Brendan Walker

Contact

• workJubilee Campus
  Wollaton Road
  Nottingham
  NG8 1BB
  UK
• work02089830293
• brendan.walker@nottingham.ac.uk
• www.aerial.fm

Biography

Brendan Walker is a Renaissance Showman - a technology-inspired performance artist described by The Times as "the world's only Thrill Engineer". Brendan's unique brand of live entertainment, contraption building, and scientific experimentation has gained him international notoriety in both the arts and sciences. His multi-faceted Thrill Laboratory performances have provided popular entertainment for audiences from the Science Museum to Alton Towers, featured at Tate Modern and MoMA (New York), whilst also stimulating academic debate. Brendan originally trained as an aeronautical engineer at Imperial College and worked for British Aerospace Military Aircraft for five years before undertaking an MA in Industrial Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art. For eight years he combined his professional practice with working in the research studio of the Computer Related Design Department at the RCA.

Expertise Summary

As well as creating his own work, Brendan consults on the design and production of other popular entertainment, from theatre to theme park rides, and most recently TV. Brendan is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham, a Professor in Creative Industries at Middlesex University, a tutor at Central Saint Martins College of Art, a reviewer for the government's Arts and Humanities Research Council, a government champion for the sciences, and an experienced public speaker - though you're most likely to find him in his East End workshop drilling big holes in things he really shouldn't.

Research Summary

Brendan is helping to lead the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute's Vicarious research project (Biosensing in new broadcast and online TV formats)

Past Research

Brendan helped to lead the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute's Day In The Park research project.

Future Research

Brendan intends to use his knowledge and experience in TV, and skills in developing online digital tools, to create a framework for communicating broader EPSRC-related research stories.