sept 2023) This fourth edition of the symposium Synaesthetic Syntax presented different perspectives on haptic bodies, their impact, liveliness and procedurality in the context of performance and concluded with a keynote lecture by Ghislaine Boddington. - Tomorrow Unlocked Fast Forward Series 2. (June to August 23) Ep. 4 "Extended self - our future digital twins": Uncover the transformative power of personalised body data and the boundless possibilities it offers. What about the lack of diversity of the data available? Guests: Michael D. Geer, Co-Founder of Humanity Inc. and Marija Butkovic, Founder of Women of Wearables (wearables, health tech & femtech) Ep. 5 - "Cyborg Shifts – embedding technologies into our bodies": Discover groundbreaking advancements in cyborg technology, as prostheses and implants converge, creating opportunities for shifts towards cyborg existences. Guests: Dani Clode, University of Cambridge and trans-species artist Neil Harbisson. I was commissioned to research, script and present these podcasts as two of a series of six. - BBC Radio 3 - "Free Thinking" (7 June 2023) - invited expert to talk about digital human twins - The Brains Lab Launch, Kingston University – Keynote Speaker (22 May 2023) on "The Internet of Bodies - alive, connected and collective' with final section on digital human twins. - BBC Radio 4 - "Super Senses" (9 May 2023) invited expert to talk about touch and intimacy in digital age in relationship to virtual bodies. - BBC World Service Digital Planet (8 March 2023). “Digital identity: Where are we now?” exploring and overviewing the biometric led digital identity systems fast emerging in various continents – from China to the US and India and Europe. Show researched, scripted and co-presented by Ghislaine Boddington

Futurefest 2016 and 2018

As one of two key co-curators of Nesta's flagship event FutureFest across 4 festivals, this entry is for the 2016 and 2018 editions. FutureFest is one of Europe’s largest festivals of the future, and explores how the most pressing challenges of our time could be tackled by developing radical alternative future visions. In both of these years my work has involved curating 6-8 main stage speakers, 4 Debate Stage panels (32 speakers) and 4-8 installations, plus involvement in overall theme and integrating other side events. Each event I have curated work involving over 100 people. I have been enable to evolve my research themes into public facing programmes of work for these two festivals, and for the awards, the exhibitions and performances and debates around them. This has included translating for a wider public complex strands of debate around topical innovations, linked to the future human and digital technologies. To do this I have researched my theme, explored multiple speakrer options and combinations, and briefed and invited experts and speakers. This is followed by further speaker briefings and writing of the public facing copy to demystify and enable these imperative debate about our identity and our future human condition to be accessed by wider environments and communities, beyond the univeristy context. - FutureFest 2016 - 17-18th Sept - 3900 attendees over 2 day weekender festival in London's Tobacco Docks. In 2016 I curated the theme 'Future Love' - examining digital intimacy in this time of connectivity, the innovations in digital engagement in love and sensualities. Here I was able to test the most universal of all emotions, exploring what happens to romance, dating, identity and even skin when we move beyond the physical and merge with the virtual, by inviting pioneers, innovators and future thinkers to share their visions. This included a Human Chip Impant event live on stage with myself, Dr Phoebe Moore & Hannes Sjoblad), BBC journalist Kate Russell on Love in Gaming, Shu Lea Cheang on Viral Love is Future Love, Cindy Gallop on The Future of Love and Work, John Troyer on Death is the Future. Death is Always the Future, Dan O’Neill and Lewis Arnold on directing the series Humans and DJ Spooky on The Future of Love Music. Debates I curated included Hyper Enhanced Sensualities, Synthetic Emotions and Shifting Identities The Future of Love theme also includes some visionary installations running on both days: an immersion work ( directed by Ghislaine Boddington) called Collective Reality, which explores digital togetherness, a strong, youth radio work Coming Out by the RoundHouse, and a special room of experts sharing visions for Love After Death in a digital age by Stacey Pitsillides. - FutureFest 2018 - 6-7th July - 3200 attendees over 2 day weekender festival in London's Tobacco Docks. I mainly curated into the 'Alternative You' curatorial strand of this 2018 festival. This included programming a range of speakers, installations and debate panels exploring themes linked to the body and data and our emerging digital presence and identity in the world - examining the blending interface between the physical and data self. My panels included the Future of Work, Machines that Care for Us, Virtual Physical Immersion and Augmented Bodies. Main stage speakers and panel speakers I curated included Douglas Rushkoff, Proff Noel Sharkey, Prof Rebecca Allen, Jude Kelly, Kyle McDonald, Imogen Heap, Atau Tanaka, Vinay Gupta, Imogen Heap, Mike Stubbs, Usman Haque, Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, Gareth Mitchell, Prof Noel Sharkey, Ann Branch, Prof Tony Prescott and Russ Shaw and Jasmine Idun Isdrake. Installations included Stanza's The Reader and Nemisis Machine. I also co-curated, with body>data>spae, the Bio-Body-Tech, a room of innovative projects that only work in connection with our bodies through expanding and enhancing our senses, utilising our bio-signals and reacting to our body transmissions. It expored the way touch, gesture, vibration, muscle motion and all our senses today are part of our digital transmissions, our bio-signal data extending all around us and enabling us to send and receive signals and expand our bodies into new realms.This included projects from Sheffiled Robotics and Goldsmiths University. See attached documents for more information and Nesta's YouTube Channel for FutureFest 2018 videos including Ghislaine’s curated main stage speakers Professor Rebecca Allen, Kyle MacDonald, Douglas Rushkoff and Professor Noel Sharkey; plus Nesta's Vimeo Channel including Ghislaine in conversation with Russ Shaw (TLA) and Jude Kelly (WOW). Press coverage mentioning Ghisaines curatorial contributions in depth from Forbes and the Independent

Extended senses and embodying technology symposium and exhibition September 2022

This cross-disciplinary Symposium and Exhibition brought together practice-led research from the cultural and creative industries sectors to explore ways of extending and expanding the body through new and emerging modalities and technologies. This created a network gathering of artists, creative industry experts and academics investigating and exchanging knowledge on the current state of the intersection between our embodiment, our senses and the technologies of today. Running alongside the Symposium in the Stephen Lawrence Gallery and Project Space we presented the Extended Senses Exhibition, showcasing a range of diverse innovative creative works emerging from within this crossover, focussing primarily on our living bodies as the key site of knowledge production. Explorations within immersion, haptic engagement and body interfacing were included, showing inspiring methodologies for our future understanding of the hybrid blending of the virtual and the physical. Artworks included interactive installations, VR and AR experiences, digital video, animation, films and an online performance, together creating innovative interactions of the body with sound, light and image. Co-Chairs • Ghislaine Boddington (University of Greenwich) • Camille Baker (University for the Creative Arts / RCA) "Both the Symposium and Exhibition were aimed at enabling a first gathering of practitioners and researchers to explore the ways in which the human body, as the primary site of knowledge production, is extended and expanded through new and emerging modalities and technologies. The events were designed to encourage and nurture networking, knowledge exchange and a deepening of understanding of where practise-led research fits into the cultural and creative industries landscape, a landscape which has fast evolved in the last 5 years into accepting that the body is indeed the prime interface for digital technologies in the 2020’s and onwards. The combined participation of artists, creative industry experts and interdisciplinary academics ensured that the exchange of knowledge and ideas in this area reflected the most current state of the intersection between our embodiment, our senses and the technologies of today." This Symposium and Exhibition was part of knowledge exchange outputs from the School of Design and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Greenwich. - Post event outputs and documentation Seven papers from this Symposium have now been published in a special edition of Intellect Discovery, Virtual Creativity (Volume 12, Issue 1, 2022 - Extended Senses: Embodying Technologies) including an editorial overview article by the co-chairs ‘Extended Senses: Embodying Technology’ • Authors: Camille Baker, Ghislaine Boddington – Editorial Overview plus 7 journal articles by various presenters and artists involved in the Symposium and Exhibition • Source: Virtual Creativity, Volume 12, Issue Extended Senses: Embodying Technology, Jun 2022 All the Extended Senses Symposium presentation recordings (23) are archived online at Greenwich Research Scene as a Playlist for use onwards by lecturers, researchers and students at University of Greenwich and beyond

Collective Reality

‘Collective Reality’ comes alive when you come together As aware of us as we are of it, this digital environment invites us to move and perform as a group to create unique visuals and sounds. Using a convergence of generative technologies, it looks ten years ahead, beyond the current VR headset craze, to real-time collective reality. It uses motion tracking, surround sound, projection mapping and performative inserts technologies to create a living, breathing virtual presence environment that can be experienced by groups in real-time. The installation will be made up of two zones: ‘the experimental zone’ where the audience move through the space and ‘the performative zone’ a round stage where freestyle footballers and dancers will perform and interact with the space every 30 minutes. Come and experience togetherness