Richard Pierre-Davis is one of the co-founders of Mongrel and one of the four core members that made up the media artist collective.

Mongrel is one of the most celebrated and successful pioneering international multi media arts group based in the UK working with combining art and technology to empower diverse and marginalised communities. Mongrel produced projects, workshops and events around the world. Winning multiple awards and accolades along the way working with various major institutions and breaking down barriers to interact with hard to reachgroups.
Richard has been a media artist and workshop practitioner since 1995, and his emphasis rests strongly on the facilitation of new media events within communities, providing them with the tools to create their own expressions of culture or creating a framework within which this expression can form itself.

The more you localise, the more you internationalise by focusing on the very local, you can create something that appeals worldwide. Richard has drawn strongly on his London base as a global city to influence his work. Taking on multiple identities all the time that allows him to understand the differences in people and communities wherever he may venture.

Richard's work as a core member of Mongrel has led to an expertise from the shared experiences of working with many special groups from Aboriginal Australians to Navajo Indians, University faculties and students to some of the most deprived innercity communities.


Mongrel grew out of a series of powerful cultural and political exchanges at Artec in 1995 (The London Technology Centre which was located in Islington London. Artec specialised in the arts, and training for the long term unemployed as well as taking on some commercial industry work). Graham Harwood was another co-founder of Mongrel who was teaching a group of people on a one-year European Social Fund course at Artec skilling them up for the digital future. Harwood had just finished the installation version of "Rehearsal of Memory" and needed assistance to create the CD-ROM version of the project. Some students including Richard Pierre-Davis who became the producer on the project while on work placement stayed on after the end of the course ended to help create the CD-ROM. "Rehearsal of Memory", which went on to be very successful featuring at many festivals around the world. During this time it became apparent that there was little critical attitude to the exclusive nature of the emerging technologies.

Richard's dynamics centers around creating pathways to interveine with technology for the target audience/participants, one of his most successful intervention was "BlackLash" the first Mongrel street game. "BlackLash frees us up from the usual role of being the passive participants in someone else's game by cracking open a pre-existing game and not bothering to write one ourselves. The game BlackLash was part of the Mongrel's campaign 'National Heritage', an international project that forces audiences, artists and collaborators to confront their complicity with cultural, biological and technological racism.
mernin Jarman and Richard Pierre-Davis discussed the possibility of setting up an organisation to explore alternative ways of making projects together and with the other students, Harwood was invited to the discussion. The name 'Mongrel' was thrown into the mix by Harwood, we thought this was a clever concept and one that made sense giving our diverse background and cultural heritage. Matthew Fuller and Harwood were creating proposals for "Natural Selection". Using the successes of previous projects, Harwood asked Richard Pierre-Davis and Matsuko Yokokoji to join him in a project exploring "National Heritage" this slowly cemented into the birth of Mongrel with mervin Jarman, who was also on the course at Artec. Richard Pierre-Davis, Harwood, Matsuko Yokokoji and mervin Jarman becoming the core Mongrels. Over the years the group has expanded to include many other participants and practitioners on a project to project basis.

The latest project to be born is the Mongrel Street, iSt.Lab Project.
Coming to a street or corner near you real Sooooon.