Gareth McMurchy (He/Him)
Doctoral Trainee
My doctoral research focuses on the intersection of artist-run initiatives, technology, and archiving. Through my research, I aim to both expand empirical understanding of how artist-run initiatives adapt to and address present-day challenges, and investigate how they might explore alternative methods and approaches to archiving through the use of designed technologies. I intend to do this through utilising design-led methodologies, as well as considering critical and speculative perspectives.
Before joining OpenLab, I achieved both my BSc and MSc degrees studying product design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. As a student, my work explored various topics, such as the impact of music streaming on our listening habits, the vast extent to which our online activities generate and amass data, and the importance of data preservation and curation in the face of technological obsolescence.
When I’m not in a studio or workshop, I like to spend my spare time visiting art galleries and museums, rummaging around record stores, and teaching myself film photography.
Civic Probes: a method for designing civic technologies with communities
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2024
Smartphone Apps for Food Purchase Choices: Scoping Review of Designs, Opportunities, and Challenges
2024 – JMIR
“The Gallery is Ephemeral”: Exploring the Intersection of Archival Practice and Technology in Artist-Run Initiatives
2024 – C&C '24: Proceedings of the 16th Conference on Creativity & Cognition
Travelling Arts x HCI Sketchbook: Exploring the Intersection Between Artistic Expression and Human-Computer Interaction
2024 – Extended Abstracts of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '24)
2023
Speculative machines exploring contemporary data futures
2023 – CHI 2023 Workshop on Data as a Material for Design: Alternative Narratives, Divergent Pathways, and Future Directions