Entering the Cyberhive: An Immersive Exploration

IOTA invited writer Julia McMillan to write about Ruth Marsh’s immersive film Cyberhive.

IOTA: ARC presented a 15-min stop-motion, sound and video piece conjuring a technologically altered, large-scale beehive. This Immersive Experience was created by Halifax-based artist Ruth Marsh in the form of a 360 degree video original music with sound design by musician Jeremy Costello. The new work titled Cyberhive, was presented by IOTA Institute October 3, 2018 at the Sea Dome in Halifax, Nova Scotia and was supported via a 3-month artist residency with the support of technical director Nick Iwaskow. Cyberhive was presented again at the Discovery Centre in Halifax in the context of IOTA’s Bio Art Series in 2019.

Julia Fleur McMillan is a writer, curator, and cultural worker based in K’jipuktuk (Halifax); where she is currently the Artistic Director at Eyelevel ARC. Of settler ancestry, Julia grew up on unceded Mi’kmaq territory in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She holds a MA in English from Dalhousie University, with a focus on contemporary Canadian poetry and visual art, and a BA in English and Art History from Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB. She has worked at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery and Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre, and has curated exhibitions in Halifax, NS, Sackville, NB, and Strasbourg, France.