This project endeavours to synergise human self-expression through drawing with technological innovation to promote mental well-being.
Recognising drawing as a powerful tool for externalising thoughts, the project addresses the growing need for personalised and interactive tools in the face of prevalent stress and mental health challenges.
The semi-autonomous robot enables users to visually represent their emotional state.
By fostering interaction and collaboration, the project aims to contribute to improved self-awareness and emotional well-being.
The integration of technology-driven emotional self-expression provides a unique avenue for individuals to navigate and understand their mental states, with potential benefits for improved self-esteem and anxiety reduction.
In the rapidly advancing technological landscape, this initiative highlights the significance of leveraging innovation to address societal mental health concerns.
The project’s goal is to fill the gap in existing AI methods by offering a specialised platform for meaningful and personalised self-expression, thus contributing to the broader discourse on mental well-being in the contemporary context.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Readings of a Lithium Language is a multi-platform installation presented by Professor Martin Foster (Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering) and artist Joseph Cutts, depicting the setup of the Willenhall Energy Storage System (a grid connected battery research and demonstrator facility at the Willenhall substation).
They recorded its life-cycle through a series of readings in energy consumption and storage, alongside the monitoring of the systems overall stability and health, as it provides further insight into the power flow management of the facility, tracking its faults, weather and seasonal variation.
The 2MW 1MWh grid connected battery facility (that could provide power to 3,000 homes for 20 minutes) looks at future possibilities for large-scale energy storage and how to overcome the challenges associated with connecting such technologies to the grid.
Readings of a Lithium Language is supported further by research material and on-site management from Dr Matthew Smith, Centre for Research into Electrical Energy Storage & Applications.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
A collaboration between academic and broadcaster Dr Tori Herridge and artist Paul Evans, Resurrection consists of drawings and projections featuring two extinct elephant species that contrast dramatically in size and the emotions they evoke.
Life-sized drawings of the largest mammoth and smallest elephant ever to have existed confront the viewer with the scale and variety of nature now lost.
Created in charcoal, a medium used to draw mammoths in ancient caves, one massive work of art, an awe-inspiring 4m-tall Steppe Mammoth, measures 5m x 5m, while a 1m-tall Sicilian dwarf elephant will surprise and appeal with its diminutive form. AI-generated footage of both species explores our ability/desire to harness technology to imitate nature.
Resurrection provokes a powerful and intimate connection with long-dead species, challenging us to imagine a future where de-extinction plays a role in conservation. Are we ready to come to face to face with an Ice Age giant?
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Global crop production is facing a crisis. Flooding, drought, rising temperatures, increasing fertilisers prices, fuel costs, and an increased incidence of plant disease are all increasing.
The fine layer of soil around plant roots, called the rhizosphere, is one of the most diverse and densely populated microbial habitats on Earth. ‘Good’ microbes in the rhizosphere kill pathogens and transform soil matter into nutrients that plant roots can access. Hence, the rhizosphere is central to crop production and human prosperity.
ROOTIVERSE a sculptural exhibition will bring this subterranean environment to life and illuminate the complex biological interactions in the soil that we depend on.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on earth.
This diversity means that insects fill every imaginable ecological niche, and perform many of the most important ecosystem functions.
This diversity has been moulded in turn by the remarkable variety of plants, which interact with insects in a myriad of ways: they depend on some insects for pollination, but must also cope with being eaten by ‘pests’.
The relationships between insects and plants are mediated through chemistry – invisible communications based on complex, yet delicate signals emitted and detected all around us.
These signals allow a flower to advertise its nectar and pollen to moths, bees and flies; they allow insects to find the right place to start a nest and lay eggs; they even allow plants to warn their neighbours of impending danger.
This collaboration aims to produce a visual interpretation of these hidden interactions using diverse media and different perspectives, and will challenge people to think about communication in nature, and the nature of communication.
It will also expose people to the diversity of insects using a combination of displays and educational material.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Sculptor Sarah Villeneau and composer Professor Adrian Moore will work together to sculpt sound and ceramics into a set of small physical works through shared reflection and swapped practice, with each partner learning something about the other’s work by adopting a hands-on craft-based approach.
Through taking a more natural, free flowing methodology based on reactions to the materials at hand they will explore how we shape materials through stretching, tapering, filtering, texturing, and other shared manipulations.
The project will conclude with an exhibition of new pieces of ceramic art alongside new works of sonic art embedded within the sculptures.
Using portable, battery powered loudspeakers that will send small, quiet sounds through tubes and shell-like shapes, acting as resonant cavities, the viewer/listener will be offered a more fully embodied and engaged experience of the work.
Sarah Villeneau
Adrian Moore
The Electroacoustic Craftsperson
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Experience a voyage through our Milky Way galaxy using the Meta Quest 3 mixed reality headset.
Make a visit to the nearby Orion Nebula stellar nursery, where thousands of stars are in the process of forming, before sweeping out the view the majesty of the Milky Way’s disk from above.
Descend to the very centre of the galaxy where a supermassive black hole – millions of times more massive than the Sun – lurks.
Your journey will be a little quicker than the 100,000 years required to undertake the real journey while travelling at the speed of light!
Astrophysics research undertaken in Sheffield includes star formation and the environment around supermassive black holes in galaxies https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/physics/astrophysics
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Experience the complexities of judicial decision-making through an interactive exhibit based on Dr. Angela Sorsby’s research on racial bias in court outcomes in England and Wales. Use a judge’s gavel to explore sentencing for characters facing minor offences. Engage with light animated scenarios developed by Sheffield-based digital artist and producer Ben Carlin, which uncover sentencing disparities and encourage reflection on the fairness of our legal system.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
With climate change, CO2 emissions and resource scarcity building must undergo a profound transformation. This installation co-created by Dr Tim Ireland and creative partners Rosanna Sutcliffe and Kieran Sockett synthesises computational methods and digital fabrication to speculate our relationship with nature and demonstrate the potential of mycelium as a building material.
Winter Garden opening times Monday–Saturday: 8am–8pm Sunday: 10am–5pm
Hidden Worlds, Healthy Soils focuses on the complex relationship we have with the soils and biodiversity around us and its place in the food system. The exhibit takes inspiration from the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre research projects into food systems and environmental restoration and research by Dr Megan Lewis. Artist Richard Nicolle has created dioramas to distil the complex realm of biodiversity and how sustainable practices and methods aim at improving South Yorkshire’s food system.
Winter Garden opening times Monday–Saturday: 8am–8pm Sunday: 10am–5pm
Dr Shuhei Miyashita and artist Seiko Kinoshita have created a captivating display of origami engineering and art.
Witness large, dynamic sculptures undergoing stunning transformations, merging traditional origami craft with modern technology.
Experience an extraordinary fusion of art and robotics, showcasing creations unlike anything found in standard university or museum exhibits.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Would you like to have a robot pet and, if so, would you like to be able to talk to it? In this exhibit from Sheffield Robotics, led by Professor Tony J Prescott and Michael Szollosy you can meet MiRo. MiRo is an animal-like robot the size of a puppy that now uses the latest AI technologies to have a conversation. Have a chat with MiRo and see what you think.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Whenever we touch, hear or see something, our brain processes these stimuli. It also processes inputs from within the body.
These processes allow us to interpret the world around us, control our own internal environment and are critical to our survival.
A team from the Neuroscience Institute led by Professor Fiona Boissonade collaborated with creative partners Diva Creative.
The resulting animation shows how this processing happens and highlights how abnormal sensory processing leads to altered sensory function.
A hearing test allows you to test your own hearing, while a hearing loss simulator demonstrates what it’s like to experience hearing loss and how it changes how music sounds.
Did you know that your fingertips can easily tell if two objects are touching your skin, rather than one, but your back can’t always tell the difference?
Our test shows how different parts of the body have different sensory capabilities and our human homunculus (an amusing-looking representation of our sensory systems) demonstrates why these differences occur.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Call of the Void is a completely original musical arrangement created using data collected from the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO).
Using real astronomical data recorded by telescopes from around the world that scan the night sky for cosmic explosions and dying stars, Dr Martin Dyer and Tommy Wilson have mapped actual celestial events into musical notation using a process called ‘sonification’ to create original musical compositions.
These are being adapted into an album of dynamic, haunting soundscapes and will be pressed onto 12″ vinyl for visitors of the exhibition to hear.
Join us for a chance to hear the cosmic compositions of our galaxy!
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Find out more here: callofthevoid.co.uk
CATA – Climate Change and Waste Pickers’ is a multimedia exhibition that will showcase ‘CATA’ prints built from images captured and constructed by waste collectors in Brazil.
The artworks were created as part of WIEGO research on climate change impact and strategies in partnership with LO-ACT (Low Carbon Action in Ordinary Cities) project at the University of Sheffield.
Waste collectors are important environmental agents and participated in a Cyanotype workshop in which waste provided the raw material for image making experiments which will be on display at the exhibition.
Sound artist James Rogers will create ten pieces and a podcast inspired by the research and artworks that tells stories about place, people and materials through sound collage, exploring narratives behind the artworks in an informative and engaging way.
By inviting the public to submit stories and recordings, together with sound recorded at community waste picking actions, the pieces uncover the musicality in the urban environment and in reusing waste material.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Heavy Water Collective have been working with Jilly Gibson-Miller, Co-Director for MSc Psychology and Education, and PHD researcher Ankita Mishra at the University of Sheffield to create an immersive exhibition in response to their research that shares the journeys of healing and support seeking of racially minoritised women survivors of domestic abuse.
Over the past month, Heavy Water have conducted a series of collage, photography, bookbinding and ceramics workshops at Humraaz.
The work they have produced will be exhibited alongside considerable research conducted by Jilly and Ankita with Humraaz. Humraaz Support Services is led by and for Black and Minoritised Women & Girls.
They provide multilingual support for women survivors and their families affected by violence against women & girls including domestic and sexual abuse.
They offer advice, advocacy and access to safe refuge to help women move from crisis to safety and independence.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Ever wondered how plastic surgeons sculpt and reconstruct new tissues? Dr Vanessa Hearnden is developing biomaterials that can be used to restore and replace soft tissues when they are lost as a result of surgery, injury or disease.
Our materials are designed to be soft and degradable so that the body can use them as a “scaffold” to replace the lost tissue over time, while maintaining the tissue’s natural feel and function.
To illustrate this research, artist Lynne Chapman has created a large textile sculpture, showing how porous biomaterials interact with cells, fat and blood vessels. Alongside the sculpture you will find examples of the materials being developed.
Vanessa Hearnden
Lynne Chapman
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Join us for an interactive talk in the Spiegeltent on Sunday 22 September.
Despite the high incidence of vision impairment in older people, it is not clear how acute hospital settings adapt and support older people with vision impairment.
This collaborative study explored the experience of accessing hospital care with older people with vision impairment from Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind (SRSB).
Findings from ‘Hello.. I’m here!’ revealed that being an in-patient with sight loss is traumatic and care needs are frequently overlooked with implications for physical and psychosocial wellbeing.
Dr Gemma Arblaster, Dr Fiona Wilson, multi-displinary artist Sarah Jane Palmer and SRSB researchers share the experiences of patients with vision impairment through an immersive sound and visual installation.
Sarah’s work will contribute to the development of an immersive learning resource promoting understanding about the care needs for people with vision impairment.
And a co-produced ‘Top Tips’ in our spiegeltent talk to raise awareness of vision aware care.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Celebrated Sheffield-based artist Jessica Heywood and Sheffield historian Phil Withington will create an installation exploring the botanical dimensions of Europe’s psychoactive revolution.
They will demonstrate the social importance and the relationship between herbs and plants, global modernity, and different states of intoxication.
They will be joined by Colin Osborne from Biosciences for their talk, who will be explaining the archaeological and ancient historic context of crop spread.
The installation will also provide a space for people to reflect on their own ideas and concerns about intoxicants.
The intoxicants at the heart of Europe’s first ‘psychoactive revolution’ included locally produced alcohols (fermented and distilled), which underwent processes of industrialization during the period, as well as Atlantic commodities like tobacco, sugar, and cacao and Asian substances like opium, coffee, and tea.
The installation will represent varieties of species identified, harvested, and transplanted for these processes: hops and grains as well as sugar cane, nicotiana and poppies.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Hot Jesus is an audio installation made by the documentary artist Nadia Mehdi, and is inspired by the research of Emily Marlow. It explores representations of Jesus Christ, and our reactions to them, over the past 2000 years whilst highlighting the undeniable fact that Jesus…got hot. Step inside the confessional and witness this aesthetic transformation for yourself.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Do fitness trackers and smartwatches change how runners feel and behave? How do tech companies affect runners?
What does this mean for fitness in today’s world?
The iRunner film project takes a closer look at these questions.
Based on research by Dr Lee Pretlovewith with runners to understand their experiences, Human Studio – a Sheffield creative team with global credentials in design, animation and immersive experience – has created a short film to showcase the project’s results which will be displayed at the Futurecade exhibition at the Millennium Gallery with the researcher.
The film cam also be viewed online through the University of Sheffield’s Player.
The iRunner project wants to raise attention about how both we and companies use digital information about our lives and prompts us to think about healthy information technology use and design in fitness.
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Inspired by the research by the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre, Helen Brook created sculptural forms that visualise the most energy intensive point in the manufacturing process of individual materials.
Thermochromic pigments on the sculptures turn transparent upon touch, revealing a surface as if it were molten glass or steel. This interaction emphasises the conflict of heat generation and decarbonisation in heavy industry.
This project focussed on the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre’s research into the decarbonisation of heavy industries.
This research considers industrial manufacturing processes and the sustainability implications of the most energy intensive point of these industries being the melting point, where the raw material is turned into the final product.
The artwork explores the forms of the materials, their transitions through manufacturing processes and the energy required to produce. The exhibit reveals how and why we need to decarbonise these industries
Millennium Gallery opening times Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–5pm (closed Mondays) Sunday: 11am–4pm
Ribosomes are protein factories found in all living things. Our bodies are full of proteins, but how are they made? Artist Chris Jarratt in collaboration with Dr Emma Thomson’s lab utilised kinetic sculptures in a wind garden to visualise how ribosomes translate genetic information into proteins. A family-friendly sculpture workshop will be held by Chris Jarratt and the Thomson lab on Saturday the 28th of September from 1pm–3pm.
Winter Garden opening times Monday–Saturday: 8am–8pm Sunday: 10am–5pm
