Where are we? with Falmouth Art Gallery
The line between studio and workstation grows thinner every season. Artists now paint with sensors, choreograph light with code, and build sculptures that breathe via microcontrollers. Around the world, museums are rethinking how we encounter art, layering collections with augmented reality, projection mapping, and immersive sound to turn viewing into a full-body experience.
Falmouth has long been a place where craft meets curiosity. Beyond its maritime roots, the town is renowned for automata—intricate mechanical artworks that transform gears and cams into stories. The gallery’s contemporary automata collection is one of the largest of its kind, and it forms a crucial bridge between traditional making and today’s robotics, showing how motion itself can be a medium.
Across Cornwall, a thriving ecosystem supports creators working at this intersection of art and technology. Institutions and initiatives in the region, including Falmouth University, Screen Cornwall, and Co-Motion, foster experimental practices through courses, commissioning, and R&D. The result is a culture where code, craft, and performance comfortably share the same table.
Inside the exhibition
This edition of “Where are we?” spotlights new media: robotics, immersive environments, and virtual reality. Rather than isolating artworks on plinths, the exhibition invites you to step into them—walking through responsive installations, listening as spaces shift with your movement, and donning headsets that transport you to imagined places anchored in Cornwall’s creative pulse.
Robotic works expand the legacy of automata with contemporary tools. Servos, stepper motors, and custom firmware translate artistic intent into motion—sometimes precise and mechanical, sometimes organic and uncanny. These pieces often blur the boundary between sculpture and performance, asking you to consider the choreography of objects and the poetics of bodies made from brass, plywood, and code.
Virtual reality, built for the gallery
VR in a cultural space behaves differently from VR at home. Gallery pieces typically prioritize presence over pacing: fewer jump cuts, more breath. Artists play with scale, texture, and spatial audio to craft contemplative scenes that are easy to inhabit, even for first-time headset users. Expect designs that minimize motion sickness through teleportation, subtle locomotion, or stationary experiences that still feel expansive.
Accessibility also takes center stage. Clear onboarding, adjustable sessions, and alternative modes help more visitors take part. Some installations integrate haptics—gentle vibration, airflow, or tactile props—to ground you in the experience without overwhelming your senses. Others are social by design, allowing observers to influence what a headset wearer sees, turning a personal journey into a shared performance.
Augmenting the past, amplifying the present
AR tools illuminate hidden layers in ways traditional wall texts cannot. Think reconstructed pigments floating over paintings, archival photographs mapped onto present-day objects, or process videos that reveal how a sculpture was built. These overlays respect the originals while expanding the narrative, making room for histories and perspectives that might otherwise remain invisible.
What to watch for
- Motion as meaning: In kinetic works, pace and rhythm are as expressive as line or color.
- Material conversations: Timber, metal, and felt meet sensors, boards, and batteries—craft and code co-authoring the piece.
- Soundscapes that guide: Spatial audio subtly directs attention and deepens immersion without demanding it.
- Intuitive interaction: Good UX dissolves friction—clear cues, welcoming staff, and design that feels natural.
A living series shaped by you
This show is one of eight curatorial chapters, each probing a different art form to discover what resonates most with visitors. Your reactions help chart where the series goes next—what to expand, what to tweak, and what future technologies might be explored. As you move through the rooms, consider not just what you see, but how the work sees you: how sensors respond, how environments adapt, how your choices shape the piece.
Cornwall’s creative scene is more than picturesque backdrops; it’s a testing ground for the future of cultural experience. By placing robotics and VR alongside the region’s storied automata, the exhibition maps a continuum from handcrafted mechanisms to emergent media. It suggests that the question isn’t whether technology belongs in the gallery, but how thoughtfully we can use it to deepen attention, invite participation, and expand the ways stories are told.
Step in, slow down, and let the machines make their case. Then add your voice to the conversation that will define the next chapter.
