Spectroscope is a deaf and disabled-led artist collective creating immersive and sculptural artworks internationally. We reveal hidden histories and unheard voices through bold, multi-sensory storytelling. From large-scale projections to sculptural installations, we create ambitious works that transform public spaces and captivate audiences.
Spectroscopy is a process that enables us to literally read rainbows and understand the universe
A collective of dreamscapers
We collaborate with a growing international network of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists, performers and creative technologists.
Through residencies, events and shared spaces, we support experimentation, exchange and new work. In the South West, we host the South West Disabled Artist Gathering — bringing artists together to connect, rest and imagine new possibilities. Our work is shaped by contributors across all levels, from creative direction to technical delivery.
Spectroscopes reveal the composition of things that are unknown and untouchable
From city streets to open landscapes
Based at Watershed’s Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol, Spectroscope is embedded within a leading centre for creative technology and collaboration.
Alongside our city-based work, we are developing an immersive test space on an organic farm in Somerset, a site for experimentation, prototyping and hands-on making within a rural landscape.
Working across both urban and rural contexts, we develop projects that respond to place, environment and community.
Scientific, pictorial, musical and illusory
Spectroscope was founded by Cathy Mager, an award-winning deaf artist and curator.
Inspired by the long-forgotten travelling illusionists of the 1800s, her work draws on early projection technologies such as magic lanterns, mechanical devices that once filled theatres with moving images of distant worlds.
Today, Spectroscope reimagines these traditions through contemporary immersive art.
Our clients, partners and funders
