A welcome and introduction to the conference from the event organisers at AMPS and the University of Greenwich.
Dr Graham Cairns, UK, Director, AMPS. He has taught at Universities in Spain, the UK, Mexico, South Africa and Gambia. He has worked in architectural studios in London and Hong Kong and ran a performing arts company, Hybrid Artworks, with a specialism in video installation and performance art. The author and editor of several books and multiple articles on architecture, film, advertising and socio-politics, he co-founded AMPS in 2011 and is Executive Editor of the AMPS journal ISSN 2050-9006.
Simon Withers leads the Captivate: Spatial Modelling Research Group. In February 2020 using Ground Penetrating Radar Captivate discovered the location of King Henry VIII’s tilt yard complex (jousting ground), banqueting house, and disguising house (theatre). Now undertaking a PhD allied to the Research Group, ‘Captivating the Attention of Strangers. Since 2012 a teacher at the AA, Hooke Park, the Bartlett and the University of Greenwich. From 2008 to 2016 founding partner in a variety of companies involved in various aspects of architecture and from 2000-08 an eponymous architectural design practice. Previously founder of an electrics company specialising in high speed LED software and hardware, a partner in an architectural practice, production assistant to Matthew Barney, design assistant to Malcolm McLaren, design assistant to Vivienne Westwood.
Professor Stephen Kennedy’s work extends across Media, Digital Arts and Sound Design. His research interests lie at the intersection of theory and practice in relation to the political economy of contemporary communications technology. He is the author of Chaos Media: A Sonic Economy of Digital Space (Bloomsbury, 2015) and Future Sounds: The Temporality of Noise (Bloomsbury, 2018). His work involves reformulating the idea of noise as a means of supporting philosophical frameworks capable of accounting for the complex nature of contemporary digital environments.