Sean Clark's Profile and Publications

Sean Clark BSc(Hons) MA PhD FBCS
Artist, Curator, Researcher

Sean developed an interest in computers at school and went on to study Computing at Loughborough University in 1984. After graduating in 1988, he worked for International Computers Ltd as a software designer before returning to Loughborough University in 1989 to join the LUTCHI Research Centre. He remained in academic research, at Loughborough and then Derby University, until 1995. During this period, he co-authored over 20 papers in the fields of Computer Supported Cooperative Work and the understanding of drawing and sketching behaviour.

He was an active participant in the internet revolution of the mid-1990s and was involved in writing for, and editing, many newsstand Internet magazines, including NetUser, Internet Today and Total Internet. These had a combined monthly readership of over 40,000 and Sean can proudly claim to have introduced many thousands of people to the internet. He launched his first public website in October 1993 (on the subject of Virtual Reality) when there were still less than 250 websites in the world. This was soon followed by a pioneering site for band The Shamen that was featured extensively in the media until the band's demise in 1999.

In 1995 Sean left academia to help establish Nottingham web design company Headland Multimedia and went on to design first-generation websites for high-profile clients such as Girobank, 3i, Raleigh Bikes, S4C, Alliance and Leicester, Cornhill Direct and Pace Micro Technology. In the late 1990s he was a regular speaker on the topic of the Internet at conferences, and in 2000 collected the Times/New Media Age award for the UK's Best E-commerce Site.

Sean went on to establish Cuttlefish.Com in 2001, a Loughborough-based web design company that specialised in creating arts and community websites. In 2005 Cuttlefish.Com became Cuttlefish Multimedia Ltd and has since grown into an award-winning internet, mobile app and multimedia development company, with a diverse client base and offices in Leicester as well as Loughborough. Although Cuttlefish employs a team of talented programmers, Sean still likes to develop some projects himself. He typically specialises in iPhone and Android programming, Arduino micro-controllers and live-multimedia development with Max/MSP/Jitter. He also maintains a high level of expertise in web and arts programming, making use of PHP, JavaScript, CSS3/HTML5 and Processing.

In parallel with his commercial activities, Sean has established a successful practice as a digital artist. His artistic interests include systems theory, autopoiesis, emergence and artistic representations of flow and connectedness. He has exhibited his digital artworks in group and solo shows, including at The Q Gallery (Derby) in 2000, Broadway (Nottingham) in 2008, Phoenix (Leicester) in 2008, 2011 and 2012, The Interact Gallery (Leicester) in 2011 and 2012, the GV Art Gallery in 2014 (London) and Kinetica in 2014 (London); ArtCHI in 2016 (San Jose, CA); Lumen Awards Ceremony in 2016 (London); Caerphilly Castle in 2016 (Wales); LightBox Gallery in 2016 (Leicester). He was co-commissioned to produce a permanent multimedia installation at Penn Fields School in Wolverhampton in 2012 and was selected to show a new digital artwork at CHI in Paris in April/May 2013. Sean's live multimedia performances include festival shows at Glastonbury (2000), Solipse Zambia (2001), The Big Chill (2004), Summer Sundae (2005-2011), Faster Than Sound (2007), Shambala (2008-2010) and many others. In 2016 he was the co-winner, with Esther Rolinson, of the inaugural ArtCHI award in San Jose, CA and the Lumen Prize for 3D/Sculpture in London, UK.

Sean began to actively re-engage with research and academia in the mid-2000s. Between 2006 and 2008 he undertook a practice-led Masters Degree in Digital Arts at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London. In 2009 he began a PhD at De Montfort University in Leicester. This was completed in 2018 and has already led to several new research publications. His current research topic is Systems Thinking in Digital Art.

In October 2013 Sean became an Associate at Phoenix Cinema and Arts Centre in Leicester and launched Interact Labs, a workspace aimed at encouraging people to be creative with digital technology. From its base in the Phoenix Square building, Interact Labs works with Phoenix to run workshops, exhibitions and events relating to digital arts and new technologies. In 2014 Sean was instrumental in establishing Leicester Hackspace, a dedicated space for Leicester's maker community, and was made a Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University.

Sean is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), a committee member of the Computer Arts Society and a licensed member of the Radio Society of Great Britain. He documents his various activities on his personal website at www.seanclark.me.uk. Sean can be contacted by e-mail at seanc@cuttlefish.com or by telephone on +44 7595 990817.

Exhibitions

2019

In The Dark. The Cello Factory, London. January 2019. Group exhibition.

2018

Interact'18. LCB Depot Lightbox, Leicester, UK. December 2018. Curator and exhibitor.

Innovation Connections: East Meets West II. 729 Art Café, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China. November/December 2018. Curator and exhibitor.

Art Meets Data at MozFest. Ravensbourne University, London, UK. October 2018. Group exhibition.

Artificially Intelligent Digital Design Weekend, V&A, London, UK. September 2018. Group exhibition.

CAS50: Fifty Years of the Computer Arts Society. Phoenix Brighton, UK. September 2018. Curator and exhibitor.

CAS50: Fifty Years of the Computer Arts Society. BCS, London, UK. July 2018. Curator.

27. Gallery Without Walls, Leicester, UK. June/July 2018. Solo exhibition.

CAS50: Fifty Years of the Computer Arts Society. LCB Depot Lightbox, Leicester. 21st May - 17th June 2018. Curator and exhibitor.

Creative Connections: East Meets West. 729 Art Cafe, School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China. 23rd April - 13th May 2018. Curator and exhibitor.

2017

Resonance: Patterns of Connection. LCB Depot Lightbox, Leicester. 6th - 22nd December 2017. Joint exhibition with Esther Rolinson. Supported by Arts Council England.

Cyberculture: The Beginning of the Modern World. LCB Depot Lightbox, Leicester. 26th May - 17th June 2017. Curator. Supported by Arts Council England.

2016

A Cybernetic Ecology. LCB Depot Lightbox, Leicester. 7th - 23rd December 2016. Solo exhibition. Supported by Arts Council England.

Microworld: Experiments in Digital Art. Highcross Shopping Centre, Leicester. 20th - 27th August 2016. Joint exhibition with Genetic Moo. Supported by Arts Council England and Leicester City Council.

Fight War Not Wars: The Art of Crass. LCB Depot Lightbox, Leicester. 1st - 18th June 2016. Curator.

Art.CHi'2016: Inter/Action: Digital Art That Responds. 9th - 22nd May. Works Gallery, San Jose, CA. Group exhibition.

2015

Computer Drawing: DP Henry and Beyond. LCB Depot Lightbox, Leicester. 2nd - 17th December 2015. Curator. Supported by Arts Council England.

2014

Interact 2014 @ LCB Depot. LCB Depot Lightbox, Leicester. 2nd September - 10th October 2014. Curator and exhibitor. Supported by Leicester City Council.

Automatic Art. GV Art gallery, London. 3rd June - 10th September 2014. Group exhibition.

2013

CHI'2013 Interactivity Exhibition. Paris, France. 27th April - 2nd May 2013. Group exhibition.

2012

Symbiotic. Joint exhibition with Genetic Moo.

2011

Research Papers

2016

Sean Clark (2016) Connected Digital Artworks, Proceedings of EVA'16. London, UK.

Sean Clark (2016) Connected Digital Artworks, Proceedings of HCI'16. Bournmouth, UK.

Esther Rolinson and Sean Clark (2016) "Flown" Sculptural Light Installation, Proceedings of CHI'16. San Jose, CA.

Ernest Edmonds and Sean Clark (2016) Tango Apart: Moving Together, Proceedings of CHI'16. San Jose, CA.

David England, Celine Latulipe, Nick Bryan-Kinnsm, Ernest Edmonds and Sean Clark (2016) Art.CHI II: Digital Art in a Post-Digital World, Proceedings of CHI'16. San Jose, CA.

2015

Younghui Kim, David England, Linda Candy, Celine Latulipe, Thecla Schiphorst, Ernest A. Edmonds, Sean Clark and Andruid Kerne (2015) Art.CHI, Proceedings of CHI'15. Seoul, Korea.

2013

Martin Reiser and Sean Clark (2013) Locative Media and Situated Learning. Digital Creativity, Vol. 24, No. 3. pp.208-221, Taylor and Francis, London.

Sean Clark (2013) Dropsketch Installation, C&C'13 Proceedings of the 9th ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition, pp.413-413, Sydney.

Clark, S. and Edmonds, E. (2013) ColourNet: A System of Interactive and Interacting Digital Artworks. CHI'13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp.2911-2914, Paris.

2011

Rieser, M., Clark, S. and Howell, G. (2011) Empedia and Locative Media Trails. COMPSAC 2011: The Computed World: Software Beyond the Digital Society, 35th Annual IEEE Signature Conference on Computer Software and Applications, Munich, 18th-21st July.

2000

Stephen A.R. Scrivener & Sean Clark (2000) Uncertainty and Sketching Behaviour, Design Studies, Vol.21, pp.465-481.

1998

S.A.R. Scrivener, S. Clark & N. Keen (1998) LookingGlass Shared Distributed Workspace, in Encylopedia of Computer Science and Technology, eds. Allen Kent and James G. Williams, publ: Marcel Dekker Inc, New York, USA, Vol. 38, Suppl. 23 pp.315-333.

1996

Maryliza Maziloglou, Stephen Scrivener & Sean Clark (1996) Representing Design Workspace Activity, in Analysing Design Activity, pp.389-416. Edited by Nigel Cross, Henri Christians, and Kees Dorst, UK: John Wiley and Sons.

Robin Hollands (1996) The Virtual Reality Homebrewer's Handbook, with contributions by Chris Hand and Sean Clark. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0 471 95871 9.

1995

Sean Clark, Giles Mahoney & Stephen Scrivener (1995) A Study into Video Conferencing Using the Apple Macintosh Platform, Advisory Group on Computer Graphics, Report No: SIMA 14.

1994

S.A.R. Scrivener, S. Clark & N. Keen (1994) LookingGlass Shared Distributed Workspace, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Volume 2, Issue 3, pp.137-157.

Stephen A. R. Scrivener & Sean M. Clark (1994) Sketching in Collaborative Design, in Interacting With Virtual Environments, Wiley Professional Computing, England.

S.A.R. Scrivener & S.M. Clark (1994) Introducing Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Publ: Avebury Technical, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, England, ed. S.A.R. Scrivener, pp.51-66, 1994 (Chapter 1).

S.A.R. Scrivener & S.M. Clark (1994) The Derby-Sydney Link: Utilising Design Expertise at a Distance, Cybernetics and Systems '94, Proceeding of the Twelfth European Meeting on Cybernetics and System Research, ed Robert Trappl, pp.483-490, Vienna, April.

S.A.R. Scrivener & S.M. Clark (1994) Experiences in Computer-mediated Communication, Information Systems Architecture and Technology Workshop, Szklarska Poreba, Poland, September.

S.M. Clark & S.A.R. Scrivener (1994) Using Computers to Capture and Structure Drawing Activity, Revue Sciences et Techniques de la Conception, 3(1). pp.51-59.

1993

Stephen A.R. Scrivener, Sean Clark, Anthony Clarke, John Connolly, Steve Garner, Hilary Palmén, Michael Smyth & André Schappo (1993) Real-Time Communication Between Dispersed Work Groups via Speech and Drawing. Wirtschaftsinformatik 35(2). pp.149-156.

S.A.R. Scrivener, D. Harris, S.M. Clark, T. Rockoff & M. Smyth (1993) Designing at a Distance Via Real-Time Designer-to-Designer Interaction, Design Studies, 14(3), pp.261-282.

Maryliza Mazijoglou, Sean M. Clark & Stephen A. R. Scrivener (1993) The Use of a Shared Drawing Surface as a Co-Ordination Tool, Proceedings of OZCHI'93, the CHISIG Annual Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, pp.23-34.

Sean Clark & Stephen A.R. Scrivener (1993) The Use of Interactive Computer Techniques to Capture and Structure Drawing Surface Activity, Proceedings of the First Symposium on Creativity & Cognition, Loughborough University.

1992

S.A.R. Scrivener, S.M. Clark, M. Smyth, D. Harris & T. Rockoff (1992) Designing at a Distance: Experiments in Remote-Synchronous Design, Proc OZCHI '92, Goldcoast, Australia, November, pp.44-53.

1991

S.W. Garner, S.A.R. Scrivener, A.A. Clarke, S. Clark, J.H. Connolly, H. Palmen, A. Schappo & M. Smyth (1991)The Use of Design Activity for Research into Computer Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW), DATER'91 Conference, pp.84-96, LUT.

1990

S. Clark & S. Scrivener (1990) Knowledge-based Drawing Interpretation Using a Focus of Attention Strategy, Visual Search, (Proceedings Of The First International Conference, Durham, UK, September 5-9, 1988), Taylor & Francis, pp.249-260.

Newsstand Magazines

2012

History of Innovation Leads to Flourishing Scene in City, Leicester Mercury Culture Guide, 9th October 2012.

1995/6/7

Total Internet, Rapide Publishing
Consultant Editor from Issue 1 (December 1996) to Issue 2 (January 1997)
Wrote a cover-mounted book on Web design.

Get Online, Paragon Publishing Ltd.
Contributed to Issue 1 (Spring 1996)

Internet Today, Paragon Publishing Ltd.
Contributing Editor from Issue 10 (August 1995) to Issue 17 (March 1996)
Wrote articles, cover features and columns. Documented much of the creative internet work I was doing at the time. Wrote 'WebWeaver' articles on how to create Web pages.

NetUser Magazine, Paragon Publishing Ltd.
Editor/Consultant Editor from Issue 1 (July 1995) to Issue 17 (December 1996)
Wrote the editorial, columnist and commissioned articles. This title sold well and introduced a lot of people in the UK to the Internet.

1994

Audio Visuality, MCP Ltd.
Wrote for the first couple of issues in November/December 1994. Had an interesting media/lifestyle/technology mix. It went bust before issue 3. Perhaps ahead of its time?

3W Magazine, Ivan Pope
Wrote an article on VR resources on the Net for Issue 4 (June 1994) of Ivan Pope's pioneering Internet magazine.