London LASER 18

Alex May spoke at London LASER 18 on 15 November 2016 at the University of Westminster. Part of the Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous series, the event brought together artists and researchers working across art, science, and technology, with presentations ranging from collaborative biological projects to space-related speculative work. May’s contribution focused on digital creation and preservation.

That theme sat squarely within the concerns running through May’s practice. Rather than treating digital work as immaterial or endlessly stable, the talk addressed how digital artworks are made, maintained, and remembered, and how their technical dependencies shape what can persist over time. In this context, preservation was not just a practical matter of storage, but a cultural question about what kinds of digital experience can survive beyond the moment of exhibition.

Presented alongside other artists and speakers working across science and technology, the talk positioned May’s work within a wider conversation about how art can expose the material, institutional, and conceptual conditions behind digital systems. At LASER, that meant linking artistic production to the longer afterlife of the work, asking what it means to keep digital culture accessible, meaningful, and alive.