Experimental Technologies Lab
Experimental Technologies Lab invites people to explore the possibilities of creative technology through hands-on experimentation
Lab Leader: Mark Wright
Experimental Technologies Lab (ETL) is an enhancement upon four years of research pursued at our pioneering workshop and research space, FACTLab, a collaboration with Liverpool’s FACT, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technologies, the UK’s leading new technologies arts organisation. In ETL, researchers, artists and technologists produce innovative projects together as teams and you will also find artists in residence at work.
At Exhibition Technologies Lab we have perfected a research methodology of co-design. People are invited to explore the possibilities of creative technology through hands-on experimentation, with participants of a diversity of constituencies interested in getting involved with making and experimenting with electronics.
Since 2015, we have welcomed over 4,500 visitors to our events and activities. We are continuously exploring new ways to engage visitors and we work within a series of space resources: Liverpool Fab Lab for beta origination; Live Lab for testing; and the X-Gallery for dissemination. People are invited to become actively involved in what we do, no matter what their experience.
ETL operates across disciplines and functions as an incubator of creative production and critical thinking for practice-based research and experimentation in the context of critical research and theoretical expertise. In a future that we are literally creating, talent and skills development are amongst our objectives. ETL develops projects and activities aiming at cultural production and sharing of knowledge and resources, in collaboration with artists, designers, scientists, technologists, HEIs and the commercial sector.
Our facilities include traditional workshops, TV and sound studios, the X-Gallery digital and creative gallery for experimental media, an immersive projection room that we can set up for room scale multiplayer VR and projection mapping, wireless HTC Vives, Occulus Quests, Mixed Reality headsets, projectors, interactive sensors, 3D modelling tools, holographic displays, digital fabrication and 3d printing, 3D object scanners, 3D room scanners, 8K Stereoscopic 360 cameras, depth sensors, microcontrollers and sensors and a range of high end tablets, pcs, phones (iOS & Android) and devices for interface development.
Software includes games engines (Unity), 3D Creation (Maya, Cinema 4D), Adobe Creative Suite (After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere etc), Projection Mapping (Madmapper, Lightform, Heavy M) and Volumetric Capture tools (Dephkit).
