BRENDAN WALKER 02.08.71

I trained as an aeronautical engineer at Imperial College and worked for British Aerospace Military Aircraft over five years. In 1993 I took a break from my engineering career to do an art foundation at Colchester Institute before starting an MA in Industrial Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art.

My next move was to set up AERiAL, a consultancy specialising in electromechanical installations. I’ve completed many art and commercial commissions, and spent time consulting and designing for the Science Museum’s new Wellcome Wing.

In tandem to AERiAL’s activities, I also work as an academic design researcher. Between 1996 and 1998 I worked as a Research Assistant on the Presence and Flirt projects in the RCA’s Computer Related Design department. I returned to the RCA in 2000 as a Research Fellow on the Equator project in the Interaction Design Research department.

I’ve just launched this new research project, Chromo11 – engineering the thrill which is funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Board Innovation Award. I’ve recently received a Wellcome Trust sciart commission for the project Punters: auto-portraits of thrill.

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