UMA's PLAN |
PROTOCOL DRIVEN EXPERIMENTS
What you will be looking at here is around 2 years worth of work by up to 20 UMA Artists - our intention in outlining what we are about to do for you, is to ask you to engage - at the minimum - reflecting back to us your thoughts on what we are doing - and if not the minimum then the extra level of engagement would be to ask you to help us to develop our working practice, to then grasp more fully ,the tenets of protocol art. |
Practitioners of Art within an Evolving Technological Landscape
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/ When we make collective work we begin with an idea and being a collective we transmute the idea as part of the process - naturally there is an output via our protocols, but that is the first iteration of our work.
/ We are working out our practice where a final object is constituted out of a series of behaviours which generates an exhibition of something that is in fact an early iteration of the work - which then develops in each iteration - until it becomes the final iteration of the work - please see the working pattern and history of Wilderness here: https://www.unitedmediaartists.net/paradise-garden-history.html
/ UMA’s References Psychogeography, Will Self, Primo Levi (some of our number have created artefacts relating to this writers work), Italio Calvino, Jorge Louis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares - the Invention of Morel - the 1st Virtual Reality Story form around 1935, (which then Inspired Last Year at Marienbad) Leonora Carrington -The Heating Trumpet, Geoff Dyer, China Mieville, Italio Calvino, Jorge Louis Borges, etc
/ We are working out our practice where a final object is constituted out of a series of behaviours which generates an exhibition of something that is in fact an early iteration of the work - which then develops in each iteration - until it becomes the final iteration of the work - please see the working pattern and history of Wilderness here: https://www.unitedmediaartists.net/paradise-garden-history.html
/ UMA’s References Psychogeography, Will Self, Primo Levi (some of our number have created artefacts relating to this writers work), Italio Calvino, Jorge Louis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares - the Invention of Morel - the 1st Virtual Reality Story form around 1935, (which then Inspired Last Year at Marienbad) Leonora Carrington -The Heating Trumpet, Geoff Dyer, China Mieville, Italio Calvino, Jorge Louis Borges, etc
CURRENT PROJECTS ACTIVE PROJECTS
1 /Wilderness - A Deep Ecology Work 8 works contained by a frame:
LOOP: 1 hour 8 minutes, 56 seconds, & 5 frames
8 Artists: Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Nina Sobell, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton,
1 /Wilderness - A Deep Ecology Work 8 works contained by a frame:
LOOP: 1 hour 8 minutes, 56 seconds, & 5 frames
8 Artists: Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Nina Sobell, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton,
2 / UMA Reveal
3 x 2 week exhibitions during the Venice Biennale May, June and July 2026
12 Artists John Sanborn, James Bloom, Kerry Baldry, Jutta Pryor, Arielko, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton, Nina Sobell, Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Sadia Sadia,
3 x 2 week exhibitions during the Venice Biennale May, June and July 2026
12 Artists John Sanborn, James Bloom, Kerry Baldry, Jutta Pryor, Arielko, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton, Nina Sobell, Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Sadia Sadia,
3 / The Sixth Sense Protocol
8 works that are scaffolded in time to work through simulating intuitive insights and training the audience to sense intuition as it happens
8 Artists Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Nina Sobell, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton
8 works that are scaffolded in time to work through simulating intuitive insights and training the audience to sense intuition as it happens
8 Artists Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Nina Sobell, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton
FUTURE PROJECTS TO BE ACTIVATED
1 / Earth Constellation Array
An 18 meter array of 120 screens above a 'window box' of 14 meters x 2 meters x 1 meter high with a set of dying plants that encompass 70 portrait oriented 7 inch frames with imaginary plants of the future that can withstand lack of water.
Conveners: Pappenheimer and Flaxton and...
22 Artists: Tamiko Thiel, Nina Sobell, Sadia Sadia, Kerry Baldry, Jeane Susplugas, Lisa May Thomas, Agnes Guillaume, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Fernanda D'Agostino, Jutta Pryor, Will Pappenheimer, Robert Cahen, Van McElwee, John Sanborn, Finn Harvor James Bloom, Arielko, Jaap Drupsteen, Nick Fudge, Terry Flaxton,
An 18 meter array of 120 screens above a 'window box' of 14 meters x 2 meters x 1 meter high with a set of dying plants that encompass 70 portrait oriented 7 inch frames with imaginary plants of the future that can withstand lack of water.
Conveners: Pappenheimer and Flaxton and...
22 Artists: Tamiko Thiel, Nina Sobell, Sadia Sadia, Kerry Baldry, Jeane Susplugas, Lisa May Thomas, Agnes Guillaume, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Fernanda D'Agostino, Jutta Pryor, Will Pappenheimer, Robert Cahen, Van McElwee, John Sanborn, Finn Harvor James Bloom, Arielko, Jaap Drupsteen, Nick Fudge, Terry Flaxton,
2/Data as Material
Convener : Flaxton and...
Within /Wilderness each audience member will experience 90 gig per hour (compressed),15 gig per 10 minutes, 1.5 gig per minute
What does this mean in terms of the physicality the body then endures of showers of data?
A set of experiments which take the form of experimental Sound, visual, AR and VR Art works that investigate the effects of both high levels and low levels of data upon the audience.
Integrating robotics experts (and UWE’s Robotics department) 5 artists
Convener : Flaxton and...
Within /Wilderness each audience member will experience 90 gig per hour (compressed),15 gig per 10 minutes, 1.5 gig per minute
What does this mean in terms of the physicality the body then endures of showers of data?
A set of experiments which take the form of experimental Sound, visual, AR and VR Art works that investigate the effects of both high levels and low levels of data upon the audience.
Integrating robotics experts (and UWE’s Robotics department) 5 artists
3/Earth Biome Protocol - The Green House
In which UMA creates the simulations of life maintaining biomes - and the sadness encoded therin
When the earth is barren and we have to sustain life forms with robots by creating protected environments in the absence of humans
Robotics, AR, Performance and VR
Conveners: Prosenc Stearns and...
Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Nina Sobell, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton,
References
In which UMA creates the simulations of life maintaining biomes - and the sadness encoded therin
When the earth is barren and we have to sustain life forms with robots by creating protected environments in the absence of humans
Robotics, AR, Performance and VR
Conveners: Prosenc Stearns and...
Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Nina Sobell, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton,
References
- The Eden Project, A set of 20 works in 3 geodesic domes in a quarry
- A hollowed out mountain in Italy
- Survival in the 23rd Century
- The movie Silent Running
- Integrating robotics experts (and UWE’s Robotics department)
4/River Deltas Array - A United Media Artists Protocol Work
Convener:s Fernanda D’Agostina and... (with 6 more UMA Artists)
In considering River Deltas, the meeting place between clear water and salt water - an often fertile, triangular-shaped landform created at a river's mouth where it slows down and deposits its sediment (sand, silt, clay) as it enters a larger, calmer body of water like an ocean, lake, or sea, forming new land with branching channels called distributaries. These nutrient-rich areas are vital for ecosystems, agriculture, and coastal protection, with famous examples including the Nile and Mississippi Deltas. Whether it be dendritic forms that echo the flow of water from space - or water's affect on minute materials, sand and sea bed, these forms are a way for us in UMA of talking about and depicting ‘the flow’ of creativity we in UMA try to manifest - as a way of critiquing the way art has previously been made for 'the art market' and this becomes a way of intentionalizing a conversation that already existed silently before - but also it’s also a way of both internalising and internationalising and making available our creative behaviour as a group.
Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Nina Sobell, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton,
AR active
A mix of Fresh and salt water seas
A mix of protocols to establish an exhibition with uncertain outcomes
Convener:s Fernanda D’Agostina and... (with 6 more UMA Artists)
In considering River Deltas, the meeting place between clear water and salt water - an often fertile, triangular-shaped landform created at a river's mouth where it slows down and deposits its sediment (sand, silt, clay) as it enters a larger, calmer body of water like an ocean, lake, or sea, forming new land with branching channels called distributaries. These nutrient-rich areas are vital for ecosystems, agriculture, and coastal protection, with famous examples including the Nile and Mississippi Deltas. Whether it be dendritic forms that echo the flow of water from space - or water's affect on minute materials, sand and sea bed, these forms are a way for us in UMA of talking about and depicting ‘the flow’ of creativity we in UMA try to manifest - as a way of critiquing the way art has previously been made for 'the art market' and this becomes a way of intentionalizing a conversation that already existed silently before - but also it’s also a way of both internalising and internationalising and making available our creative behaviour as a group.
Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Nina Sobell, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton,
AR active
A mix of Fresh and salt water seas
A mix of protocols to establish an exhibition with uncertain outcomes
5/Boundaries of experience
The unseeing of what is and the seeing of what is not
Imagination and reality - with reference to both The City and the City & Embassytown by China Mieville
When there are too many people that have to cohabit the same biomes where the stress levels are high, unless you can only see what it is necessary to see
(imagine a silent disco that is instead a silent movie)
Integrating robotics (and UWE’s Robotics department) and AR
Tamiko Thiel, Nina Sobell, Sadia Sadia, Kerry Baldry, Jeane Susplugas, Lisa May Thomas, Agnes Guillaume, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Fernanda D'Agostino, Jutta Pryor, Will Pappenheimer, Robert Cahen, Van McElwee, John Sanborn, Finn Harvor James Bloom, Arielko, Jaap Drupsteen, Nick Fudge, Terry Flaxton
The unseeing of what is and the seeing of what is not
Imagination and reality - with reference to both The City and the City & Embassytown by China Mieville
When there are too many people that have to cohabit the same biomes where the stress levels are high, unless you can only see what it is necessary to see
(imagine a silent disco that is instead a silent movie)
Integrating robotics (and UWE’s Robotics department) and AR
Tamiko Thiel, Nina Sobell, Sadia Sadia, Kerry Baldry, Jeane Susplugas, Lisa May Thomas, Agnes Guillaume, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Fernanda D'Agostino, Jutta Pryor, Will Pappenheimer, Robert Cahen, Van McElwee, John Sanborn, Finn Harvor James Bloom, Arielko, Jaap Drupsteen, Nick Fudge, Terry Flaxton
***News "Wilderness" will be featured for six months during the 2026 Venice Biennale from 9th May until 29th November in the European Cultural Centre at the Palazzo Mora on Strada Nova in Cannaregio, Venice, Italy.
8 UMA Artists involved: Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton, Nina Sobell,
8 UMA Artists involved: Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton, Nina Sobell,
***News "UMA REVEAL" will be featured during three two week exhibitions in May, June and July, 2026 Biennale in Venice during the Venice Biennale
Artists currently involved: Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Sadia Sadia, Kerry Baldry, Jutta Pryor, Arielko, Nick Fudge, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton, Nina Sobell
Artists currently involved: Tamiko Thiel, Nataša Prosenc Stearns, Sadia Sadia, Kerry Baldry, Jutta Pryor, Arielko, Nick Fudge, John Sanborn, James Bloom, Will Pappenheimer, Fernanda D'Agostino, Terry Flaxton, Nina Sobell
