Cyber Cafe takes inspiration from the first internet cafes that acted as a site for optimism and excitement at the early potential of the internet. These spaces offered new possibilities for connection, collaboration and creative self expression.
Site Gallery’s young people’s collective the Society of Explorers have collaborated with artists Antonio Roberts and Lucy Cheesman over a series of workshops, experimenting with open-source platforms and old technologies. Together they have designed an interactive exhibition reimagining the creative potential of the internet cafe of today.
Through the collaborative process with new media artist Antonio Roberts, the Explorers have generated their own versions of Geocities websites, designed screensaver-style visuals and produced photographic diaries with the Game Boy Camera.
The Society of Explorers have also created their own sample pack from field recordings made around Sheffield with Lucy Cheesman. These recordings have been developed into musical patterns through coding, which visitors will be able to interact with and remix within the exhibition.
The Society of Explorers regularly test workshops and ideas before launching them publicly. Cyber Cafe invites you to take part in a dynamic programme of events, engaging with technology in innovative and accessible ways refined by the Explorers. See our upcoming events here.
If you are unable to visit Cyber Cafe in person you can experience an online presentation of the exhibition here
Find Cyber Cafe access information and audio descriptions here
Artists
Society of Explorers
Site Gallery’s youth collective Society of Explorers have been meeting weekly at the gallery for over ten years. During this time they have been a vital voice in shaping how Site works with young people. The group of 14-19 year olds collaborate with artists and the Site Gallery team to get involved in the artistic programme, develop projects, events and ideas.
Antonio Roberts is an artist, musician and curator based in Birmingham, UK. His practice is concerned with how the misuse of digital technology impacts people of colour and other marginalised groups.
His recent work focuses on the depiction of Black people in digital media, ranging from stereotypical misrepresentations in early video games to modern algorithms and AI codifying existing biases.
His (Algo|Afro) Futures mentoring programme teaches live coding software as a way to address how Black people have been under/mispreresented in digital art and electronic music, despite being pivotal to its development.
He is currently learning game development, with the aim to explore how immersive environments can be used as a narrative storytelling device. He is also working on his debut EP, created using a combination of live coding software and hardware synthesisers.
Lucy Cheesman
Lucy Cheesman is a sound artist, musician, producer and organiser whose work can be placed within a number of different fields, often blurring the boundary between the visual, the audible and the digital.
Lucy is a founder member of SONA (a network supporting women in Sheffield through experimental sound and digital practices) and the Yorkshire Sound Women Network. Along with her artistic practice she also makes music under the name Heavy Lifting, using software such as TidalCycles and FoxDot – open-sourced coding programmes aimed at opening up the processes of experimental music production for the benefit of the wider public.
Lucy’s involved in a wide breadth of activity across the city, and this is symptomatic of her approach to creative practices. She rigorously tests the possibilities of multiple different mediums, never settling on the prescribed way of producing art.