The Overload Project

Apologies if i’ve been a little slow replying to emails and messages lately, I’ve been underground building an interactive soil tunnel with the Microbe Zoo team! The Microbe Zoo opened last night at the @norwichsciencefestival & you can visit it @theforumnorwich 14th - 21st Feb 🦠 Lots more to share from this soon! 👀 @orig_proj @connor_turansky @quadraminstitute @earlhaminstitute The SAW Trust @johninnescentre @uearesearch @thesainsburylab #interactiveinstallation #artscience #sciencefestival #physicalcomputing #lightart

A little look at ‘Meeting Points II’ during the opening day of @peckhamdigital The first outing for these beings & my first experience of sharing work in a gallery space and in London. Very grateful for it to be as part of an incredible creative computing festival at @copelandparkse It’s been amazing to see all the differing interactions with the noisy tactile beings and learn how they may belong in these new surroundings. A huge thank you to @lewischerrington for collaborating on the install of the work and @sarah.larby.photo for beautifully capturing these interactions during the opening Looking forward to seeing what squishy conversations develop over the next couple of days. A little bit more about the project below.. Meeting Points II Where might we meet each other in future? Meeting Points is an exploration of futuristic communication devices, navigated through interactive textile beings. It investigates evolving approaches to connection in the digital age, reimagining communication systems through art and technology, moving away from screens to more tactile, present or shared experiences. Participants are invited to gently hold, squeeze, chat with the beings and question: how might we communicate in future? Meeting Points began development during the @w_shed Winter residencies (Feb–Mar 2025) at @pervasivemediastudio supported by @myworldcreates and @aceagrams 📸 @sarah.larby.photo #interactiveart #soundinstallation #participatoryart #etextiles #creativecomputing #theoverloadproject

In the work they developed as part of our annual Winter Residencies programme Meeting Point, Nat Whitney @theoverloadproject (they/she), investigates new ways of connecting with ourselves, our surroundings, and each other in the digital age. Expanding on Talk to me a prototype of interactive sculptural beings, Nat investigates the evolution of communication technologies and explores how art and technology can create more tactile, shared communication beyond screens.

Delighted to welcome Nat Whitney as our new Artist in Residence at the IOU Hostel Nat is an audio-visual participatory artist working with creative technologies and tactile materials to construct interactive, sensory objects and environments inviting curiosity and play. Intrigued by social interaction and exploring how physical computing can be harnessed to create accessible spaces for human–technology co-creation, during the residency they will delve into IOU’s archive to inform a new interactive audio-visual installation and performance. The work will explore frameworks of memory and information processing through both human and non-human performing bodies. Some of their recent work : Image 2 - R&D, Magic Acorn’s Playtech team, Co-creating interactive audio-visual technologies with 2-4 year olds, Youth Music UK research project, October 2025 Image 3 ‘Sonic Shy’, Playable wood and textile sound sculpture, Tech Art Fest, February 2025 📸 Amber Merry Image 4 'Ecotone', interactive soft sonic landscape of textile beings, Frozen Light's Sensory Studio, March 2026 📸 Rhodora Perkins Follow Nat's work and residency @iou_artist_in_residence

Apr ‘26 Something i’ve… Done - began a new adventure 👀 (more on that soon!) Collaborated on - prototyping new noisy toys with @virtually_there_studio @drarculus as part of @magic_acorns @youthmusicuk Playtech project Seen - Soundbleed - a sound art exhibtion and performance from @bfdsoundwomen featuring @gilankmusic @art.marnedotter @catscottart @ryokoakama @milana_sarukhanyan @sopranovalediaz 1. Suitcase travels up North 2. Soundbleed @bfdsoundwomen 3. Playtime with light and movement noisy prototypes @virtually_there_studio 4. Sunny planning pint 5. Rag Market textile treasure hunting 6. Symmetry in nature 7. @spencercullumjr Coin Collection at @goldenlion_todmorden with @mrichruth @hollowhand @anniewilliams___ 8. To the studio kit carrying shadow 9. @ryokoakama installation in the sun 10. Pretty Bonus - Satisfying switch travel fidget #theoverloadproject #participatoryart #interactiveart #arttech #creativetechnology

The Playtech team have been prototyping new noisy toys this week 🔊 Through thinking, making & breaking creative technologies and cardboard, they prototyped 5 new potential instruments along with a range of mini-experiments & imagining how these might be developed with & explored by very young children. Here’s a little look at some of their beginnings of new noisy creations! PlayTech is supported by the Energiser Fund from @youthmusicuk and @groundswell_arts #creativetechnology #sensoryart #interactiveart #earlyyears #cardboardart

🔊 Traveling back from an incredible few days prototyping new noisy toys with @virtually_there_studio & @drarculus (the @magic_acorns Playtech team) So much thinking, making & breaking to share, with a definite highlight being hearing this little cardboard instrument prototype finally make some noise! Huge thanks to @virtually_there_studio for supporting all the creative tech prototyping & their incredible troubleshooting skills Playtech is part of @youthmusicuk Energiser funded research with @groundswell_arts #creativecomputing #instrumentmaker #soundartist #physicalcomputing #interactiveart

Mar ‘26 Something i’ve… Done - Created some new noisy beings for @frozenlighttheatre Sensory Studio Collaborated on - Mass making rainbow light spaghetti for @connor_turansky ‘s Sleeping Trees installation Seen - Revisited my fav nursery Rhyme automata at Edinburgh’s Camera Obscura 1. My reaction when i’m setting up and someone comes in and bops a blob 2. Textures of North Berwick & nearby 3. Light festival install camera roll 4. Blob surgery & TLC 5. Laying down, looking up in McEwan Hall 6. Mermaid tears treasure walk pocket empty 7. Rainbow spaghetti ready to install 8. All set up for @youngartistsinsuffolk Equinox workshop @thechurchipswich 9. Rabbit instrument created by one of the fantastic @incollusion FUSE group 10. Moon & Sun commute Bonus - BIG button #theoverloadproject #participatoryart #interactiveart #arttech #sensoryplay

Light Up Thurrock 2026! This year, I was honoured to bring three installations to this event 🎉 THE SLEEPING TREES 💤 Audio & light installation: Guide the trees through their slumber by pressing the dream-state buttons, sending ripples of light and sound through their roots as they drift between worlds. A FALL THROUGH TIME ⏰ Architectural projection mapping: Hand-drawn visuals pair with an original musical score, turning the walls of the Coalhouse Fort into a dreamscape that shifts between imagination and sleep. THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCATS ELECTROMECHANICAL WEDDING CAKE 🎂 Interactive sculpture: Join the celebration by pressing the invitation button on the cake’s silver platter. When activated, the sculpture comes to life with music, narration, animated lights and hidden mechanical surprises. These pieces were supported by: @artsoutburst & @creativebasildon Built in collaboration with: Audio: @greg_birkumshaw_official Illustrations: @thepartypiece Sculptural/drawn elements: @amberr.merry Electronics & build: @theoverloadproject Voice: Dave Poysden

A little bit of building & installing Ecotone for @frozenlighttheatre ‘s Sensory Studio A few new pieces made, alongside some rewiring and reworking of existing Sonic Blobs Huge thanks to @rhodoraperkins & @lewischerrington for their support with the install More about the project.. Ecotone is a soft, sonic landscape inhabited by tactile textile beings. Responsive to touch, they speak, sway and bounce when squeezed, brushed or gently bopped, inviting movement, sound and playful communication with everyone they encounter. Ecotone was originally created for Frozen Light’s Sensory Studio. The Sensory Studio is a collaborative space where Frozen Light work alongside artists with profound and multiple learning disabilities to explore what inclusive collaboration can look like. #sensoryart #creativetechnology #soundart #textileart #interactiveinstallation

A wander through Ecotone 🔊 Ecotone is a soft, sonic landscape inhabited by tactile textile beings. Responsive to touch, they speak, sway and bounce when squeezed, brushed or gently bopped, inviting movement, sound and playful communication with everyone they encounter. Ecotone was originally created for Frozen Light’s Sensory Studio. The Sensory Studio is a collaborative space where @frozenlighttheatre work alongside artists with profound and multiple learning disabilities to explore what inclusive collaboration can look like. A whole new palette of sounds and some new beings were created for the Sensory Studio, including a sheer sonic curtain, a movable soft alien drum kit and a noisy box with a long tail. 00:13 A jellyfish of sonic blobs 00:22 The curtain (or musical carwash as it became known) 00:42 Multiple voice beings 01:41 Musical box & balls 02:05 Multiple voice beings 02:33 Soft alien drum kit A huge thank you to the @frozenlighttheatre team for the opportunity to create this space and for making it possible to connect and interact with so many new people over the three days we were open. This is the most I’ve ever brought together at once and it was a really exciting process to compose the varying noises, sound sources and beings into one environment inviting inclusive collaboration. Looking forward to developing this full space installation further and hopefully sharing it again in the future to meet even more people ✨ #sensoryart #soundart #interactive #textileart #creativetechnology

Sound on 🔉 to check out the sounds from ‘Ecotone’ by @theoverloadproject . It’s been a beautiful week at our Sensory Home at @carrow_house .