The Art of William Latham

William Latham's digital artworks use genetic algorithms to create complex and beautiful forms. His company Computer Artworks released the seminal Organic Art screen saver in 1995 as well as games, including Evolva in 2000. William also created stunning cover art and videos for The Shamen.

William Latham will be bringing MutatorVR to the Phorward>> event on the 17th June 2017 and speaking at the event between 6pm and 7pm.

Rave Videos

Fancy a rave in your front room? VHS tapes such as Cyberdelia on Prism Leisure Video (1992) and Global Chaos by Hex (1993) mixed ambient and trance music with 3D graphics to give you take-home 'cyberdelic' experience. Some even came with 'special FX spex' to enhance the visuals. The video clips shown are from various video tapes in the collection dating from between 1991 and 1995.

Matt Black from Coldcut & Hex will be speaking at the Phorward>> event on the 17th June 2017 between 6pm and 7pm.

Oscillate Night Club

In the 1990s Birmingham's Oscillate hosted some of the best techno, electronica and ambient nights in the country. They combined live music and DJs with light sculptures, video projections, Internet access, food and art to construct multi-sensory environments where people could have fun and be creative. This exhibit contains tickets from the club, photographs by Patrica Cummay and rarely seen video footage.

Higher Intelligence Agency and the Oscillate Sound System will be playing between 8pm and 11pm at Phorward>> on the 17th June 2017.

Fractal Artworks

Emerging from the mysterious mathematical world of 'chaos', fractals were Cyberculture's answer to tie-dye or the Paisley print of the 1960s. Were they art? Probably not, but they still looked amazing. The posters in the exhibition are originals by Gregory Sams, who opened the Strange Attractions fractal shop in London in 1990. The video clip is from The Fractal Experience, released on VHS by Prism Leisure in 1992.

World Wide Web Newsletter

Ivan Pope published the world's first Internet magazine in 1993. The World Wide Web Newsletter only lasted for a year, but the four issues captured the beginning of the internet in the UK. Ivan went on to help launch .net magazine in 1994, as well as many other pioneering Internet projects.

Ivan Pope will be speaking at the Phorward>> event on the 17th June 2017 between 6pm and 7pm.

NetUser

Sean Clark was invited to edit and launch NetUser magazine in mid-1995. Given that the Internet didn't have search engines at the time, much of the magazine was devoted to website listings and reviews. Sean later wrote for Internet Today, Total Internet and other titles.

Sean Clark will be speaking at the Phorward>> event on the 17th June 2017 between 6pm and 7pm.

Cyberculture Library

The Nemeton Cyberculture Archive includes over 100 books from the early 1990s. These cover a multitude of Internet, Virtual Reality and cyberculture topics. It also contains rare VHS tapes, CD-ROMs, video games and magazines.

REND386 and Early Virtual Reality

REND386 was developed by Bernie Roehl and Dave Stampe in 1991. It allowed users to create and render 3D environments that could be navigated with devices such as the Nintendo Power Glove for input and Sega Shutter Glasses for display. At a time when commercial VR cost tens of thousands of pounds it allowed the construction of low-cost 'homebrew' VR systems.

An original homebrew VR system from 1994 as well as a new free-to-download Google Cardboard 'REND386 World' will be on show at the Phorward>> event on the 17th June 2017.

Shamanarchy in the UK

Megatripolis was a club-meets-festival that took place weekly at Heaven nightclub between 1993 and 1996. Along with the publication Encyclopaedia Psychedelica it expounded the 'Zippie' subculture. Shown here are the Shamanarchy in the UK compilation album (1992), images from Encyclopaedia Psychedelica (1990) and Jamie Reid's reworked album artwork (2014).

Re:Evolution

Terence McKenna's ethno-botanic theories of human evolution made him the Timothy Leary of the 1990s. In 1992 The Shamen – at the height of their commercial success – recorded a Terence McKenna monolog and set it to electronic music. The resulting single Re:evolution reached number 18 in the UK charts. A poster of lyrics was included with the release. Photograph by Jon Hanna.

Axis Mutatis Web Mix

The Shamen were one of the first bands to actively engage with the Internet. Their Nemeton website, created by Sean Clark, was the home to many Internet firsts. When the band released their Axis Mutatis album in 1995, they commissioned a 'Web Mix' that featured sound and video samples, lyrics, extended cover art and links to related information.

Sean Clark will be speaking at the Phorward>> event on the 17th June 2017 between 6pm and 7pm.

Coldcut & Hex

As Coldcut Matt Black and Jonathan More pioneered sample-based music and formed the Ninja Tune record label. They also created early CD-ROMs and the VJ software VJamm. As part of the VJ group Hex they released early interactive content on the Philips CDi platform. The video footage shown is from the 1993 Hex VHS Global Chaos.

Matt Black from Coldcut & Hex will be speaking at the Phorward>> event on the 17th June 2017 between 6pm and 7pm. There will also be opportunities to play with the Hex CDi titles Escape, Antistatic and head crash.