Rituals and Robots
Rituals and Robots is a new project being developed by the artist Rachel Jacobs. It will provide a platform to consider the impacts of climate and environmental change as they intersect and are shaped by digital technology.
Rituals and Robots brings people together to respond to the question “will we need rituals or robots when the future comes?”
Through a process of research & development the project aims to create:
- 3 new interactive ‘slow’ sustainable artworks, each acting as a ‘totem’, ‘punctum’ or ‘trigger point’ for public interventions and convivial gatherings
- An online space, building an informal community to share ideas & positive visions of the future through short stories, essays, videos and recorded conversations.
- working towards a touring exhibition, public workshops & convivial gatherings inviting people to creatively engage with the question ‘what do we need to thrive in the future?’
Public Workshops
Rachel will be running some pilot workshops to explore Rituals and Robots and the themes of this project.
The dates, times and venues will be updated here as the programme comes together.
An Introduction to Rituals and Robots
Thursday 5th March 2026, 6.00pm – 9.00pm
Location: Space 4, 2nd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, Finsbury Park, N4 3HH
Cost: A donation is suggested of £5 – £10 to cover the soup and material costs of the workshop but it is up to your discretion.
A half-day introduction to the Rituals and Robots project. Inviting you to meet around the table at Space 4, to think together about what we need to thrive in the future and make robots using arts, crafts and technology in response to the twin concerns of climate/environmental change and the impacts of digital technology on our everyday lives. Seasonal vegetarian soup and refreshments will be provided. Book now on eventbrite.
How We Dwell With Rituals and Robots: Creating a World We Can All Inhabit
Thursday 14th May 2026, 6.30pm – 9.30pm
Location: Space 4, 2nd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, Finsbury Park, N4 3HH
Cost: A donation is suggested of £5 – £10 to cover the soup and material costs of the workshop but it is up to your discretion.
An intergenerational workshop that explores life, legacy and the different ways we can thrive, now and into the future. Bringing people from different generations together in the same room, to look at how we dwell; how we move ourselves through space; how we think about our bodies, how we think about rootedness and belonging, borders, time, landscape and place. Facilitators Rachel Jacobs and Rose Levinson will lead a series of activities to explore how traditional tools of storytelling, ritual and myth and our new tools of robots and digital technology might help us counter societal assumptions about how we think about ourselves in the world. Seasonal vegetarian food and refreshments will be provided. Book now on eventbrite.
Rituals and Robots Drop In Workshop
Location: Primary Studios, Studio A11, 33 Seely Road, Nottingham NG7 1NU, Saturday 25th October, 10am – 1pm
Rachel is inviting people to join her around the table in her studio at Primary, to think together about what we need to thrive in the future.