Projects
Becoming
Becoming
This project will prototype an immersive interactive experience that explores the transformative power of motherhood through real-time interplay between a dancer’s movement, a dynamic 3D digital environment, and ambisonic sound.
This project will prototype an immersive interactive experience exploring the transformative power of motherhood through the dynamic interplay between movement and technology. At its heart, the movements of dancer Janie Doherty will interact in real-time with a responsive 3D digital environment, creating a sensory-rich, non-linear encounter that evolves over time.
Using computer gaming technologies and motion tracking, the work will create an evolving dialogue between performer, image, sound and site.
The experience will unfold across LED volume walls, where hyper-real and abstract visuals blend with an ambisonic sound composition. Moving beyond fixed narratives, the work will prioritise intuitive engagement, enabling audiences to navigate their own associations through responsive choreography and the evolving audiovisual landscape. This approach seeks to honour the deeply personal nature of matrescence—the process of becoming a mother—while creating space for individual interpretation.
Being developed and tested at QUB Media Lab, this prototype seeks to ground technological experimentation in material sensitivity and foster open-ended reflection on transformation and identity, drawing from diverse lived experiences to ensure inclusivity.
Through this delicate balance of artistic innovation and thematic resonance, I want the work to create a respectful space for exploring one of life's most profound transitions.
Experiment
£20,000
Aims of the Project
This funding will enable the creation of a prototype for ‘Becoming’, an interactive immersive experience that explores the multifaceted journey of motherhood.
At its core is a non-linear, sensory-driven environment where a dancer’s movement interacts in real time with dynamic 3D visuals and ambisonic sound, using gaming technologies and motion tracking. By merging fragments of everyday life with abstract forms, the work evokes the complexities of maternal identity shifts, prioritizing open-ended engagement over fixed narratives.
A key aim is to ground technological experimentation in personal human experience. Testing at QUB Media Lab will refine the interplay between dancer and real-time systems, establishing methodologies for scaling the work into a public installation. Ultimately, Becoming aims to create a space for collective reflection on universal themes of transformation while advancing my technical expertise in digital technologies.
Through this project, I seek to further explore how a physically grounded art practice can meaningfully translate into 3D digital technologies, preserving its core principles while embracing new creative possibilities. At the same time, this work will strive to create an experience that resonates with diverse audiences, particularly those often underrepresented in tech-driven creative spaces.
Meet the artists
Helena Hamilton
Lead artist
she/her
I am an artist working at the intersections of visual art, sound, and digital interaction.Their practice explores dynamic relationships between sound, image, and site, bridging the digital and physical to create experiences that evoke meaning rather than impose it.
At its core is a quiet yet deliberate politics—a fascination with the overlooked: the hum of fluorescent tubes, the crease of crumpled paper, or the repetitive sound of their child’s toy. Grounded in observation and investigation, their work draws from everyday life to create open-ended encounters that invite reflection on the extraordinary within the ordinary.
Janie Doherty
Choreographer
Janie Doherty is a dancer, choreographer, artist, mother and doula. Recent projects include ‘Mother Tongue’ at the MAC, Belfast (26 April – 21 July 2024), ‘The Night Draws Near’ at the Ulster Museum, Belfast (August 2023), ‘Politics of Comfort’ at the Centre of Contemporary Art, Derry (2019).
