This year’s V&A Digital Design Weekend was an unforgettable experience: three action-packed days of sharing Shadowplay and building our 1,000 Titles gallery with an imaginative, curious, and wonderfully engaged audience. We hosted two exciting Shadowplay experiences.
Shadowplay Classic invites “performers” to cast shadows in front of a light source, which are captured and fed into a computer. The AI system processes these images in rapid succession so that the output appears to move and react to the performer, which appears more like a live video than a set of still images. A “DJ” uses our bespoke interactive interface, PromptTank, to adjust aesthetic parameters, such as the strength of AI image generation, over the players’ live feed.
Shadowplay Classic (Photo © Hydar Dewachi)
Shadowplay: 1000 Titles was created especially for this event. We curated 1,000 unique titles for artworks that are yet to exist. Participants select a title and bring it to life. After scanning the title card to load prompts into PromptTank, they choose from materials like cardboard, plastic shapes, and natural objects to create a composition. This composition is captured by the computer, processed by the AI, and displayed in front of the participant. With five minutes to complete their piece, participants work alongside a team member to bring their vision to life, which is then saved to our digital gallery. Each title is printed only once, ensuring that every participant claims a unique creation.
Shadowplay: 1000 Titles (Top photo © Hydar Dewachi)
How we made the titles
Each title is inspired by the visual language of the V&A, including art movements, exhibitions, collections, and spaces. While I initially thought I could mass-generate them, the process turned out to be much more analogue and time-consuming. Many late-night ideation sessions later, the list became a labour of love—personal and unique, reflecting the sense of ownership we hoped participants would feel when claiming their title.
Creating the 1000 titles (Photo © Violet Owen)
What does multi-person AI-enabled creativity mean for the future of art?
Beyond performing and creating visually compelling imagery, Shadowplay allows users to explore the dynamics between human and non-human actors and consider questions of ownership and agency in art-making. AI can sometimes feel distant or mechanical, with outputs dictated entirely by the system. In 1,000 Titles, participants are co-authors: their choices, ideas, and physical interactions shape the final work. Each title is unique, printed once, and permanently linked to the artwork it inspires.
“Shadowplay shows that AI doesn’t have to be distant or mechanical. By grounding it in physical action and real-time response, it creates a space where technology feels more like dialogue than automation.” — Vladyslav Filon, 2025
