Artificial Intelligence (noun): A field of computer science that allows machines to perform tasks that previously required human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving.

Come and discover the six new innovative prototypes from our latest Sandbox, More Than AI, in this special sharing event. Discover the inspiration behind the prototypes, meet the brilliant teams, and play with the creations from our latest sandbox.

Earlier this year we commissioned six teams from Bristol and beyond to create prototypes that use creative technology to critically engage in ways of working with AI.

The showcase is free to attend and takes place across Watershed. Visitors can expect to become part of a new digital ensemble, see alternate models for sharing knowledge, be immersed in the year 2084, step into a robot’s habitat, encounter The Ministry of AI Spills, and create moments with a forest.

Glory Mold 11:00 - 18:00 in Undershed (enter via Box Office)

Enter the world of Glory Mold: 2084, an immersive installation by Produced Moon: a prototype interactive experience with an intelligent slime mold in a speculative sci-fi future where AI development has been entwined with the organic world.

apothecary network 11:00 – 18:00 Waterside corridor

The apothecary network uses creative tech to share knowledge to grow decolonial community apothecaries.They are sharing a prototype low-tech web app that is designed to be a meeting place between plants and people built on a radically small AI robot powered by the sun. The apothecary network centre collective care and a joyful connection with nature honouring ancestral knowledge and intuitive practices, and welcome all to be guests in a space created for and by Black, Brown, racialised and diaspora communities.

CripShip 11:00 - 18:00 in Waterside 1

CripShip is a roleplaying game where disability saves society from big tech, where play teaches resisting and breaking AI in the real world. In the game players take on the role of employees of the Ministry of AI Spills, an underfunded government agency investigating cases of AI Foundation Models spilling slop into the world and the companies theatre responsible for this mess. Players investigate cases, interrogate Foundation Models and discover clues about their suitability. Think of it as X-files meets Hackers with a bureaucratic twist! Multiple small taster experiences of the game will be running throughout the day.

a (re)imitation of life 11:00 - 18:00 in Waterside 2

a (re)imitation of life is a speculative installation situating AI, represented by a large language model (LLM), into an artificial tortoise body to explore a non-human perspective on intelligence. By integrating the mind, body, and environment of an artificial being, this work aims to decentre the human perspective within AI architecture. It encourages AI to learn from the wisdom of the non-human world, fostering a deeper ecological attunement in the technologies we develop. Visitors will step into the artificial tortoise's habitat and discover how these creatures are, seeing how they engage with their surroundings.

The Conductor 11:00 - 18:00 in Waterside 3

Roll, throw, and press the instruments of The Expression Orchestra and become performers with the help of an AI powered Conductor. pyka invites participants to become performers with The Expressions Orchestra, a suite of alternative musical instruments that broaden access to musical performance.

Kinship Wayfinder 11:00 - 12:00; 12:00 - 13:00 [SOLD OUT]; 14:00 - 15:00; 15:00 - 16:00; 16:00 - 17:00 starting from Box Office

Kinship Wayfinder is a playful, forest experience where teams explore, share and connect with the environment and each other to discover the fate of a group of dendrologists, who mysteriously vanished whilst on the hunt for the fabled Methuselah, the planet’s oldest tree whose rings hold critical information about the future of the earth's climate. AI is the team’s key collaborator in the design and build of the experience but also the deliverer of the experience’s final narrative reveal.

Tickets for Kinship Wayfinder must be booked separately. Spaces are limited. The experience takes place off-site, approximately 300m away with level access throughout. The event will be stewarded by the Kinship team.

Within the creative and cultural sectors AI is having an impact on everything from writing, visual arts and music to film-making, games and performance. By bringing creative technologists and thinkers together, More than AI Sandbox seeks to discover opportunities for the new forms of expression and accessibility to be found in AI, whilst grappling with the complexities of what intelligence is and how we might use it.

We're sharing projects that ask what it means to work with minds that are utterly unlike our own, and how AI can be part of a wider conversation about intelligence, labour, and creativity.

About the Sandbox

More Than AI Sandbox is a creative research and development programme using Watershed’s tried and tested Sandbox methodology to bring together teams of brilliant people to test new ideas with generosity and rigour in a three month research and development.

About MyWorld

MyWorld is built on the production, technology and research strengths of the West of England region to create a globally unique proposition for creative technology, research and innovation.

More Than AI Sandbox is part of the MyWorld IDEAS programme, funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Strength in Places Fund.

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