Dominic Harris Unveils NeoBloom on the UK's Largest Digital Transparent Screen at Expo Sunderland

Dominic Harris has unveiled a new work for Expo Sunderland, a growing event launched in 2023 aimed at centring residents and businesses in a bid to spotlight the city’s ongoing transformation. The programme concerns three core areas: Future Homes, Future Living and Future City. The initiative’s goals include researching greener, more affordable housing, developing community-led initiatives to connect people from all walks of life, and exploring potential technological advancements that can harness Sunderland’s rich industrial history and infrastructure, positioning the city as a smart hub and the epicentre of future connectivity.

The Expo Sunderland Pavilion, home to the UK’s largest digital transparent screens, has launched a year-long event showcasing works by world-renowned artists. Situated in Keel Square by the Riverside, the screen is one of the key focal points of this ambitious city-centre rejuvenation project. In line with the Expo’s efforts to pioneer an arts programme that showcases art, music and technology, the Pavillion meets the city’s visual engagement needs. Featuring works by hundreds of innovative artists, whose inspirations range from cyberpunk and motion pictures to AI and the limitations of human language, the works draw on cultural, environmental, historical and societal factors to assist in colouring Sunderland as a new, vibrant, tech-art hub.

In partnership with Culture House, the Expo Sunderland Pavilion will feature a variety of engaging multimedia events and exhibits throughout 2025, giving both locals and visitors the chance to explore how sustainable technologies and creative storytelling can impact and shape our future.

Currently, the digital screen showcases one of Dominic Harris’ latest works, Neo-Bloom, a series of three digitally sculpted flowers. The title encapsulates Harris’ core themes of renewal and beauty, while also reflecting his broader aim of blending natural motifs with contemporary digital expression. The blooms are individually named Titania, Hermia and Oberon, after characters from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These flowers are entirely imagined by the artist, who plays with associations to the play’s fantastical themes, ethereality and liminal spaces. This positioning places the artwork in otherworldly, dreamlike surroundings as portrayed in the play’s narrative. Inspired by the natural world and fascinated by the life cycle of animals and evolutionary processes, these flowers – though imagined – seem so effortless in their perpetual ‘crowning moment of beauty’ that they appear as true adaptations. The aim was not to create biologically correct blooms, but rather to centre a study of colour and growth. This level of detail allows Harris to explore the concept of flowers in a fresh and engaging way.

As with much of Harris' work, there is an element of viewer interaction that enlivens the visual experience. Motion sensors detect your approach, triggering the flowers to burst into motion. Harris explains, ‘presence triggers a “big bloom” – a moment of dramatic transformation where the flower releases its petals in a breathtaking display before regrowing, symbolising rebirth and eternal renewal.’ By emphasising 'rebirth,' this series explores themes of time and permanence, challenging traditional views of art.

In addition, the work seeks to engage in the debate surrounding the role of artificial intelligence in art. Harris emphasises the human-centred nature of the creative process, coding each individual movement, modelling and animation by hand. The unique textures given to each flower derive from hand-painted references from the artist, ensuring a level of personal detail, entirely absent in artificially designed works.

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