ARTIST STATEMENT
I work cross-discipline, creatively and collaboratively, taking inspiration from scientific practice that embraces concepts of data, code, mutable materials, rekindled history, technology and environmental concerns and rephrases them from an art perspective. Projection, sound, video installation, light, sensors, print and sculpture is my current media of choice. I create multidiscipline teams for different projects as a lead artist, producer and director. We operate as a symbiotic relationship; they are inspired by my ideas, curiosity and ambitions for creating work and together we form the work. Scientists, dancers, composers, sculptors, fine artists, performers, sound- lighting designers and/or community groups come together to create art that is tangible, surprising, relevant and inclusive.
BACKGROUND
Diana Scarborough is an artist-engineer whose collaborative practice is inherently cross-discipline with a technology and contextual bias. She takes her inspiration from research and science, working with world leaders in the fields of astronomy, nano- biotechnology materials and space weather data with an eco-focus. Her interest lies in revealing beauty, playfulness, emotion and meaning in the science and make it present as art using film, sound, live performance and projection combined with traditional fine art practices. Overlays of codes and text in plays with the boundaries of perception at the point where pattern becomes decoded to give meaning, beauty or a call to action.
A British based artist, she lived and worked in Australia, The Netherlands and Texas, and these are strong influences in her work. As an eighteen-year-old early-career technical specialist at a naval dockyard in Sydney, Scarborough modified and repaired countermeasures equipment and sonar on ships and submarines. Upon completing the traineeship, she was recruited by an R&D company in the UK to develop receivers and electronics for airborne devices, another creative experience if somewhat less physical than her first job as it was designed on a millimeter scale.
Scarborough studied Electronics Engineering at York University, and in her final year designed an instrument for archaeological use. Although she was offered a cross-disciplinary PhD opportunity in subsurface radar technology, she chose to work first for a UK and then a US company designing and developing telecommunication infrastructures, process control systems, and telemetry systems for oil platforms, gas refineries, and remote monitoring. She even worked with NASA! Much of her current art practice is informed by this past, a collaborative raison d’etre, the creation of projects with a technical heart, effective communication, and a clear aesthetic.
She moved to the Netherlands in 2001, and the following year was accepted onto the Fine Art degree course at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (https://www.kabk.nl). Being taught in Dutch was a challenge but, despite her lack of a formal art background, found the physical process and the creative opportunities inspiring. This prompted a career shift from engineering to art. Excelling as a student, Scarborough was fast-tracked, skipped a year and graduated in 2006.
Since moving to Cambridge she completed a MA in Printmaking, and continues to develop her art practice through the different modalities of teaching, exhibiting, studying and developing time-based art-science projects, the latter in collaboration with scientists, musicians and dancers.
She currently collaborates with British Antarctic Survey, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, and the School of Music at the Australian National University.
CONTACT
Email: dianasj62@yahoo.co.uk Mobile: +44 (0)7980110167
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WEBSITES
CV
PUBLIC ART, EXHIBITIONS & COMMISSIONS
2020 Aurora Musicalis Video, Ecoconciousness; an online exhibition by Ecoartspace, U.S.
2020 A Salt Journey, A concept for Lion Salt Works Museum; Arts & Heritage, U.K.
2020 Aurora Musicalis, A Space Acoustic Ecology Album; Halley Station, Antarctica with the ANU Music Press. Released on Bandcamp
2020 Sounds of Space Films; Hebridean Dark Skies Arts & Astronomy Festival, An Lanntair, Isle of Lewis, Scotland
2019 Aurora Musicalis with Dance; Eddington for Festival of Ideas, Cambridge
2019 Art-Science Live; Performance with orchestra, lectures & new work, School of Music, ANU, Australia
2019 Alive in the Universe Exhibition; ‘Sounds of Space’ art films, Venice Biennale, Palazzo Pesarro Papafava, Italy
2108 Sound of Space; Multidisciplinary performance (talk, dance, animations, live music) Aurora Centre, Cambridge
2018 From A-B. Solo Retrospective Exhibition; Yarrow Gallery, Oundle
2017 Journey into Velvet; Video for SRUK, Dr Ana Cabrera for Interwoven, V&A Museum, London
2017 Strike, Multiscreen Video Installation; Filmed/edited for Issam Kourbaj, Penn Museum, Pennsylvania
2017 Creative Reactive; Projected Video Installation; Will Hill, Cambridge School of Art, Cambridge
2016 Breaking Boundaries; Art-science commission multimedia performance for Nobel Prize-winners with Melissa Murray; DIPC San Sebastian, Spain
2016 Water; Art-science video installation, Technical Museum, Zagreb, Croatia with L. Fruk, Cambridge
2016 Exo-planets, Data as Print; Cambridge, Pint of Science, Cambridge
2015 Amyloid Beta Shadowland; Sound and video installation, Cambridge, Cavendish Labs with Dr. Laurie Young
2015 Laser Illuminations on a chimney; Museum of Technology, Cambridge
2015 Nano Art: Perceiving on the Smallest Scales; Festival of Ideas, University of Cambridge
2014 Bespoke DNA necklace with actual DNA; Commission for USA based client
2014 Unearthed; Video portrait and sound piece for artist Issam Kourbaj P21 Gallery, London
2013 Typographia; Art installation with performance, Typography Conference, Cambridge
2012 Radio Dials; Interactive Sound & Print installation, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge
2010 Print Exhibition (solo); Gainsborough House, Sudbury
2006 Degree Show; Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands
ARTIST RESIDENCIES, GRANTS & PRIZES
2020 Artist Support Grant, Arts Council England
2019 School of Music, ANU, Canberra – Visiting Artist
2019 A-N Artist Bursary 2019 Recipient
2019 Time to Stare Bursary and Artist Residency, Suffolk
2013 AA2A Artist Residency – Cambridge School of Art
2010 Gainsborough Graduate Print Prize 2010
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT & PUBLICATIONS
2019 Seminars, Lectures & Performance, School of Music, Australian National University, Canberra
2019 Sounds of Space, Lecture, Blue Dot Festival, Jodrell Bank
2019 Sounds of Space, Lecture, Polar Educators Conference, Cambridge
2018 Sounds of Space, A&G Journal, Astronomy & Geophysics, Vol 60, April 2019
2018 Sounds of Space, Lecture and Performance, Festival of Science, March 2018, Cambridge
2016 Pivotal Environmental Festival, Artist, Film Organiser, Museum of Technology, Cambridge
2016 Big Draw, Transformation Animation, Anglia Ruskin University
2016 Data Floes, Polar Science as Catalyst for the Arts, Lecture, Festival of Ideas, Cambridge
ART EMPLOYMENT
2020 – Professional Videographer Services, Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, London
2011 – Current – Freelance Art Professional, Bespoke Art Tuition, CPD, Lectures & Workshops, Commissions
2010 – 2020 Digital Art Teacher (P/T), Stephen Perse Foundation, A-level, IB, Senior School, Cambridge
2016 – Projection Fine Art Workshop, Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, London
2016 – Art Director for Documentary, Normal?, Festival of the Brain, Folkestone
2013 – 2015 Delivering CPD for Schools, Animation, Film Making, Photoshop
2014 – 2015 Life drawing Classes, Stephen Perse School, Cambridge
2011 – 2014 Aspirational Animation Courses, SHINE for Nth Cambridge Primary Schools
2008 – 2011 Art and Architecture Courses, Cambridge University Summer School
2008 – 2010 Sculpture Classes, Adult Education, Bottisham, U,K
2007 – 2010 3D Art & Design Tutor, 6th Form College, CATS, Cambridge
2003 – 2005 Bespoke Studio-Based Art Courses, The Hague, Netherlands
ENGINEERING EMPLOYMENT
2001 – 2006 Telecommunication Consultant, Netherlands
1994 – 2001 Lead Telecommunications Engineer, Brown & Root Inc, Houston, USA
1992 – 1994 Senior Telecommunication Engineer, AMEC Engineering, London
1990 – 1992 Instrumentation Engineer Marathon Oil, London
1984 – 1990 Electronics Design Engineer, Cossor Electronics Ltd, Harlow
1981 – 1984 Technical Officer-Naval Systems, Sydney, Australia
1980 – 1981 Trainee Technician, Centre Industries, Sydney, Australia
EDUCATION
2012 MA Printmaking, Cambridge School of Art, Cambridge
2006 BA Fine Arts, Royal Academy of Arts (KABK), The Hague, Netherlands
1990 BSc (Hons), Electronic Engineering, University of York, U.K.
1984 Certificate of Electronic Engineering, Nth Sydney, Australia
PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATIONS
C Eng Registered Chartered Engineer
M.I.M.C Member of Institute of Measurement & Control
KEY COLLABORATORS
Dr Nigel Meredith, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/sounds-of-space/)
Dr Kim Cunio, School of Music, Australian National University (https://www.anu.edu.au/about/governance/committees/dr-kim-cunio)
Dr Ljiljana Fruk, Dept. of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, University of Cambridge (https://www.ceb.cam.ac.uk/directory/ljiljana-fruk)
Sue Bevan, Workshop Leader (https://suebevan.co.uk/workshop-leader)
Eileen Haring Woods, Artist,Curator Producer (https://haringwoods.com/eileen-haring-woods/)
Dipak Mistry, Director, Acuity Arts.(https://www.acuityarts.co.uk)
Ilse van de Berk, Artist, Netherlands (http://twinsed.com)
Dr Ana Cabrera, V&A Museum, London (https://www.vam.ac.uk/research/projects/interwoven)