Creative Innovation Lab: The Alternative Reality Garden
The Central Garden is a bustling creative innovation hub at Shop 30, The Strand. It’s a working lab where the public becomes part of the innovation process, and interactions plant seeds of creativity, sprouting new ideas amidst the hustle and bustle of a suburban mall. It started during Plant Lab, where an empty, semi-derelict shop was refurbished and rejuvenated. For this project it was refurbished again and temporarily included work by Awhi Incubator participants:
Neo Botanica Garden Store: Liam Martyn Astbury created a meowgical space where cats and plants meet.
Sensory—Subtle or Surreal: Tracey Willms Deane engaged in interactive research in which the audience’s actions helped shape the outcomes.
In the rest of the space AwhiWorld displayed the progress of their international bioSignals project alongside work from Three Portals, Tasman Threads. This zone also included AI research. All research unfolded in real-time.
Artist Talks – Saturday 25th May
Three artist talks formed a mini-symposium on the last day of the ARG Lab 24.
10.00AM Sensory – Subtle or Surreal: Tracey Willms Deane discussed her creative research (it was supported by a sign language interpreter).
11.00AM Neo Botanica: Liam Martyn Astbury (interviewed by Megan Dickinson) shared his botanical wonders in his purr-fect lab.
1.00PM AwhiWorld In Action: Kim Newall and Dr Maggie Buxton discussed their international projects and vision for ARG Lab 24
Photo credits: @na.bu.len | www.nabulen.com
Research in Action
Engage and Innovate
The lab is more than a place to observe—it’s a space to participate. During ARG Lab 24 and beyond, workshops and collaborative sessions invite you to contribute to the research and creative processes. Your involvement helps move projects forward, making you a collaborator in our journey of discovery.
It’s a place where art, technology, and community intersect and learning happens as part of your daily shop.
About The Researchers
Learn more about Dr Maggie Buxton and Kim Newall on our People Page.
For information about Tracey Willms Deane and Liam Martyn Astbury and their zones please see their dedicated blogs.
About ARG Lab 24 & Awhi Incubator
While the Central Garden is ongoing, this experience was part of the Alternative Reality Gardening Lab – a creative innovation event within the capacity-building Awhi Incubator Project. ARG Lab 24 showcased research conducted by participants and collaborators of the Awhi Incubator during 2023/2024.
Following a successful publication and symposium in 2023, ARG Lab 24 is a transdisciplinary collection of exhibitions, events, performances, workshops, and talks exploring diverse perspectives on place. It occurred Te Tai Tokerau|Northland from May 17th to the 25th.
Underpinning the lab are themes of resilience, diversity, sustainability, and an expanded understanding of the concept of ‘place’.
Places today are formed from multiple intelligences, materialities, and lifeforms and are intersected by a rich array of alternative realities and parallel worlds. Flora, fauna, signals, and code entangle, and what is considered real, true, alive, and beautiful is negotiated. The lab explores emerging new types of gardens. What is being cultivated (internally, creatively, physically, spiritually)? What is thriving, and what needs protection? What new lifeforms and materials are emerging, and how do they intersect with what exists now?
ARG Lab 24 is a nexus for scholarly debate and creative exploration, highlighting themes of resilience and sustainability. It interrogates the intersection of emerging technologies with natural and social ecosystems, exploring how digital narratives and artistic practices can inform and transform our understanding of intelligence, being, space and place.
ARG Lab 24: TV
ARG Lab 24: Adrienne Kyd – VR Showcase
VR Showcase Adrienne Kyd showcases work her students have created in virtual reality using knowledge gained through her teaching. As a teacher of creative technologies, Adrienne has kept well on track with…
ARG Lab 24: Talk by Dr Candace Loy
Dr Candace Loy and The Awhi Incubator This talk shares Candace's transformative journey through the Awhi Incubator, where she found a foundational platform to integrate her eclectic interests spanning oceanography, biology, technology,…
ARG Lab 24: Talk by Tanekaha Creative
Tanekaha Creative and The Awhi Incubator Tanekaha Creative have been working with AwhiWorld as part of our Awhi Incubator Project. In this short video, Teina and Lili share their experience, discussing how…
ARG Lab 24: Unofficial Nature by Chris Brady
Unofficial Nature Unofficial Nature was an installation and performance exploring the role of weeds within a healing system that has swayed from its natural course. Drawing inspiration from the local, Chris drew…
ARG Lab 24: Sensory Subtle or Surreal -Tracey Willms Deane
SENSORY ~ Subtle or Surreal ~ This sensory experience was a prototype for Tracey's emerging research into sensory processing styles and the effect these different styles have on how we experience the…
ARG Lab 24: Future Fibres Wananga with Professor Frances Joseph
Future Fibres Wananga This workshop on the 22nd of May at Geoff Wilson Gallery explored the cutting-edge of future fibres and e-textiles, including thermo-, hydro-, and photo-chromic pigments and threads, Arduino sensors,…
ARG Lab 24: Kōrari Paper Making with Reva Mendes
Crafting Tradition: Exploring the Art of Kōrari Paper-Making The kōrari paper-making workshop took place on 20 May 2024. It blended traditional Harakeke/kōrari techniques with modern technology to teach participants to create magical…
ARG Lab 24: Dr Roy Davies – Converging Technologies
Converging Technologies The world of emerging technologies can be overwhelming, with so many advancements to keep up with, such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and blockchain. It's crucial…
ARG Lab 24: Portals to Venus Performance and Talk
Portals to Venus: Calla Lily Choreographic Scores Parts 1-3 In her multimedia dance performance' Portals to Venus', multidisciplinary artist Sharyne Lewis presents her Calla Lily digital dance drawings as choreographic scores. This…
ARG Lab 24: 3D Printing Workshop at The Art Loft
Explore the Future of Creativity This public workshop was hosted at the Dargaville Arts Loft by Dargaville Arts Association - a key AwhiWorld partner organisation. Presented by members of the Warriors Lodge…
ARG Lab 24: Neo Botanica by Liam Martyn Astbury
Purr-fect Plants - Crafting the Future With Liam Martyn Astbury NeoBotanica was Liam Martyn Astbury’s plant propagation laboratory, a window into the reality of gardening in the future. He created cat-related houseplants…
ARG Lab 24: 3D Printmaking
Cutting Edge PrintMaking in Practice The 3D Printing and Printmaking Workshop explored the interface between traditional printing techniques and 3D printing. It presented research undertaken by Hamish Oakley-Browne of Te Kowhai Print…
ARG Lab 24: Deep Phosphene by Elise Koncsek
Step Into An Alternative Reality For the ARG Lab 24, Elise Koncsek opened a portal to the Shazeqi via a hab unit deposited at Quarry Arts Centre, Whangarei. Participants could solve the…
Thanks to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage | Manatū Taonga for funding the Awhi Incubator Project through their Innovation Fund.