Last week was an exciting one for us with our fantastic magician in residence interviews, lots of REACT news and our resident’s mission to the moon gathering support and press interest. Read on to find out more:

REACT announced that in September they’re teaming up with Media Futures to celebrate innovations in the world of publishing. Publish! New adventures in innovation is a day of discussion and demonstration that will showcase cutting edge prototypes in the changing publishing industry. The REACT Books & Print projects will be there to showcase their work and take part in the event. You can visit the Media Futures website for more information and find out about all the Books & Print projects by watching their project videos here.

Last week was also Tom Metcalfe’s first proper week with us as a producer on the REACT Objects Sandbox. The Sandbox, taking place in 2014, will bring the skills of artists, makers and researchers to explore the look, feel and potential of a new area of work, often referred to as the Internet of Things, where new technologies embedded in real things can allow objects themselves to tell us their stories. If you are interested in this call you should plan to attend one of their Ideas Labs in October. The Labs will give you an opportunity to learn more about the scheme, share and refine your idea, get inspired and meet potential collaborators. You can find out more on our website here.

On Wednesday we hosted some very special interviews for our Magician in Residence in partnership with Bristol University. Watershed and Bristol University have disrupted normal residency service to invite two magicians to explore creative ideas that blend technology, interaction design, magic and illusion. On Friday we announced the two magicians that will be undertaking the residency with us:

Kieron Kirkland is a professional magician, technologist, theatre practitioner and researcher with a significant performing history including close-up and stage (Globe Theatre, Tobacco Factory, Punchdrunk, Stand and Stare). He has also worked as ASM for Derren Brown. He is an experienced researcher working with innovative applications of current and emerging digital technologies (researcher at Futurelab, and currently Development Research Manager for Nominet Trust).  Kieron will research the synergies and opportunities between magic and the maker movement.

Stuart Nolan is an applied magician with a background in performance, cell biology, interactive media, experience design, programming, technology development, academic research, playful and performative facilitation, and education. Since a NESTA Fellowship in 2002, he has collaborated with others to apply techniques, tools, and insights from the arts of performance magic to a variety of other creative fields including installation art, architecture, visual design, game design, software design, media, sport, and performance arts. Stuart will explore how to track subconscious muscle responses to create a friendly mind-reading robot pet. The Magicians in Residence will receive research, funding, development and production support. The two-month residencies will begin on 1 Oct 2013 and culminate in a showcase event in early December.

The awesome kickstarter project Pocket Spacecraft launched by Studio residents Michael Johnson, in partnership with Helen White, Seth Jackson, Laura Kriefman and others is attracting lots of press interest, so they’ve spent the week being interviewed for various exciting publications and websites such as Wired, Phys.org and abc news. Explorers who back the project will be able to personalise their own spacecraft by adding a picture or message to create their own unique design. They will be able to monitor progress throughout their mission with their own Pocket Mission Control app, tracking the progress of their spacecraft as it is designed, built in the lab and as it travels through space. You can find out more and back them on their kickstarter here.

Don’t forget that we’ve got a competition running to find three fantastic new Pervasive Media Studio residents in two funded categories. We are looking for one experimental and energetic new company, startup or project team to come and undertake an intensive period of R&D here in the Pervasive Media Studio and we are also looking for two Graduate or New Talent residencies. You can find more details of how to apply on our website here.

Finally this Friday we’re joined by two of our lovely Studio residents who will talk about their new storytelling App Fabler.  Fabler is a simple concept: the more you walk, the more you hear. When you stop, it stops. You are invited to move through stories literally. It’s set to be a great talk so make sure you pop down and join us at 1pm on Friday for an hour. You can find out more about our Open Studio Fridays on the Studio website.