Experimental Technologies Lab (ETL)

Description

Experimental Technologies Lab (ETL) invites people to explore the possibilities of creative technology through hands-on experimentation

ETL is an enhancement upon four years of research pursued at the pioneering workshop and research space, FACTLab, a collaboration with Liverpool’s Foundation for Art and Creative Technologies (FACT), the UK’s leading new technologies arts organisation. In ETL, researchers, artists and technologists produce innovative projects together as teams and you will also find artists in residence at work.

At ETL researchers have perfected a research methodology of co-design. People are invited to explore the possibilities of creative technology through hands-on experimentation, with participants of a diversity of constituencies interested in getting involved with making and experimenting with electronics.

Since 2015, ETL has welcomed over 4,500 visitors to its events and activities. The Lab’s membership is continuously exploring new ways to engage visitors and members work within a series of space resources: Liverpool Fab Lab for beta origination; Live Lab for testing; and the X-Gallery for dissemination. People are invited to become actively involved in what researchers do, no matter what their experience.

ETL operates across disciplines and functions as an incubator of creative production and critical thinking for practice-based research and experimentation in the context of critical research and theoretical expertise. In a future that members are literally creating, talent and skills development are amongst ETL’s objectives. The Lab develops projects and activities aiming at cultural production and sharing of knowledge and resources, in collaboration with artists, designers, scientists, technologists, Higher Education Institutions and the commercial sector.

ETL facilities include traditional workshops, TV and sound studios, the X-Gallery digital and creative gallery for experimental media, an immersive projection room used for room scale multiplayer Virtual Reality and projection mapping, wireless High Tech Computer Vives, Occulus Quests, Mixed Reality headsets, projectors, interactive sensors, 3D modelling tools, holographic displays, digital fabrication and 3d printing, 3D object scanners, 3D room scanners, 8K Stereoscopic 360 cameras, depth sensors, microcontrollers and sensors and a range of high end tablets, pcs, phones (iOS and Android) and devices for interface development.

Software includes games engines (Unity), 3D Creation (Maya, Cinema 4D), Adobe Creative Suite (After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere etc), Projection Mapping (Madmapper, Lightform, Heavy M) and Volumetric Capture tools (Dephkit).

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University affiliation(s)

Liverpool John Moores University
Merseyside