From the spark of the first human-made fire, to the advent of the internal combustion engine and beyond, humanity's unique ability for shared learning has given us powers which would have caused our ancestors to perceive us as gods. Our technologies and the ways in which we choose to use them define our cultures and carry our ideas and feelings into the generations that follow us.

As part of a programme launched to connect Researchers at Oxford’s two Universities with communities in the surrounding county, Oxford artist Rawz has developed a collaboration between independent Hip Hop label Inner Peace Records and researchers working at the cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence, Immunology, and Modern Language, exploring the interplay between science, technology and creativity.

Simultaneously a University research project, an art exhibition, and a conceptual Hip Hop album, the project team have created a series of “Epochs”; isolated spaces designed to reflect the overall feel of 5 specifically defined eras spanning from the 1950s and into the future. A group of artists from Inner Peace Records known as Episode One, created a bespoke soundtrack for each of the Epochs using technology from the specific eras to create hip hop music; communicating their interpretations of these historic periods through their artistic response. Each Epoch is populated with technology and stories that defined the zeitgeist of the era with the aim of immersing audience members in the spirit of the age, hoping to provoke an emotional response similar to the feeling of being physically transported to a different time.

The process of creating the music for the project has seen Episode One using world-first recording techniques in a fully functional 1950s studio, collaborating with a member of the band Parliament Funkadelic, and working with an A.I. Specialist to imagine how the music of the future might be made.

The project has been documented in a short film due for release after a physical exhibition launches in Oxford in January 2023.