News
Talks, exhibitions, screenings, workshops, and other updates.
Moment of Significance: interview with objkt Labs
In a new interview published by objkt Labs, Alex May discusses the making of Moment of Significance, his use of digital systems, and the role of memory, perception, and technological change across his practice.
Alex May appointed Art Chair for ALIFE 2026
Alex May has been appointed Art Chair for ALIFE 2026, the International Conference on Artificial Life, taking place in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 17–21 August 2026.
Ferment: Working with Life. Without Air. at Galerie Neukölln
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu are showing The Bio-archeology of Yeast as part of Ferment: Working with Life. Without Air. at Galerie Neukölln, Berlin.
Move Fast and Break Things: Control, Progress and the Black Box
Alex May joined James Bloom for a Computer Arts Society debate on artistic agency, control, and black-box creativity.
Selected for the Second objkt labs Residency
Alex May has been selected for the second objkt labs Residency, an eight-week online programme for artists working across art, technology, and AI.
ArchaeaBot in Of the Earth at Diriyah Art Futures
ArchaeaBot is on view in Of the Earth at Diriyah Art Futures in Riyadh, extending the work's international tour into a show focused on earthly technologies and computational biologies.
Economies and [Microbial] Ecosystems
Alex participated in the SAGacia25 symposium at Sapienza University of Rome, presenting works that translate biological data into sound and light.
Memory Compression exhibited at RGBMTL 2025
Several works from Memory Compression were presented at RGBMTL in Montreal as part of Objkt curator Kika Nicolela's selection.
Algorithmic Memories
Alex May gave a Science Gallery Bengaluru lecture on memory, time, transformation, and the poetic possibilities opened up by algorithmic and biologically informed media.
From Still to Spatial: Exploring Photogrammetry
Alex led a Science Gallery Bengaluru workshop on photogrammetry as a creative medium for visual art, digital installations, and virtual environments.
ArchaeaBot at AI: More Than Human, Miami
ArchaeaBot is on view at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami as part of AI: More Than Human.
Algorithmic Art talk in London
Alex May joined an Algorithmic Art event at Microsoft's Paddington offices, presenting ESSENCE and discussing artistic uses of AI.
Touch Nature at Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz
Fermenting Futures is on view at Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz as part of Touch Nature, a group exhibition on art, ecology, and changing relationships between humanity and the natural world.
Creative Photogrammetry: Digital Memories and Intangible Moments
Alex May led a two-day masterclass at Diriyah Art Futures on photogrammetry, guiding participants through the creation of 3D models from images and the transformation of physical objects into digital memory forms.
Creative Convergences: The Intersections Between Art and Science
Alex May joined Anna Dumitriu in conversation with Irini Papadimitriou at Diriyah Art Futures in Riyadh, reflecting on collaborative work across robotics, biomedia, and art-science practice.
Guest Professorship at Diriyah Art Futures
Alex spent a week at Diriyah Art Futures in Riyadh leading lectures, workshops, and public events for the Emerging Artist Programme under the theme Human, Nature, Non-Human.
Where Art and Tech Click: Algorithmic Photography
Communications of the ACM published a feature on Alex May's Algorithmic Photography series, tracing how the work uses code to turn recorded duration into a different kind of still image.
LASER Talks in Bucharest: Natural | Artificial
Alex participated in the first LASER Bucharest discussion on new forms of coexistence and interdependence between the natural and the artificial.
FIS24: The Federation of Infection Societies Conference
Alex May joined Anna Dumitriu in conversation with Dr James Price at FIS24, the Federation of Infection Societies Conference, in Liverpool, UK.
The Blend Between Arts & Sciences at iGEM Jamboree 2024
Alex participated on a panel at iGEM Jamboree 2024 in Paris on how artistic and scientific methods can inform one another.
AI Hokusai Art+AI Residency
Alex May was selected as the UK artist for the AI Hokusai Art+AI Residency, an international programme exploring art, artificial intelligence, and Hokusai's continuing influence.
Ways of Knowing at Academia Europaea Barcelona Hub
Alex gave a keynote and joined Joan Llort in conversation at the Academia Europaea Barcelona Hub Art and Science meeting in Barcelona.
The Cabinet of Intangible Curiosities - Artist Talk
Alex May presented The Cabinet of Intangible Curiosities at the University of Surrey, marking the conclusion of his quantum biology fellowship.
Included in Contemporary Art Issue's Top 20 Most Famous Digital Artists Today
Contemporary Art Issue included Alex May in its survey of the top 20 digital artists working today.
Algorithmic Photography exhibition lecture
Alex May gave a lecture at BCS in London to mark the launch of his Algorithmic Photography exhibition, tracing the development of the process over eight years.
Algorithmic Photography exhibition, April, London
Alex May's Algorithmic Photography series was brought together in a retrospective exhibition at BCS in London, tracing eight years of work on time, memory, and computer vision.
ArchaeaBot at CCCB Barcelona
ArchaeaBot was shown in AI: Artificial Intelligence at CCCB Barcelona, placing the work within a major exhibition on artificial intelligence and culture.
Royal College of Art talk with Alex May and Anna Dumitriu
Alex May spoke with Anna Dumitriu at the Royal College of Art, focusing on recent collaborations and the CAPABLE project work Physic-AI Garden.
Topologies of the Real: Techne Shenzhen
ArchaeaBot was included in Topologies of the Real: Techne Shenzhen at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning in 2023.
Renaissance 3.0
Fermenting Futures was shown at ZKM in Karlsruhe as part of Renaissance 3.0, a major exhibition on new relationships between art and science.
[Digital] Transmissions
A Kolkata was shown in [Digital] Transmissions at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, growing out of a British Council Jordan development programme for artists and creative practitioners.
SUPERNATURAL: Sculptural Visions of the Body
ArchaeaBot was shown at Taipei Fine Arts Museum in SUPERNATURAL: Sculptural Visions of the Body, an exhibition considering future bodies, posthuman forms, and the technological reshaping of life.
Quantum Biology Residency
Alex May was awarded an Institute of Advanced Studies fellowship at the University of Surrey to explore quantum biology, time reversibility, memory, and artistic form.
Unruly objects: NFTs, blockchain technologies and bio-conservation
A paper co-authored by Alex May on NFTs, provenance, and the conservation of bioart was published in Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research.
Gene Cultures at MIT Museum
Biotechnology from the Blue Flower was presented at MIT Museum in Gene Cultures, an exhibition exploring genetic technologies, public debate, and the future of biotechnology.
ArchaeaBot at the 23rd Triennale Milano
ArchaeaBot was presented in Unknown Unknowns at the 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition, extending the work into a major international exhibition context.
ArchaeaBot in Magic Machines at Technische Sammlungen Dresden
ArchaeaBot was included in Magic Machines at Technische Sammlungen Dresden, placing the work's speculative robotics within an exhibition about invention, automation, and the cultural life of machines.
European Robotics Forum 2022
Alex May joined a live panel at European Robotics Forum 2022 in Rotterdam, discussing how art, science, and technology can meet through robotics.
Susceptible receives STARTS Prize nomination
Susceptible was nominated for the STARTS Prize shortlist, recognising the work’s use of biomedical research, interaction, and digital art to address global health.
Videoclub: DeNatured
A Kolkata was included in Both Sides Now 7: DeNatured, an international moving-image programme presented across venues in the UK and Hong Kong.
Wunderkammer BioArt at Kunsthaus Wiesbaden
Fermenting Futures and Biotechnology from the Blue Flower were presented at Kunsthaus Wiesbaden in an exhibition exploring bioart through fermentation, genetics, and material transformation.
ArchaeaBot in The Beauty of Early Life at ZKM
ArchaeaBot was included in The Beauty of Early Life at ZKM, placing the work within an exhibition shaped by deep time, early organisms, and the visual imagination of life's beginnings.
Chennai Photogrammetry Workshop
Alex May led a two-day online photogrammetry workshop for photographers in Chennai, commissioned by Chennai Photo Biennale and supported by the British Council.
Fermenting Futures exhibition at Kunstlerhaus Vienna
Fermenting Futures was presented at Kunstlerhaus Wien in Vienna, bringing Alex May and Anna Dumitriu's yeast biotechnology project into a public exhibition setting.
EyeMyth Media Arts Festival 2022
Alex May gave an online talk for EyeMyth Media Arts Festival in India about the development of his work A Kolkata.
British Council Jordan: Arts in the Digital Age Online Forum
Alex May led a closed-group masterclass within the British Council Jordan Arts in the Digital Age Online Forum, focusing on digital practice, collaboration, and professional development for artists.
Artificio at Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu premiered ArchaeaBot: Post Singularity Life-forms in a Post Climate Change World in Artificio at the Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo in Santa Marta, Colombia.
Under the Viral Shadow: Conference
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu presented ArchaeaBot at the online conference accompanying Under the Viral Shadow, organised by Art Laboratory Berlin.
Atmospheric Encounters at SOLU, Helsinki
Atmospheric Encounters brought the High Altitude Bioprospecting project to SOLU in Helsinki, including Alex May's contribution within a wider collaborative exhibition on airborne microbial life.
Indo-European Residency Inaugural Programme
Alex May joined the inaugural programme for the fourth edition of the Indo-European Residency Project Kolkata, introducing his practice and the interests that would shape the residency.
Paradoxical Objects
Flow State was included in Paradoxical Objects, an online exhibition tracing the history of video sculpture from 1968 to the present.
Creative Comm 21
Alex May spoke about Cyberspecies Proximity at Creative Comm 21, a knowledge exchange conference hosted by the National Centre for Creativity enabled by AI.
Indo-European Residency Project Kolkata 2021
Alex May was selected for the fourth edition of the Indo-European Residency Project Kolkata, which moved online in 2021 and later led to the development of A Kolkata.
Under the Viral Shadow
ArchaeaBot was shown in Under the Viral Shadow at Art Laboratory Berlin, an exhibition examining biological, cybernetic, and social networks in the age of technoscience and infection.
ArchaeaBot publication in ALIFE 2021
ArchaeaBot: A Post Singularity and Post Climate Change Life-form was selected for publication and a virtual oral presentation at ALIFE 2021.
Forum Design Pays De La Meije
Alex May joined an online Forum Design Pays De La Meije round-table on how living and non-living systems, AI, and natural processes can interact in sensitive and inspiring ways.
Biotechnology From the Blue Flower: The Unnatural, That Too is Natural
Alex May joined an Art Science Node Berlin panel on biotechnology, CRISPR, and changing ideas of what counts as natural, centred on the CHIC project and Biotechnology from the Blue Flower.
Capture the Future(s): OUR BIO-TECH PLANET
Alex May presented work in Art Science Node's virtual Plant Biology Europe Congress exhibition, showing both CHIC residency material with Anna Dumitriu and pieces from Algorithmic Photography.
ArchaeaBot in SUPERNATURAL at Oulu Museum of Art
ArchaeaBot was presented in SUPERNATURAL at Oulu Museum of Art, placing the work within an international exhibition on embodiment, ecology, and technological change.
UCLA Art|Sci: Value(s) of NFT-ART
Alex May joined Christiane Paul, Tamiko Thiel, Victoria Vesna, and Anuradha Vikram for a UCLA Art|Sci panel on NFTs, digital preservation, and environmental impact.
Atmospheric Encounters at Birmingham Open Media
Atmospheric Encounters brought the High Altitude Bioprospecting project back to Birmingham Open Media, including Alex May's Alchemy of Knowledge within a wider exhibition on airborne microbial life.
NFT interview on talkRADIO
Alex May was interviewed by Kevin O'Sullivan on talkRADIO about NFTs, blockchain, and the changing ownership and monetisation of digital art.
International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Volume 16, Issue 3
The Human Super-Organism was featured in Volume 16, Issue 3 of the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, where the work appeared on the cover and was discussed in relation to scale, visibility, and the human microbiome.
ArchaeaBot and Susceptible in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
ArchaeaBot and Susceptible were exhibited in EFECT DE LA MICRO LA MACRO during QUANTUM 2020 in Cluj-Napoca, using the windows of the former Hotel Continental to keep the work publicly visible during pandemic restrictions.
Algorithmic Photography at Alianza Francesa de San Salvador
Algorithmic Photography was presented at Alianza Francesa de San Salvador as part of a month-long photography programme, alongside an interview about Alex May's process and wider practice.
CAPABLE Project Artists Collaboration
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu joined the Horizon 2020 CAPABLE project to develop new artworks around AI, wearable technologies, and personalised cancer care.
WeMissIPRES: A Mirror For Remembering
Alex May introduced A Mirror For Remembering at the WeMissIPRES online programme, placing the artwork within a wider discussion of digital preservation, permanence, and public access.
Creating and Curating with Data
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu joined a DRIVA Arts DRIVA webinar on how artists make sense of complex data, using Susceptible to discuss public understanding, collaboration, and data-driven art.
Ars Electronica 2020: Alex May artworks and videos
Alex May presented multiple projects in Ars Electronica 2020, including Quarantine, Fermenting Futures, and Acquired Immunity, across the online and distributed Kepler's Gardens programme.
A World Without Us Revisited
Alex May contributed a new set of Algorithmic Photography images to IMPAKT's A World Without Us Revisited, rethinking the 2018 exhibition through lockdown, simulation, and post-human landscapes.
A Mirror For Remembering trailer on Oculus experiences
The trailer for Alex May's virtual reality artwork A Mirror For Remembering was featured on the official Oculus Experiences platform, extending the work's reach through a widely used VR channel.
Digital arts practice in the time of the pandemic
Alex May gave an online talk for the University of Brighton's Digital Media Arts MA on how artists were adapting production, distribution, and context when galleries and museums were closed during the pandemic.
Neural Network Apophenia exhibition
A video version of Susceptible premiered in Neural Network Apophenia, an online exhibition curated for Moscow's EVERART Weekend around artistic uses of artificial neural networks and machine perception.
Computer Arts Society talk (video)
Alex May gave an online Computer Arts Society talk introducing A Mirror For Remembering and discussing the artistic and technical decisions behind the virtual reality work.
TECHnique Interview
Richard F Adams interviewed Alex May for the TECHnique podcast, discussing a practice that connects art, science, and technology across projection mapping, biology, robotics, and digital media.
Trebuchet Audio Interview
Trebuchet featured Alex May in an audio interview about Algorithmic Photography, Flow State, and the wider questions that run through his digital art practice.
ArchaeaBot at Science Gallery Bengaluru
ArchaeaBot was featured in SUBMERGE, Science Gallery Bengaluru's first exhibition season, where the work was placed within a wide interdisciplinary programme on water, ecology, and shared futures.
Tetramatyka Festival 2019
ArchaeaBot was selected for Tetramatyka Festival 2019 in Lviv, extending WRO 2019's Human Aspect exhibition into a touring audiovisual art context in Ukraine.
Growing at ZHI ART MUSEUM
ArchaeaBot was featured in Growing at ZHI ART MUSEUM in Chengdu, where the work was placed within an exhibition on uncanny life, techno-fantasy, and the unstable boundary between organic and artificial forms.
Trebuchet Talks: Time & Space
Alex May presented Painting Objects in Dynamic Space at Trebuchet Talks in London, discussing time, movement, and spatial perception within a wider art, science, and culture programme.
Intelligent Machinery Exhibition
Anna Dumitriu and Alex May presented Intelligent Machinery at Ugly Duck, a programme of installations, robotic artworks, and events examining AI, robotics, machine learning, and biocomputation beyond contemporary hype.
Artistic Exploration of BioRobotics and Sequencing
Alex May spoke at SynBio19 at Warwick University about art-science collaboration, biorobotics, sequencing, and algorithmic image-making across projects including Flow State, Sequence Music, and Algorithmic Photography.
Robots, VR, and Hacking panel video
Alex May moderated a panel at IMPAKT's Future Digital Life conference in Utrecht, bringing together perspectives on robotics, virtual reality, and hacking from across art and digital culture.
WRO 2019 Media Art Biennale
ArchaeaBot was selected for WRO 2019 Media Art Biennale in Wroclaw, placing Alex May and Anna Dumitriu's speculative robotic installation within one of Central Europe's leading new media art events.
Future Digital Life: A World Without Us?
IMPAKT's Future Digital Life conference in Utrecht used ArchaeaBot as a starting point for discussions about robotics, AI, synthetic biology, and environmental futures, with Alex May contributing to the wider programme.
Algorithmic Photograph shortlisted for the British Photography Awards 2019
Alex May's Algorithmic Photography image Trails of Birds Over Merlin's Cave was shortlisted for the British Photography Awards 2019 in the Birdlife category.
ArchaeaBot at Ars Electronica Festival 2018
ArchaeaBot premiered at Ars Electronica in Linz, introducing its underwater robotic life-form to an international audience.
Algorithmic Photography Latest TV interview
Latest TV interviewed Alex May about Algorithmic Photography, bringing the series and its computational approach to a broader broadcast audience in Brighton.
ArchaeaBot lecture at University of Hertfordshire Biocomputation Group
Alex May presented ArchaeaBot to the University of Hertfordshire Biocomputation Group, outlining the project's speculative robotics, archaea research, and post-climate futures.
Anna Dumitriu and Alex May: Recent Works at Texas A&M
Alex May presented work at Texas A&M as part of the collaborative exhibition Anna Dumitriu and Alex May: Recent Works, alongside a lecture and a Painting With Light workshop.
The Art and Science of Linen at Northern Ireland Science Festival
Alex May joined Anna Dumitriu in Belfast for a Northern Ireland Science Festival talk around The Art and Science of Linen, connecting heritage craft, microbiology, and digital moving image.
Art Science and Cocktails
Alex May spoke in Oslo as part of the Technology & Emotions conference, discussing key artworks, creative software, and long-term preservation of digital art.
Francis Crick Institute commission
Alex May was awarded a commission to create Flow State, a permanent digital artwork for the front window of the Francis Crick Institute in London.
Sequence VR at Imperial College Festival
Alex May presented Sequence VR at Imperial College Festival in London, showing a new sensory version of the work augmented with synchronised smells.
Yellow Magic
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu showed a new virtual reality work about bacteria and whole genome sequencing at Yellow Magic during British Science Week in Oxford.
Antisocial Swarm Robots at HUMANS NEED NOT APPLY
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu presented Antisocial Swarm Robots in HUMANS NEED NOT APPLY at Science Gallery Dublin, where the work explored how viewers project social meaning onto simple robotic behaviour.
London LASER 18
Alex May spoke at London LASER 18 at the University of Westminster on digital creation and preservation, within an evening focused on the intersections of art, science, and technology.
Shadows of Light at HCI 2016
Alex May presented Shadows of Light in the HCI 2016 gallery at Bournemouth University, with the installation framed by discussion around slow interaction and cross-disciplinary HCI practice.
DF2016: HARR1 and Sequence VR in Brussels
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu showed HARR1 and Sequence VR at Digital Festival 2016 in Brussels, pairing exhibition with a public discussion on genomics, robotics, and health.
University of Hertfordshire Colloquium
Alex May gave a research colloquium at the University of Hertfordshire on robotics, video mapping, interaction, and the role of code as artistic material.
Ingenious and Fearless Companions
Alex May took part in Ingenious and Fearless Companions at Birmingham Open Media, a High Altitude Bioprospecting exhibition exploring space research, extremophile life, and collaborative art-science practice.
Gut Reactions: The Microbiome and Human Nature
Alex May took part in Gut Reactions at Princeton, a two-day environmental humanities event that brought art interventions, dialogue, and symposium discussion to questions around the microbiome and human life.
University of Calgary International Visiting Artist
Alex May presented a solo exhibition of Shadows of Light at the University of Calgary, alongside an artist talk and a Painting With Light video-mapping workshop.
Painting With Light workshop at UCLA
Alex May led a Painting With Light video-mapping workshop at UCLA, introducing students to projection, objects, and spatial experimentation through his custom software.
Mendel's Legacy: Exploring Bacterial Genomics through Art
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu gave a lecture at the Mendel Museum in Brno on Sequence, using bacterial genomics to connect microbiology, data, privacy, and digital art.
Wet Media
Alex May spoke at Wet Media in Seoul, a one-day conference on emerging technologies, digital culture, and transmission, alongside artists and researchers including Anna Dumitriu and boredomresearch.
Data Body As Artifact: ISMAR 2015, Fukuoka, Japan
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu's Sequence was included in Data Body As Artifact at ISMAR 2015 in Fukuoka, a group exhibition examining embodiment, data, and technologically mediated experience.
Sequence at the V&A
Alex May exhibited a new virtual reality version of Sequence at the Victoria and Albert Museum during London Design Festival, showing how bio-digital research could be experienced through immersive media, objects, and live material process.
Toy Hack Digital Metropolis
Alex May worked with Exploring Senses and Phoenix Brighton on a two-day Brighton Digital Festival project where young participants hacked toys, built a cardboard city, made animations, and turned it into a projected digital metropolis.
Curating in the Digital World: Talk with Robert Storr and Alex May
Alex May joined Robert Storr at Chelsea College of Arts for a public discussion on how digital art changes curating, display, collection, and preservation.
Art That Makes Itself - Symposium
Alex May spoke at Watermans as part of the Art That Makes Itself symposium, a discussion on generative art, digital image-making, and the challenges of curating and conserving digital work.
TEDx Bucharest
Alex May's TEDx Bucharest talk asked what happens to digital art over time and whether today's code, formats, and systems can still be reached centuries into the future.
Emergency Index: Volume 3
Alex May's Painting With Light performance at Tate Modern was featured in Emergency Index: Volume 3, a major publication documenting recent performance practice.
Bournemouth University Workshop
Alex May led a two-day Painting With Light video-mapping workshop at Bournemouth University, where participants used custom software and everyday materials to build new projected environments.
The Institute of Unnecessary Research Meets the Egyptian Bioart Club - ISEA 2014
Alex May took part in a three-day collaborative open lab and public installation at ISEA 2014 in Dubai, using participatory video mapping within a wider bioart and digital technologies programme.
Super-Organism: The Living Microbiome
Alex May's video artwork Super-Organism: The Living Microbiome was commissioned by Wellcome Collection for The Evening Standard '1000' award ceremony at the Francis Crick Institute.
Kinetica Art Fair Artist Interview: Alex May
Aesthetica published an interview with Alex May about Painting With Light, the development of his digital sculpture practice, and his ongoing involvement with Kinetica Art Fair.
My Robot Companion on BBC World Service Click
BBC World Service Click featured Alex May, Anna Dumitriu, and HARR1 from My Robot Companion in its coverage of Brighton Digital Festival.
Music Tech Fest 5th-7th September 2014
Alex May spoke at Music Tech Fest in London about Painting With Light, his bespoke video-mapping software for artists.
HARR1 at Fabrica for Brighton Digital Festival 2014
Alex May and Anna Dumitriu presented HARR1 at Fabrica for Brighton Digital Festival, using conversation and public interaction to open debate around robotics and social behaviour.
The Art and Science of Linen accepted into Museum Collection
Alex May's video work The Art and Science of Linen was accepted into the permanent collection of the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum.
Public Engagement in Science through Art
Alex May spoke at Waag Society in Amsterdam about My Robot Companion and the role of art in opening public debate around science, ethics, and emerging technologies.
4Humanities interview with Alex May
4Humanities published an interview with Alex May about programming, video mapping, digital preservation, and the questions about code and perception that run through his work.
My New Robot Companion at Bletchley Park
HARR1 was shown at Bletchley Park alongside University of Hertfordshire research robots, placing My New Robot Companion within a setting shaped by computation, code, and public encounter.
Shadows of Light at ICT2013
Alex May exhibited Shadows of Light at ICT2013 in Vilnius as part of ICT & Art Connect, bringing interactive installation into a wider art-and-technology forum.
Painting With Light in Caracas, Venezuela
Painting With Light was presented in Caracas at the Museum of Contemporary Art, extending Alex May's live video-mapping practice into a new international context.
My New Robot Companion: HARR1 at Watermans
HARR1, the latest incarnation of My New Robot Companion, was shown at Watermans in London as part of Alex May and Anna Dumitriu's ongoing exploration of domestic robotics.