Meet Daniel and Alison, a team of nerdy creatives infusing fun, creativity, and technology into game engineering, theme park design, product development, and of course, the arts. Daniel is from Gothenburg, Sweden, and has a background in Engineering, working for companies like Microsoft and in spaces such as the Metaverse and Gaming Industry. Alison is from Long Beach, CA and has a background in art and technical design, working for varying creative organizations such as Walt Disney Imagineering and Pokemon, to the more serious medical design and surgical training program development in VR.
The duo is a newly formed creative team, and came to NES to foster their practice and challenge themselves creatively.
“A spot opened up in our lives and we decided that this residency was the perfect journey at the perfect time for us. Neither of us had done a residency before, so we weren’t sure what to expect. It’s been so rewarding to learn about ourselves, the other artists, and their practices, and we’ve absolutely fallen in love with Skagastrond and Iceland, of course.” – Alison
“I’m thrilled by the opportunity to explore my creative and technical abilities and see what experiences that will bring… and also, in the spirit of Zoidberg: ‘I’m up for whatever’” – Daniel
Their creation, “Flora x Aurora,” hopes to juxtapose Iceland’s local floral life and the Aurora Borealis, symbolizing the beauty of opposing forces. Despite their usual disparity due to seasonal timings, Flora x Aurora offers an ironic, speculative, interactive experience, shedding light on climate change’s potential impacts on these Icelandic treasures. https://www.alisonhemphilldesign.com/ https://www.instagram.com/studio.idali/