Institute for Research in Art and Technology

Institute for Research in Art and Technology

The Institute for Research in Art and Technology (IRAT) was founded in London in 1969 by arts theorist John Lifton as an offshoot of the London New Arts Lab, itself a breakaway from the original Arts Lab. Its early focus was on video and film, but this was subsequently expanded to include experimental literature, drama, sculpture and multimedia all based on art/technology crossovers. The Earlham Street (Covent Garden) gallery and workshops and the associated print lab attracted a very wide variety of artists and writers. The facility was closed by the mid-1980s.

In October 1969 a New Arts Lab, more formally known as IRAT (Institute for Research in Art and Technology) opened on Robert Street, Camden Town, in a former chemical factory, with a screening of David Larcher’s Mare’s Tail (1969). This new lab, in addition to housing theatre, gallery and cinema space, also provided a base for the LFMC distribution office, screening and a newly equipped film workshop with a step printer and neg/reversal processor.[1]

The Directors in August 1970 included David Curtis, Hugh Davies, John 'Hoppy' Hopkins, John Lifton, Pamela Zoline (USA) with Biddy Peppin as Secretary.[2]

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