Exploring New Realities & Immersive Storytelling
Estela Oliva is a director, artist and curator working across digital and immersive whose work is inspired by the impact of new technologies and the internet in human behaviour, society and our surroundings. She creates hybrid environments in which the physical and the virtual blend, unfolding connected stories and cerebral experiences. These projects come to life in a variety of formats such as experiences, installations, experiments, programmes, products, performances and films.
With extensive experience in the digital and tech sectors, her journey includes several years working for Google UK, leading the digital team at Somerset House and other ventures as a cultural entrepreneur, producing visionary projects such as digital culture festival and agency Alpha-ville and the groundbreaking event series New Rituals at London's Barbican Centre.
As a multi-skilled director, she has led a wide array of projects spanning festivals, exhibitions, campaigns and digital projects for brands, cultural institutions and non-profits such as Instagram, Sedition, Red Cross, Barbican, United Nations, BBC and Google.
Estela currently works independently as a self-employed creative director and producer, and under the umbrella of Unform Ltd - a studio working across digital services, products and immersive art experiences. Alongside, she pursues artistic practice under her name as well as the pseudonym of CLON. Estela's art has been exhibited internationally including Sonar (Barcelona, Lisboa and Hong Kong), MUTEK (Montreal, Buenos Aires), Immersiva (Mexico), MMMAD (Madrid) and many more.
Estela is based in London and is part of the Somerset House Exchange creative community.
CONTACT: eoliva [at] gmail dot com
CV
Selected Artist Exhibitions
Exhibitions & Performances
2024
Dreams of Azabache, Solo Exhibition & NFT Collection at Art.Army (explore online)
Echoes of Reality, Drone Walkthrough (music by Nait Saves) -Peckham Digital Festival, London (UK)
2023
Azabache Live AV with Ana Quiroga at Festival Margenes, Casa Encendida, Madrid (Spain)
Echoes of Reality, Drone Walkthrough (music by Nait Saves) - Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Official Selection, York (UK)
Lands of Ajaks (music by Ana Quiroga) - A Night with Richie Hawtin, Nuit Sonores, Bozar (Brussels)
Space Zero (0,0,0) Bienal de Musica de Cordoba (Argentina)
AZABACHE AV with Ana Quiroga - 17 June - Sonar Festival Barcelona
META AV by CLON and Ana Quiroga - 31 Mar - Sonar Lisboa
Live AV performance with Ana Quiroga. Fundraising concert curated by Psyche Tropes and Iklectik.
2022
META AV at Futur.Shock, FOLD London
Echoes of Reality in collab with Nait Saves. MUTEK Argentina, Artlab
Unity /Unidade with Ana Quiroga, immersive installation. Walk&Talk 2022. Arquipelago Centro des Artes. Azores, Portugal.
2021
META AV with Ana Quiroga and TSDOMS VR installation. ADAF - Athens Digital Arts Festival, Greece.
The Maze by CLON, screening as part of Showreel 2021, Mayfair Art Weekend, London
SPACE ZERO (0,0,0) immersive space for MMMAD (Madrid Digital Arts Festival) curated by Hyperstudio
2020
JANMAR B17 screening curated by ThePhotoPhore for ADAF (Athens Digital Arts Festival)
The Maze for Mitologias Futuras virtual tour for Currents.fr curated by Joaquina Salgado and QoA.
2019
TSDOMS (Extended Reality) feat NWRMNTC at Ø by Huperdub, Corsica Studios, Immersiva at Centro de Cultura Digital (MX), Centro Cultural Kirchner MUTEK (Buenos Aires, AR), Espacio Fundacion Telefonica Lima (PE)
META, AV performance with NWRMNTC at Sonar Hong Kong (China), Mirage Festival, Lyon (France), MUTEK Montreal, MUTEK Argentina, Espacio Fundacion Telefonica Lima (PE), She Makes Noise (ES), MIRA Festival (Barcelona)
2018
Janmar B17 screening as part of Aberrations, curated by Lucas Gutierrez at Gallery Irrgang (Berlin)
Janmar B17, screenings at Art Futura Festival (London, Madrid)
META prototype presentation with NWRMNTC at Keroxen Festival, Tenerife (Spain)
TSDOMS, VR installation at Somerset House Studios (London)
2017
Janmar B17, screening at Barbican Centre (London)
Curatorial & Director Work
2023
Immersive Art Salon at Sage Gateshead (UK)
Immersive Assembly Vol3 at Mediale (UK)
2022
New Rituals at Barbican Centre (London)
2018
New Rituals at Barbican Centre (London)
Nocturnal City III, Somerset House Studios (London)
2017
AV Concerts, Barbican Centre (London)
Nocturnal City, Mutek Montreal Edition (Quebec, Canada)
Nocturnal City II, Somerset House Studios (London)
Nocturnal City, Somerset House Studios (London)
The Garden of Virtual Utopias, Art Night (London)
2016
Instagram Discover Your Story, Tate Modern (London)
Studio 01 exhibition at Somerset House Studios (London)
Somerset House Studios Launch (London)
Into the Wild: Decoding the Creative Journey, Somerset House (London)
New Realities, Fundación Telefónica Lima (Peru)
2015
Beyond Music & Arts, Mobile World Centre, Barcelona (Spain)
IOTORAMA, Connected Beings Exhibition, Barcelona (Spain)
2014
Dream:ON Screening, Goethe Institut (London)
New Realities Exhibition, Mobile World Centre (Barcelona)
Music + Arts, Mobile World Centre (Barcelona)
Exchange, Creative Conference by Alpha-ville, Rich Mix (London)
2013
Ryoichi Kurokawa, AV concert curated by Alpha-ville, BFI Southbank, (London)
2012 and earlier
Alpha-ville LIVE, AV concerts, Hackney Empire, (London) 2012
Unfinity, Alpha-ville Festival (London) 2012
From Digital to Post-digital, Alpha-ville Festival of Digital Arts, Music and Culture (London) 2011
Visionary Cities, Alpha-ville Festival, Whitechapel Gallery and Rich Mix, London, 2010
Talks & Workshops
2024
Virtual Production Conference, Starting Pixel Live 24!
Post-Digital Artisans: Blending Traditional Materials with Cutting-Edge Tech by Luman at RCA
2020
Guest Lecture, MA Interaction Design London College Communication
Guest lecture on speculative fiction, games and virtual reality.
2019
Immersive Experiences Masterclass Fundacion Telefonica, Peru
Presenting work as CLON during the Amplify event at Fundacion Telefonica Lima, Peru
Decoding Collaboration in Immersive Digital Art at Sonar+D Hong Kong with MetaObjects
Talk with Ana Quiroga at PointBlank Music School, Womens Day at PountBlank Music School curated by Nina Kehagia.
2018
Immersive Dome One Day Workshop at Plymouth University iDAT, University of Plymouth,
CLON presentation at Art Futura London
Beyond Numbers, Sussex Humanities Lab (Brighton)
Curated by Ioann Maria Stacewicz and Dr Sharon Webb of the SHL Sussex Humanities Lab.
Reality, Fiction and Subversion in Digital Art Experiences, York Mediale: Stories of Solitude Symposium (York) curated by Dr Eirini Nedelkopoulou
"Beyond Patronage: Artists and Experimental Monetization." Curated by Lindsay Howard of Kickstarter, ARS ELECTONICA: Gallery Spaces (Linz)
MIRA Festival Berlin (Berlin)
What is the role of artists and producers in shaping the future of artificial intelligence in the world? CTM's Hacklab. Watch talk. AI Futures Lecture at CTM Festival (Berlin)
2017
Heima Arts Residency (Iceland)
2 month art residency to kick start a new interactive project with musician and sound explorer Ana Quiroga. 2017
NWRMNTC & Natasha Von Braum - Live Filmscapes (Iceland)
Live visuals with NWRMNTC at Electronic Collissions, Gaukurinn, Reykjavik.
Mutek Montreal, Quebec (Canada)
Guest Curator (Nocturnal City) and Moderator (Q&A with artist avatar LaTurbo Avedon).
Interfaces Monthly, The Trampery (London)
Interfaces Monthly 032017: Release / Distribute with David Grynn (Daata Editions), Xavier Sole (Mbryonic), Estela Oliva, Kai Reaver. Curated by Elaine Tam.
2016
Brown's London Art Weekend (London)
From Pigment to Pixels A panel discussion exploring the future of digital art collecting, ownership and creation.
Speakers: Rory Blain, director (Sedition), Anders Petterson, (founder, ArtTactic), Estela Oliva, Eloise Fornieles (artist). Chair: Ghislaine Boddington, founder, body>data>space
2016
Eufonic Festival, SupportVisualists, Catalonia (Spain)
SupportVisualists Symposium speaking at the Visual Artists Management (Panel) with Juliana LeyvaGoldwyn Copper and Estela Oliva.
2015
OFFF Mexico 2015 (Mexico)
Presenting IOTORAMA on behalf of Alpha-ville. Hosted a design thinking workshop on "Rethinking the Internet of Things'.
The Future of Creative Education Symposium, CENTRO (Mexico)
Participation in the Future of Creative Education Symposium, at CENTRO University, Mexico.
Residencies
Press & Publications
ArtLab (Argentina, Online) 2021-22
Somerset House Studios (London) May 2017-June 2018.
Heima Arts, (Seydisfjordour, Iceland) Jul-Sep 2017
*Please contact for extended CV or full work experience.
Interview with Transcrypted
CLOT x Cluster Node - Conversation part 1
LIA: Painting with code (Interview for Sedition art, online)
Immersive Technologies and Digital Games for School Disaster Preparedness (Research paper, online)
Interview with Run Riot on Nocturnal City (online)
Interview with Zetteler for Into The Wild (online)
What are the new rituals of post-internet culture? Run Riot (online)
New Rituals at the Barbican (online)
New Realities, exhibition publication (print)