If awarded the Dover Prize bursary, I would develop Soft Borders, an innovative generative artwork merging artificial intelligence (AI), personal data, and community engagement to visually explore identity and shared culture—while challenging AI’s role as a replacement for human creativity.
Soft Borders will function as both an interactive installation and a digital tool, enabling people of all creative abilities to transform personal information into sophisticated visual artworks. Audiences will input data such as name, age, gender, birthplace, and interests to generate unique visuals inspired by national flags, biological systems, and typographic grids. These identity-based visualisations can be refined through intuitive tools, allowing users to shape the content, form, and tone into personal artworks.
At its core, Soft Borders explores how generative AI can ethically and creatively express individual and collective identities. It celebrates plurality, empathy, and self-expression, reimagining portraiture through dynamic, evolving visuals that reflect the complexity of contemporary identity.
Dover Prize funding would provide critical mentorship from creative coder Davy Smith, helping me transition from adapting developer code to producing original, technically ambitious work. This support would mark a pivotal step in developing my own creative coding practice. The bursary would also enable consultation with Dr Gillian Jein (Newcastle University) and Dr Clifton Evers, whose academic guidance will inform the project’s ethical and theoretical dimensions.
The bursary will also support community workshops across the North East, prioritising marginalised groups. With outreach mentorship from Katy Milne (Northern Heartlands) and Cheryl Gavin (Helix Arts), these sessions will spark creative conversations around identity and place, culminating in an exhibition of participant-generated artworks.
Prototyping interactive tools through this funding will empower audiences to visualise personal and collective narratives—enhancing empathy, inclusivity, and creative confidence. This participatory process ensures authenticity and embeds real community experiences in the work, enriching public dialogue around diversity, belonging, and technology’s role in culture.
Ultimately, the Dover Prize is essential to advancing my artistic autonomy—enabling the production of ethically conscious, publicly resonant generative art. The participant artworks and the evolving installation will be presented together in a final participatory exhibition, where visitors can view existing artworks and generate their own.
Soft Borders has strong potential to enhance the profile of the creative arts in Darlington by combining cutting-edge generative technology with meaningful public engagement. As a participatory artwork, it invites individuals—regardless of artistic background—to create visual portraits of identity using personal data and AI. This innovative approach opens up new, accessible pathways into digital art and creativity.
I plan to deliver workshops in Darlington that engage local communities, including underrepresented and marginalised groups. These sessions will spark creative dialogue around identity, place, and cultural belonging, encouraging participants to co-create generative artworks that reflect their personal stories. The project is designed to be inclusive, fostering creative confidence and technological curiosity.
The resulting works will be presented in a public exhibition in Darlington, showcasing community-generated art and positioning the town as a hub for progressive, socially engaged creative practice. This will provide a platform for local voices, attract wider interest in the region’s cultural activity, and strengthen connections between artists, technologists, and communities.
By blending artistic innovation with community outreach and public exhibition, Soft Borders will contribute to Darlington’s reputation as a place where creative experimentation, diversity, and participation are actively celebrated.
Yes. I hold a BA (Hons) in Visual Communication from University of Ulster, completed in 1996. My undergraduate study focused heavily on visual communication, typography, and interactive digital design, laying the foundation for my interdisciplinary practice.
Since graduation, I have continuously developed my practice through professional training, mentorships, and collaborative projects, including a two year role as designer in residence at Pontio Innovation, Bangor University 2014-2016. This combination of formal education and ongoing professional learning has significantly shaped my approach to contemporary art practice, particularly in visual design, digital innovation, and public engagement.
Yes, I have received several professional grants and awards. In 2021, I was awarded Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) grant, enabling research and production of generative artworks exploring typographic dualities and generative processes. Earlier, my project Veillance (2016) was funded by The Space and supported by Arts Council Wales. In 2014 I received a large project grant from Arts Council of Wales to develop In Flow, a software artwork about perception. In Flow was a finalist in the Lumen Prize for digital art and long listed in the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese art prize.
Yes, I am a member of In Place, a group of four independent artists in North Shields. We support each other’s practices, with varied expertise, and work together on public art projects. We have recently been commissioned by North Tyneside Council to create artwork for a 120m hoarding to be installed around a landmark development at Fish Quay, North Shields. The work will be in place for three years from July 2025.
Yes. I have been commissioned by several public institutions. In 2022, I created Anomaly, a large-scale water-screen artwork commissioned by Galwad (National Theatre Wales), showcased live on Sky Arts. In 2016, Veillance was commissioned by The Space, in partnership with BBC and supported by Arts Council Wales. These commissions exemplify my experience and ability to create impactful, large-scale artworks that address contemporary themes and engage broad public audiences in meaningful ways.
No, my artwork has not yet been purchased by a public collection.
Yes. My work Veillance was featured and reviewed on The Space’s online curated platform in collaboration with BBC Arts. Additionally, Anomaly was prominently featured on Sky Arts, with critical reviews and public coverage online, highlighting its innovative approach to combining digital media and environmental art. These features and reviews significantly enhanced my professional visibility and affirmed my practice’s relevance to contemporary artistic discourse.
No, I am currently not represented by a gallery.
Yes, myself and artist Dominic Smith were commissioned by Northern Heartlands to be resident artists in Coundon and Witton Park in 2024. During this time we initiated Setting The Scene, a series of exploratory workshops to find out what creative outlets people in these marginalised villages needed, and what strategies we could use to show art to hard to reach communities. We gathered materials created into a printed newspaper, which was delivered to 5,000 homes in the area, and launched it at events at community halls in each village.
Email: info@ronandevlin.com
Address: 41 Cleveland Road, North Shields, NTY, NE290NW, GB
Local Authority: North Tyneside Council
