Dr Kirk Woolford

As the founding director of the Institute for Creative Technologies, Dr Kirk Woolford unites diverse creative and technical talents from across the university, connecting our creative resources with local and national challenges to develop solutions, which resonate on a global scale.

Prior to joining Norwich University of the Arts, Kirk held posts as Lecturer in Digital Fine Arts at Lancaster, Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media Practice at Sussex, Reader in Digital Media Arts at Surrey, and Principal Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin.

My research breaks new ground in understanding how creative practice intersects with transdisciplinary research, particularly in areas of intangible cultural heritage, health, wellbeing, and the values of natural environments. I focus on the creative application of emerging technologies to explore how people are moved by their environments, both physically and emotionally.

My work is largely practice-based, with immersive experiences and performances showcased across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the USA, including the Shanghai Science Museum, ARCO Madrid, Art Cologne, Venice Biennale, and New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

I have a hybrid background with 40+ years of industry experience, co-founding video games and interactive media companies in New York, London, and Amsterdam, and working with clients including Adobe, BBC2, Channel Four, The Economist Intelligence Unit, and Sky Television.

I began my academic studies as an Electrical Engineer, before discovering Mathematical notations and Dyslexia are a challenging mix. I merged  Computer Science with Humanities, Art & Design, leading to a dual Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Humanities, from Clarkson University (New York), a Master of Science in Design from the Institute of Design (Chicago), and a PhD from the University of Surrey.

Practice

• 2024 – “Reshaping Landscapes”, Immersive dance, Cambridge Festival, Cambridge
• 2022 – “Faust Shop: New Lands”, Immersive Performance with virtual sets and
• motion capture dancers, Sook, Grafton Centre, Cambridge, GB
• 2019 – “Photoria”, Exploring the value of Fireflies through Immersive Narrative, Interactive nstallation, Valuing Nature, Royal Society, London, GB
• 2018 – “virtually (Re)Sounding Place (vRSP)”, Immersive site-specific music performance, AHRC Next Generation Immersive Experiences Showcase, University of York. GB
• 2018 – “Jinn”, Festival Internacional de Marionetas do Porto 2018 (International Puppetry Festival), Rivoli National Theatre, Portugal, Oporto, PT
• 2018 – “Jinn”, Live Music/Dance performances, The Arts Centre at NYU Abu Dhabi, New York University Abu Dhabi, AE
• Oct 2014 – “Moments in Place: Abu Dhabi”, Augmented Reality Animations, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Dubai & Abu Dhabi, AE
• 2014 – “Imogen Heap, Me the Machine”, Interactive real-time performance system for music video, GB/US
• 2013 – “Royal Institute Christmas Lecture”, Gestural protein interfaces, Windfall Films for
• BBC2, GB
• 2013 – “Moments in Place”, Augmented Reality site-specific performances, Brighton Digital Festival, Brighton, GB
• 2013 – “Kusho: written in the air”, co-commission from Brighton Digital Festival and Brighton Japan Festival, Brighton, GB
• 2012 – “Concerto X: Guimarães” (Real-time graphic and photographic visuals for live performance with 17 piece orchestra before an audience of 800), Guimarães European Capital of Culture, PT
• 2011 –  “But Still, They Move: Kineasthic Response to Photographs” (Photography exhibition) Kinesthetic Empathy: Concepts and Contexts, University of Manchester, GB
• 2009 –  “Echo Locations”, Interactive Installation, Commissioned by Frog Design and University of Texas Austin for South by Southwest Interactive (SxSWi), Austin, TX, US
• 2008 –  “Echo Locations”, Interactive Installation, Juried show, 35,000+ viewers,Slow Art – Evolve, ACM SIGGRAPH 08, Los Angeles, US
• 2008 – “Grass Traces” (interactive CGI installation) ton de video 08, Festival Internacional de Video Acert, Tondela, PT
• 2007 – “Observing Nature: Performing Ecology”, Photographic exhibition of Sights of Specific Scientific Interest, Lancaster Environment Center, Lancaster University, GB
• 2007 – “Will.0w1sp”, Interactive installation + public artist presentation, 80,000+
• Viewers, “Digital Arts and Magical Moments Ars Electronica Exhibition”, Shanghai eArts, Shanghai, CN
• 2006 – “Will.0w1sp”, Interactive installation,Vida 8.0 Art and Artificial Life, ARCO’06 Madrid, ES
• 2005 –  “Listening Between the Lines” live performance with Brückner House Orchestra, commissioned by Ars Electronica, Broadcast live on ORF (12 mins), Linz, AT
• 2002 – Will.0w1sp”, Interactive installation, Monaco Dance Forum, Monte Carlo, MC
• 2001 – “Viking Shoppers”, live performance, “Encontros ACARTE” Centre de Arte Moderne, Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, PT
• 2000 – “blur building”, commissioned by Diller + Scofidio architects for interactive installation project team for Swiss Expo 2002 New York, US
• 1994 – “cyberSM III”, Telematic installation/performance, International Symposium on Electronic Art, ISEA ‘94, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, FI
• 1994 – “Telehaptic Research Lab”, 2 site performance/installation, Sommerakademie, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, DE
• 1993 – “cyberSM”, Telematic haptic installation/performance, Voyages Virtuel, Paris, FR
• 1993 – “Not One of Us”, interactive virtual Sculpture, Electronic Café International and Casino Container, Venice Biennale, Cologne, DE, Venice, IT

Publications

• Todd, J., Cheng, L., Woolford, K, Aspell, J., et al (2024) “A Virtual Reality Body Illusion for Managing Pain in Fibromyalgia: Identifying Optimal Duration and Exploring Qualitative Insights”, iScience, (in review)
• Woolford, K. (2022), Will.0.w1sp, Processing Community Catalog, McCarthy, L., Reas, C., eds, Processing Foundation, pp. 456, 478, ISBN: 978-09998813-2-3 
• Beaumont, Freemantle, Woolford, et. al (2021) “Demystifying Interdisciplinary Working (in Valuing Nature)”, Valuing Nature Paper VNP25
• Woolford K, (2020), “Grinding Perls into Java”, Künste und Apparate: Berichte aus einem Labor (1995-2005), Edition KHM, Herbert von Halem Verlag Cologne, pp: 201-207, ISBN: 978-3-86962-528-7
• Claire Nee, Martin White, Kirk Woolford, Tudor Pascu, Leon Barker & Lucy Wainwright (2014): New methods for examining expertise in burglars in natural and simulated environments: preliminary findings, Psychology, Crime & Law, doi: 10.1080/1068316X.2014.989849
• Woolford K, Dunn S., (2014) “Micro-Mobilities and Affordances of Past Places”, Past Mobilities: Archaeological Approaches to Movement and Mobility, Leary, J., ed. Ashgate Publishing: Farhnam, pp. 113-128. ISBN: 978-1-4094-6445-7
• Woolford, K., Dunn, S, (2013) “Experimental Archaeology and Serious Games: Challenges of Inhabiting Virtual Heritage”, ACM Journal of Computing and Cultural Heritage, 6, pp 16:1–16:15. doi:10.1145/2532630.2532632
• Dunn, S, Woolford, K., (2013) “Reconfiguring experimental archaeology using 3D reconstruction”, Electronic Visualisation in Arts and Culture, Springer Verlag 2013 pp 277-291, doi::10.1007/978-1-4471-5406-8_19
• Woolford, K. (2013) “New Photography: A Perverse Confusion Between the Real and the Live”, Leonardo Electronic Almanac, Vol. 19, No. 3, Leonardo Electronic Almanac. Leonardo/ISAST, pp. 88–107. ISBN 978-1-906897-22-2
• Dunn, S, Woolford, K, et al, (2012) “Motion in Place: a Case Study of Archaeological Reconstruction Using Motion Capture”, Revive the Past: Proceedings of the 39th Conference in Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, Amsterdam University Press, 2012, 98-106.
• Woolford, K, Blackwell, A, Norman, S, Chevalier, C. (2010) “Crafting a Critical Technical Practice”, Leonardo, MIT Press, vol 43, pp. 202-203. (doi:10.1162/leon.2010.43.2.202)
• Woolford, K., Guedes, C, (2008)  “Echo Locations”, Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, ACM SIGGRAPH 2008 Talks, 2008, article 17. (doi:10.1145/1401032.1401055)
• Woolford, K., Guedes, C, (2007) “Particulate Matters: Generating Particle Flows from Human Movement”, Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Multimedia, ACM MM,07, 2007, pp 691-696.
• Woolford. K. (2006) “Will.0.w1sp (‘willo-wisp’), Performance Research, 11(4), pp.30–38. DOI: 10.1080/13528160701363309
• Atzori, P and Woolford, K. (1997) “Extended-Body: Interview with Stelarc”, Digital Delirium, eds. Arthur Kroker, Marilouise Kroker, St. Martin’s Press, 1997, pp 194-199.
• Woolford, K. (1995), “VRB?”, KUNSTFORUM International, BD 132 Die Zukunft Des Körpers I, pp 188-193 ISSN: 0177-3674
• Woolford, K, (1994), “Physical Dialogue in a Networked Environment”, Proceedings of the IFIP workshops on Virtual Environments, Springer Verlag, 1994, pp 121-125.

Invited Lectures and Panels

• 2023 –  “Fenland Fog and Folk Wisdom”, Lifting the Veil Festival, Together Culture, Cambridge, UK
• 2023 – “Making Visual Art/Work in the AI Era”, Centre for Human Inspired Artificial Intelligence, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
• 2023 –  “Creative Intelligence: Technology and Creativity”, Creative Cambridge, UK
• 2023 – “More than a ‘nice to have’ – The value of the creative & cultural economy for
• Cambridge”, Cambridge Arts Network, Cambridge, UK
• 2022 – “Green Walks”, Zinc Healthy Ageing Mission, Zinc, London, UK
• 2022 – “Digital Arts for Mental Health”, Essex Partnership University Trust Lab, EPUT, UK
• 2021 – “How can Art and Design research and Arts research methodologies help tackle the biggest challenges faced by the UK?”, All Party Parliamentary Design and Innovation Group (APPDIG), Policy Connect, UK
• 2021 – “Art//Tech//Play Producer’s Edition, What the t*ch?”, Collusion Cambridge, Cambridge Junction
• 2021 – “One Cell at a Time”, Global Cell Atlas, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge
• 2020 – “Journey through the SIGGRAPH Archives”, ACM SIGGRAPH, Los Angeles, USA

Peer Reviewed Conference Papers

• Woolford, K., (2023), “Green Walks: Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge Catalyst”, Digital Health Innovation Hub ‘2023, Essex Partnership University Trust, Cambridge, GB.
• Woolford, K., (2022), “Anything You Can Imagine: Text to Image AI for Film/TV Pre-visualisation”, Cambridge Wireless International Conference (CWIC 2022): The Hyperconnected Human, CW, Wellcome Genomics Campus,Cambridge.
• Woolford, K., (2021), “Jinn-Ginnaye”, Modes of Capture, Dublin Dance Festival, Dublin, IE
• Woolford, K., (2019), “Photoria: Exploring the values of Fireflies through immersive narrative”, Valuing Nature, Royal Society, London.
• Woolford, K., (2014) “Holding Moments in Place”, International Society of Electronic Arts (ISEA 2014), Dubai UAE
• Winters, I., Coniglio, M., Woolford, K., Macallum J., Naccorato, T., (2014) “Choreographies of attention and control: biosensors, networks and embodiment in installation and performance”, International Society of Electronic Arts (ISEA 2014), Dubai UAE
• Woolford, K., (2013) “Tracing Time: The Art and Science of Visualising Human Motion”, EVA London 2013 Electronic Visualisation and the Arts, Computer Arts Society, British Computer Society
• Nee, C., White, M., Woolford, K. (2012) “Examining Expertise In Residential Burglars: The Results Of A Pilot Study Using Innovative Technology”, American Society of Criminology (ASC) Annual Meeting 2012,
• Woolford, K., Dunn, S. (2012) “Reconfiguring experimental archaeology using 3D reconstruction”, EVA London 2012 Electronic Visualisation and the Arts, Computer Arts Society, British Computer Society:
• Woolford, K., Dunn, S. (2012) “Material Motion: A case study in quantitative motion analysis”, Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA 2012), Southampton, UK
• Woolford, K., Dunn, S. (2012) “Provenance and Motion in Virtual Heritage”, with Stuart Dunn, Digital Humanities Symposium, Virtualisation and Heritage, University of York
• Taylor, J.M., Woolford K. S.J. Norman, C. Guedes, et al (2011) “Motion in Place: Sounding Spaces, Movement, Affect and Technologised Mediation”, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology 2011: Crossing listening paths, Ionian University Corfu GR
• Woolford K., Dunn S. (2011): “Motion in Place Platform: Virtual (Re)Presentations of Iron Age Movement”, International Society of Electronic Arts (ISEA 2011), Istanbul, TK
• Warren L, Fuller T, Norman SJ, Woolford K, et al, (2011) “Realising the Value Spectrum: Creative Interdisciplinary Projects”, 1^st Interdisciplinary Conference on Stakeholders, Resources, and Value Creation, IESE Business School, Barcelona, ES
• Woolford K, (2011) “Re-Performing Memories of Motions in Place”, Performance Studies International #17, Utrecht, NL
• Woolford, K., Dunn, S. (2011) “Motion in place: archaeological reconstruction and motion capture”, Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA 2011), Beijing, CN

Other academic activities

• 2021 – pres, Steering Board, Collusion Cambridge
• 2008 – pres, AHRC Peer-review College
• 2023 – pres, UKRI Interdisciplinary Assessment College
• 2019 – pres, reviewer, Leonardo, MIT Press

Upcoming projects

I will be presenting a new piece, “Jinn Ginnaye: Palmyra” in NUA’s Immersive Visualisation and Simulation Lab as part of the Body Matters, AHRA conference in Nov 2024