DIGITAL TEST
COMMISSIONS
Beginning in 2025, the Digital Test Commissions support creative practitioners to test and try digital approaches to their practice, particularly for artists who are participatory and socially engaged, collaborating with the communities of County Durham.
Whilst this strand is about the process and encourages discovery within artistic practice, the intent was also to support new experimental works and ways of engaging with communities to inform continued professional development (CPD) of their creative practice, with support and mentorship from OGRE Studio.
Experiences of artists have ranged from overcoming technical hurdles, learning and experimenting with new software and tools and AI, This tests new ways of working and facilitates community-engagement and community-generated input - all with a focus on unlocking practice through digital means.
Discover this years Digital Test Commission artists and their process below.
Delivered in partnership with @intothelightdurham, @ogre.studio, Durham County Council & Digital Place Lab.
The Artists
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MAX COOPER-CLARK
‘Those That Eat Together…’
Max’s work led to the creation of an interactive ‘digital garden’ - it’s a living archive, gathering images, stories, and memories. tracing trace how life persists across landscapes toxified, uprooted, and abandoned by extractive industry. You can explore this garden now, contribute your own stories, and prune what’s there.
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BETH J ROSS
‘BINGO! Memories of County Durham Bingo Halls’
Beth’s work harnessed the limitations of social media for older people, to capture stories and social history of the lost Bingo Halls and night of County Durham, playfully examining one of the last living memory instances of as large-scale social activity of women. The result is musical, lyrical celebration.
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MEG MCWILLIAM
‘Champagne Dreams on a Lambrini Budget.’
Meg’s work is a love letter to growing up Northern, where big dreams bloom between bus stops and bingo halls. It captures that bittersweet urge to escape your small town for something glitzier. With over 200 community contributions, the final work is an animated collage video capturing working-class ‘girlhood’ stories.
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RUTH FLOWERS
‘Deep Seed: A Digital Folklore’
Ruth’s work expanded on her practice connecting ceramics, textiles and folklore, into a digital ecosystem that brought new life to static works, exploring 3D scanning, AI simulated animation and internet theory. The process took inspiration from online communities of writers and enthusiasts and explores the internet as a living landscape for contemporary folklore.
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IZZY MCLEOD
‘Queer Digital Connections: Queer Ecology in County Durham’
Izzy’s work tested how their usually analogue workshop practice could work in a digital form. Online creative sessions on various aspects of ‘queer ecology’ with participants resulted in now being able to '“leave a trail” for others to do the same with the production of an artist Zine resource.
Project partners:
— Commissioned by No More Nowt and funded by Arts Council England.
— Part funded in partnership with Into the Light and Durham County Council
— [Digital] Place Lab
— OGRE Studio