Founded in 2016 by the artists Maria Almena, Aphra Shemza and Olive Gingrich, Art in Flux is a community interest company committed to furthering the development of the media arts community in the UK. As an artist-led forum, Art in Flux offers a space for collaboration and exchange as key artists and organizations come together to profile their work. Through talks, events, performances, workshops, commissions and exhibitions, Art in Flux brings these ideas to the wider public - providing a fluid platform to discuss strategies, processes and collective themes within the media arts.
For CADAF digital art fair Art in Flux present an online exhibition featuring the work of Maria Almena, Aphra Shemza, Olive Gingrich and Shama Rahman. The exhibition will include virtual and physical sculpture, 360 video and limited edition prints available for sale.
Aphra Shemza is a UK-based multimedia artist. She is the granddaughter of the well-known abstract painter Anwar Jalal Shemza. Inspired by her grandfather, her work explores Modernism, her Islamic cultural heritage, sustainable practice and creating art for all. As an artist and activist, she finds ambitious ways to fuse methodologies from the past with new innovations in technology to imagine what the role of art could be in the future.
Shemza has created both public and private commissions: Synphonica 2.0 for the Canary Wharf Group, Heart Beats of Cristal for Champagne Louis Roederer, Seconds Pass for Save the Children, GlaxoSmithKline and Anagram and Post-Truth and Beauty commissioned by Morley College. She exhibits regularly with recent highlights including V&A Digital Design Weekend, Winter Lights Festival, The Other Art Fair and Xi’an Maker Faire with the British Council. She has also participated in public speaking events, notably at Tate Britain, the British Library and The Courtauld Institute. In 2016 she contributed an article to Tate Etc magazine about the life and work of her grandfather and has received coverage in the Times, Telegraph, London Live, Timeout, GQ and FAD Magazine. In 2020 she was awarded a Project Grant by Arts Council England for shemza.digital. A collaboration with the artist Stuart Batchelor centered around the work of her grandfather Anwar Jalal Shemza. In 2019 she was awarded the Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice Grant for her project Solutions for a Sustainable Art Practice. In this bespoke artist development programme, Shemza looked at sustainable alternatives to create her work.
Shemza has created both public and private commissions: Synphonica 2.0 for the Canary Wharf Group, Heart Beats of Cristal for Champagne Louis Roederer, Seconds Pass for Save the Children, GlaxoSmithKline and Anagram and Post-Truth and Beauty commissioned by Morley College. She exhibits regularly with recent highlights including V&A Digital Design Weekend, Winter Lights Festival, The Other Art Fair and Xi’an Maker Faire with the British Council. She has also participated in public speaking events, notably at Tate Britain, the British Library and The Courtauld Institute. In 2016 she contributed an article to Tate Etc magazine about the life and work of her grandfather and has received coverage in the Times, Telegraph, London Live, Timeout, GQ and FAD Magazine. In 2020 she was awarded a Project Grant by Arts Council England for shemza.digital. A collaboration with the artist Stuart Batchelor centered around the work of her grandfather Anwar Jalal Shemza. In 2019 she was awarded the Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice Grant for her project Solutions for a Sustainable Art Practice. In this bespoke artist development programme, Shemza looked at sustainable alternatives to create her work.
Maria Almena is a creative director and a multimedia artist, co-founder of the London-based creative studio, Kimatica Studio. An UK pioneer studio in digital performances, their artistic practise explores concepts of human consciousness and perception, making those transcendental ideas accessible to a modern audience, to inspire reconnection with the magical thinking.
Maria's practice research is about the physical and spiritual, virtual and real worlds, and contemporary rituals and passions. She enjoys playing with visual perceptions, intending to transport the viewer into new worlds, to dramatise the transition between states of consciousness and highlighting the importance of the journey in itself. She use the human body as key to explore these ideas, transforming, mutating and searching for answers in our own canvas.
Maria's practice research is about the physical and spiritual, virtual and real worlds, and contemporary rituals and passions. She enjoys playing with visual perceptions, intending to transport the viewer into new worlds, to dramatise the transition between states of consciousness and highlighting the importance of the journey in itself. She use the human body as key to explore these ideas, transforming, mutating and searching for answers in our own canvas.
Oliver Gingrich, is artist, creative director at MDH Hologram (musion.com), and producer at the collective Analema Group. Holding a doctorate in Digital Media from Centre of Digital Entertainment, and a MA in Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins, his art focuses on the concept of ‘presence’ - transformative experiences that go beyond media. As creative director, he conjures the illusion of presence through holographic projection.
Oliver Gingrich displays across a range of different media, photography, digital art, acrylic on canvas and holographic projection. With the collective Analema Group, invisible phenomena are experienced visually, sensually, sonically resulting in immersive experiences for their audiences. In his photography series, the artist explores the themes of changing identities, spatial transformation and transcendence.
Oliver Gingrich displays across a range of different media, photography, digital art, acrylic on canvas and holographic projection. With the collective Analema Group, invisible phenomena are experienced visually, sensually, sonically resulting in immersive experiences for their audiences. In his photography series, the artist explores the themes of changing identities, spatial transformation and transcendence.
Dr Shama Rahman is a scientist, artist, creative technologist and futurist. She holds a PhD in the neuroscience and complex systems of Creative Cognition and Innovation and her work has encompassed the use of wearable technology to enhance storytelling. She is the co-author of a book chapter ‘Creativity in the Twenty First Century: Multidisciplinary Contributions to the Science of Creative Thinking’ by Springer.
