Arts-Focused Freelance
Creative Technologist
Ben Neal
A creative tech collaborator who turns artistic ideas into interactive software, immersive experiences, responsive environments, and cutting edge media.
Spanning XR, games, web, mobile, sound, video, physical computing and bespoke software - from early prototyping to exhibition ready work.
It usually starts with a question...
and then...
Bring artworks to life
with unique software & prototypes
Keeping your ideas central, let's explore what's possible, and find out what works.
Research and develop, play and test, and build towards public sharing.
You might have...
- an idea
- a narrative
- a performance
- an unformed thought
- an artwork
- a research question
- images // sounds
- an object
You could make...
- Interactive software and games.
- Apps for the web and mobile.
- Physical computing - with sensors, buttons and lights.
- XR projects - for VR headsets and AR tablets.
- Motion tracking, pose detection, facial recognition.
Using:
Games Engines (inc. Unity)
Digital Capture (inc. 3D scanning, Volumetric Capture, 360° video)
Microcontrollers (inc. Arduino, Raspberry Pi)
Face/Body/Hand Tracking (inc. Motion Capture, Webcams, Kinect)
Selected work
The Glimmer is an interactive dance installation created with Artist Sian Fan. Inspired by manga transformation sequences, it allows players to strike dance moves which trigger sounds and animation. The project uses Kinect skeletal tracking systems to analyse peoples body movements and respond to them. I provided the underlying code to make Sian's visual imagery come to life.
Shown at the Cute exhibition at Somerset House, London.
Before We Disappear is an adaptive, interactive film about Climate Collapse which uses AI to analyse your face from your webcam as you watch and changes it's structure based on your emotions. Set in a bleak future, the film uses sophisticated algorithms, machine learning and computer vision technologies to reorganise the narrative for each viewing. I helped prepare the product in Unity for a home user release.
Film by Richard Ramchurn with analysis algorithms by Callum Berger in partnership with BlueSkeye AI. Soon to be released on Steam.
Created with
Artists, organisations, universities and festivals across arts and culture.
Creative together
- “one of the most gifted polymath creatives I've had the pleasure of working with...
if you get the opportunity to work with him, take it.”
- Ceri Hand, Artist Mentor - “Ben combines creativity and technical proficiency... to get the best out of any idea.”
- Baff Akoto, Artist - “Extremely professional to work with, he made the complexities of technology clearly understandable.”
- Chris Poolman, Artist
- “I'm consistently amazed by Ben's breadth of knowledge and knack for finding creative solutions.”
- Edie Jo Murray, Artist - “His combination of artistic and technical skills are unique.”
- John Sear, Real-World Game Designer (Museum Games) - “A fantastic collaborator. I recommend him highly.”
- Kerryn Wise, Digital Dance Artist
- “no matter how far it pushes the imagination - Ben can make it happen”
- Harmeet Chagger-Khan, Arts Producer - “responsive and generous with his skills and ideas. He's always keen to innovate and push the limits”
- Sarah Martindale (University of Nottingham) - “always at the cutting edge of technology, education and arts practice”
- Andrew Pearsall (Birmingham City University)
Consultancy, Talks, Workshops & Mentoring
Ben often shares his practice through talks, presentations, workshops, consultancy and mentoring.
Studio Practice
Ben co-runs Displace Studio with digital dance artist Kerryn Wise. Their best known work is a VR experience called Facades, which has toured internationally.
He's currently Associate Artist at the Virtual and Immersive Production Studio at the University of Nottingham.
GET IN TOUCH
If you have a project idea, and want to see what it could become, send a quick message.
If you are in the early stages of writing a funding bid - let's chat.
A few lines is enough - just say what you're working on.