Fence 32 began, of course, with a Bradford curry at the International Restaurant. Bradford is legendary for its curries, and the International is the (UK) Customers' Favourite Restaurant of the Year, as awarded by the English Curry Awards 2025.

The next day we spent time in the wonderful and newly-refurbished Bradford Arts Centre, meeting ourselves, with Fence members sharing informal presentations on their work as the group got to know each other. This was then followed by a Q&A about Fence network meetings and Fence projects, accompanied by a briefing paper, a version of which will also be more widely circulated prior to the forthcoming AGM on December 11th

In the evening we went to see a new opera, directed by our host Alex Chisholm

The Last Machine Breaker

Four lives. Two timelines. One question: Will technology be our salvation or our downfall?

In The Last Machine Breaker, Eva creates Adam, a humanoid AI capable of thought, emotion, and desire. But as Adam takes his first breath, another world unfolds before us: 1813, projected live on stage. There, Mary pleads with George Mellor, Luddite Leader and her lover, condemned to die in the morning: turn traitor to his cause and live; stay true and die.
Composed by Ben Crick (A Northern Score, Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra), written by Kamal Kaan (Bangla Bantams, Perfume), and directed by Alex Chisholm, The Last Machine Breaker is a bold live-digital hybrid opera. It fuses past and future, reality and technology, to ask urgent questions about humanity, rebellion, and the cost of progress.

We began the following day with a visit to the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, in Lister Park to look at The annual Turner Prize showcase. In the year the UK celebrates the 250th anniversary of JMW Turner’s birth, the Turner Prize has relocated to Bradford, as part of Bradford UK City of Culture. The shortlisted artists – Nnena Kalu, Rene Matić, Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa.

This was followed by a mini-symposium with Bradford Opera at Mind the Gapwith artists, technologists, digital creatives and policy makers on Art, AI and Access. Exploring the themes of the opera production, we looked at the opportunities and the threats offered by the AI revolution. Will it mean access for the many, or only more profits for the few? with Simon Startin, Writer, Actor & AI researcher, and the writers of The Last Machine Breaker, Ben Crick and Kamal Kaan.