Jo Lansdowne
Pervasive Media Studio
Jo leads research and development activity at Watershed.


Projects

More Than AI Sandbox
Sandbox is a tried-and-tested methodology to bring together teams of brilliant people to test new ideas with generosity and rigour in a three month R&D.Worked on

Murmurations: a mutual research exchange
Research is an earth making practice. It is about recognising that what happens to others relates to what happens to us.
Alternative Technologies: A Just Transition
This workshop series examines technologies and their past, present, and future role in climate justice (and breakdown) and explores what the alternatives could be, through a process of carefully facilitated design thinking
Grounding Technologies
Grounding Technologies is a pilot project exploring how creative technology can be used to support climate action.
Playable City Sandbox
Playable City Sandbox is a creative research and development programme providing facilitated space to transform an experimental idea to a working prototype over three months of rapid R+D.
MyWorld - Strength in Places
Watershed is excited to be a partner in MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol that will celebrate the West of England's reputation as an international trailblazer in creative technology and screen-based media.Connecting Through Culture As We Age
Established in 2021, this three year UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge funded project is exploring how and why we take part in arts and culture as we get older.
Towards Equitable Futures (2020)
We live in capitalism, its power can often seem inescapable - but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Ursula K. Le Guin, National Book Foundation Medal speech 2014 Towards Equitable…
Creative Workforce for the Future
A pilot project creating and fostering inclusive work environments to support our brightest and best young creative talent in the cultural and creative industries (2020-2021)
Bristol+Bath Creative R+D
Bristol+Bath Creative R+D was a £6.8 million collaboration aimed at taking the Bristol and Bath cluster to the next level by forging connections, sharing knowledge and creating new opportunities.I am our Director of Research.
Research at Watershed means asking questions about what needs to change, and trying to answer those questions by testing things out in practice. We listen carefully to ourselves and others and then share what we learn.
I work with the team and our community to explore new methods for making and presenting creative work. I am also a Visiting Professor at UWE Bristol's Digital Cultures Research Centre and a Co-Investigator for Immersive Arts.
My research interests
I believe that technology describes the collection of ideas, tools, practices and systems which humans use to shape the world around us. Creative technology means that the way we do this is not inevitable, but can be re-imagined.
I am particularly interested in methodologies that bring people together in collaborative rather than competitive forms of production. This is because knowledge, power and resources are more evenly distributed through caring and critically engaged processes and networks.
As part of my Visiting Professorship I am currently doing practice based research exploring Whiteness as an individual, structural and planetary process of using up the world. I'm asking how we make visible, and challenge, the ways in which Whiteness monopolises research and development resources. You can read more on why this is important in this article.
I am also part of the supervisory team (led by Dr Erinma Ochu) for the brilliant Oluwatosin Olufon as they undertake a PhD entitled Preserving African Folktale Heritage through Virtual Reality and Animation: An Immersive Practice-Based Approach to Cultural Preservation.