A catalyst for new ideas and artforms
Abandon Normal Devices (AND) is a radical arts organisation, situated in the North of England and working globally. Since 2009, we’ve commissioned works which combine creativity, technology, and science challenging norms and fostering critical dialogue through immersive experiences. Nomadic yet rooted in community-building, we create space to imagine, challenge normative perspectives, and disrupt traditional art forms. Our mission is to be at the forefront of innovation through sector-defining collaboration and talent development.
Programme
Inspired by play, exchange of knowledge, the theme of worlding*, and using creative computing and games design as mediums for social/political criticism,…
Read moreSandbox
Mon 28th Jul — Thu 14th Aug 2025
As part of Jazmin Morris’ exhibition and residency at Modal gallery – Sandbox will manifest online via Gather, an interactive 8-bit style…
Read moreSandbox Online (Gather)
Mon 28th Jul — Thu 14th Aug 2025
To celebrate the closing of the show and residency, artist Jazmin Morris invites you to join a games night inside Modal gallery….
Read moreGames Night & Closing Celebrations
Thu 14th Aug 2025
Impossible Perspectives
The first iteration of our latest XR development and commissioning programme, Impossible Perspectives, responds to Tatton Park’s rich landscape and connection to the Italian painter, Canaletto, whose alluring works hang in Tatton’s Mansion. Find out more about our commissioned creatives CAN and Peut Porter and their journeys to creating an ambitious site-specific immersive experience at Tatton Park.
In June, we co-commissioned W Brzask no. 36 at Ephemera Festival in Warsaw as part of our ongoing partnership with Unsound, supported…
Read moreA Gig at Sunrise: Reflecting on W Brzask at Ephemera Festival
Tue 08 Jul 2025
In 2024, AND’s Executive Director Louise Hargreves joined Dani Admiss (Sunlight Liberation Network), Luiza Prado de O. Martins and Ruth McCullough to…
Read moreNew Rhythms
Tue 22 Apr 2025
In October 2023, we appointed two passionate Associate Board Members to work alongside the AND Board of Trustees through a 12 month…
Read moreThe Future of Arts Governance
Wed 13 Nov 2024
We are excited to announce our Creative Associates programme bringing together artists, technologists, researchers & activists to explore new perspectives and ideas…
Read moreIntroducing our Creative Associates programme
Mon 17 Feb 2025
Since our inaugural 12-month programme for Associate Board Members came to a close in July, we’ve been reflecting on the experience with…
Read moreReflections on the Associate Board Member Programme
Wed 13 Nov 2024
Critical Acts – 9th October 2024 Rendering our virtual, net and digital discourses. With a month to go to Critical Acts at…
Read moreRendering our virtual, net and digital discourses
Thu 19 Sep 2024
Abandon Normal Devices and the School of Digital Arts are pleased to announce Commons – a unique programme fostering innovative approaches to…
Read moreIntroducing Commons // Keiken and Jazmin Morris
Thu 06 Mar 2025
Abandon Normal Devices, Cheshire East Council and Tatton Park are excited to announce two new creative collectives selected for the Impossible Perspectives…
Read moreImpossible Perspectives 2024
Tue 11 Jun 2024
Abandon Normal Devices (AND) and the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University are embarking on a two year curatorial…
Read moreAnnouncing a new partnership between AND and the School of Digital Arts
Thu 25 Jul 2024
Over the last few months we’ve been recruiting for Board Members and for our newly created Associate Board Members roles. In August…
Read moreAND’s new Board Members and Associate Board Members
Wed 18 Oct 2023
Abandon Normal Devices is delighted to announce the appointment of Tadeo Lopez-Sendon as our new Director, alongside Louise Hargreaves as Executive Director…
Read moreIntroducing AND’s new Directors
Thu 24 Aug 2023- scroll to see more
AND x School of Digital Arts
Launched in October 2024, AND have embarked on a two year curatorial partnership of the SODA's Modal gallery. As the first of its kind at the University, the creative partnership will produce a programme of public facing events and exhibitions that reflect AND’s unexpected and radically disruptive curatorial style. Expect a series of experimental performances, film labs, and immersive gatherings that highlight a shared interest for emerging technologies and digital futures.
Samukelisiwe Siphesihle Dube is a Black, queer multidisciplinary artist and practising tattoo artist from the province of Mpumalanga. Deeply influenced by her…
Read moreSamukelisiwe Siphesihle Dube
Peut-Porter are a London-based Design Collective who develop participatory live-experiences. Headed by Alexa Pollmann and Bine Roth, the studio works with fashion,…
Read morePeut-Porter
While they might be signed to forward-thinking pop collective PC Music, Anglo-Polish artist felicita has always been difficult to define. Their collaborations…
Read morefelicita
Jazmin Morris is a Creative Computing Artist and Educator based in Leeds.
Read moreJazmin Morris
CAN is an Architecture and Ideas studio founded by Mat Barnes. Since its formation in 2016, CAN has built a reputation for…
Read moreCAN
Founded in 2015 by Tanya Cruz, Hana Omori and Isabel Ramos, the artist collective Keiken are collaboratively building and imagining speculative futures…
Read moreKeiken
Nina Davies (she/her) is a Canadian-British artist who considers the present moment through observing dance in popular culture and how it is…
Read moreNina Davies
Michael-Jon Mizra (he/him) is a computer musician based in London. Whilst studying music at the University of Leeds (2009) he explored performativity…
Read moreMichael-Jon Mizra
Petra Szemán (they/them) is a moving image artist working with animation and game-like landscapes. They roam the edge-territories of worlds both real…
Read morePetra Szemán + David Blandy
Kialy Tihngang is a Glasgow-based interdisciplinary artist working in textiles, costume, photography and moving image. She is interested in the inability of…
Read moreKialy Tihngang
Baff Akoto’s work embraces the fluidity of visual grammar, notions of plurality and (self) perceptions. Based in London, his practice explores the…
Read moreBaff Akoto
Angela Chan is an independent researcher, curator and artist based in the East Midlands. Her work reconfigures power in relation to the…
Read moreAngela YT Chan
Grace Ndiritu is a British-Kenyan filmmaker and visual artist whose artworks are concerned with the transformation of our contemporary world. Her films…
Read moreGrace Ndiritu
Che Applewhaite is a filmmaker, artist, and writer. Through intimate connections that reframe how we see; his work elaborates spiritual insights that…
Read moreChe Applewhaite
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