Nicholas Mortimer

Nicholas Mortimer is a designer who explores the construction of narratives that surround technological progress as well as the social, cultural and political tools used to design change. He produces work that is concerned with the way in which reality, its representation and performance can be designed or deployed. Working across a wide range of media, from scenography to virtual reality. His recent works 'Ballad of the Ops Ruin' and 'Celestial Chat Bots Chat' were formed as experiments in human-computer performance, utilising emerging forms of authorship and characterisation in order to design new ways of considering research and speculation. 

Nicholas exhibits widely, as well as maintaining a professional practice in exhibition and production design. His research is focused on design mythologies which embody technological aspirations and anxieties. Recent projects have been produced in collaboration with the Critical Media Lab, the Stafford Beer Archive, The V&A, Crate Gallery and Viborg Kunsthal.

He holds a BA in Fine Art Sculpture (Brighton) and MA Design Interactions (RCA)

Research Interests 

Scenographic design, early Cybernetic history, narratology,  the design of persuasion from politics to slow-jams, critical design, deception and magic, expanded Cinema, Workers theatre, alternative forms of virtual reality, audio visual experimental practice, Italian neo-realist films, obsolete technology, and fictional characters as agents of change.

Presentations and Exhibitions

Exhibition Design / Commercial / Educative

Corridor III: Valdemar Daar, Kunsthal Viborg, Denmark, June 2017

Quest for the Lost Maguffin, Derby Quad, UK, September 2016

Joy of Sets X The Stanly Kubrick Archive, London Design Festival, UK, September 2016

This Time Tomorrow, Victoria and Albert Museum & World Economic Forum, London, UK, January 2016

Gallery / Performance

Making Time (Screening), TAG 2017 Cardiff, UK, December 2017

Containers / Journey into the Noosphere (Radio Performance), sub_ʇxǝʇ / 108FM (Berlin) and 199radio (London),  November 2017

Festival du Film Invisible, Geneva, Switzerland,  September 2017

Work's in need of work today (Readings), Goldsmiths Design Festival / LDF, UK, September 2017

Touching the Void, Crate Gallery Margate, UK, July 2017

Corridor III: Valdemar Daar,  Kunsthal, Viborg, Denmark, June 2017

Body is Circuit : 'Celestial chat bots .......................chat', Diaspore Space, London , UK, June 2017

'Come on Craig, get up, it doesn't move at all, its frozen in space', Crate Gallery, Margate, UK, April 2017

Cybersyn (Readings), Liverpool John Moores University, UK, November 2016

The Enthusiast at the Steam Symposium, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, UK, September 2016

Virtual Grammetry of MFC 360 at Virtual Fictions, School of Ma, Berlin, Germany,  August 2016

Real Time Is Getting Realer All The Time: ICR [Instant City Reloaded], Cabaret Voltaire / ZHK / London UK,, May 2016

Mount Florida screenings 02, Glasgow, UK, April 2016

Community in Progress, Theatre Basel / Critical Media Lab / FHNW / HEK (Arts Acadamy Basel), Switzerland, December 2015