Week commencing 01 October:

It’s been a jam packed week in the Studio as we welcomed lots of lovely new residents and visitors. We hosted a brilliant games jam and a great workshop with some interaction trainees from the BBC so read on to find out all their visits and some other very exciting projects that are underway!

We also saw the return of our Studio Lunch after a month’s summer break. The lunches are a chance for staff, residents and hotdeskers to have a proper catch-up and update each other on the wonderful projects they are currently working on. It was also a brilliant opportunity for our new residents to introduce themselves and make connections and start collaborations with existing members of the Studio. As we’ve had so many lovely new residents we decided to do a separate blog post to introduce them all, which you can check out here.

This week the first set of our artist residencies MrUnderwood & Timothy X Atack have settled into the Studio to work on their awesome project Geiger-Muller Sound System – home made sound modules in the built environment operated by chance encounters. They have been out and about exploring Bristol and looking at “where they might cause trouble,” and one of their favourite ideas for the project is “Sounds of warning.” They are also interested in the idea that to get the whole story you might need a critical mass of participants, and are exploring the idea of the installation being like a musical instrument that anyone can play. They’re still in early stage planning at the moment and there are a few early issues for them to consider including powering stand alone installations, theft, damage and robustness, but  we’re very excited about the project and can’t wait to follow their progress!

On Wednesday we had a visit from the BBC interaction design trainees. They started the morning off with a studio tour from Verity and then spent some time with her learning more about the work of the Studio and residents. After lunch they spent the afternoon having a workshop with Lucy and Barney from Stand+Stare who introduced them to Theatre Jukebox. It was lovely having them in the Studio and we’re sure they’ll be popping back in the future.

Clare is preparing to head to New York at the end of the week to showcase BEAM//. On 16th October 2012, BEAM// (Bristol Exchange of Arts & Music) are bringing a slice of Bristol’s burgeoning street level art, music and film to Brooklyn. BEAM// will be running a day and night event at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, featuring world renowned street artists Inkie and Nick Walker, music from Scott Hendy (Malachai/Boca 45), plus the legendary Bristol DJ and long time NY resident DJ Milo. The event will include film screenings, visuals and art to give a flavour of the creative output from Bristol, UK featuring work from award winning music documentary filmmaker Mark Kidel and a selection of music promos and visuals from John Minton. It’s set to be an incredible event and we’re looking forward to hearing how it went!

This week Debbie from Red Wasp has been preparing for an all female games jam. Inspired by Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer and a modern figurehead for women in technology it’s time to inspire a new generation of girls to get into coding and help women already in tech to become and discover new role models. The XX GameJam will be on 26/27 October as part of the London Games Festival. The event will run from 6.30pm on Friday 26 October until 11pm, and then from 9am until 6.30pm on the Saturday 27 October. If you’re interested in taking part, apply for a place here now. They’re looking for programmers, producers, artists, designers, sound designers and composers, and you can apply whether you have direct experience in the games industry or not.

Meanwhile Ad from the Robotics lab has been working on his very exciting technology based installation, the haptic lotus and some other awesome projects that are staying under wraps for now. Make sure you come to his Lunchtime Talk on the 19th where he’ll be introducing himself via some of his past, present and future work, you can find out more here.

Ruth has been working on a digital audio trail in the Forest of Dean with the lovely Lucy and Barney from Stand + Stare, and told us about a new project she’ll be working on in November where she’ll be delivering a sound work in the everyday urban environment. Check out Ruth’s website to keep up to date and find out more here.  

David has returned from a good trip to the states. He and Laura are very excited about their up upcoming installation and performance of Hidden Fields at the Barbican’s “Natural Circuits” festival weekender, they’ve just realised an awesome new trailer so check it out here.   

On Friday night the Studio played host to the Explay Games Jam. Budding games developers and designers from across the UK were invited to take part in a 24 hour Games Jam at either the Science Museum in London or here in the Studio. The Games Jam was led by expert bio-medical scientists from the Wellcome Trust, and the fantastic theme for the weekend was Deception. You can find out more about the weekend and the great games they created here.

We’re very excited about our open call for Craft + Technology Residencies. Watershed is offering three makers’ residencies to research new projects at the intersection of craft, technology and culture. Delivered in collaboration with the Crafts Council, i-DAT, the Autonomatic research group at University College Falmouth, and supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, these residencies are a unique opportunity for contemporary makers to work with technologists, to explore process and practice, develop experimental works and make new connections. If you’d like to apply for the residency you can find more information here.

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow (12 October) at 1pm for a fantastic Lunchtime Talk about Citzen Space Science. Michael Johnson from JA, the open source open access space company, will show you how you can have your own kitchen table space program, describe how citizen space exploration is about to move from low earth orbit proof of concept to interplanetary missions and explain how anyone can contribute to our understanding of the solar system and perhaps even have a little bit of it named after them, so don’t miss it!

Finally if you fancy something good to read check out: 'Extending the theatre experience: The potential for wearable and onstage cameras', the results and analysis of a project that explored and developed new approaches to the capture and distribution of a live performance event. The project was a Technology Strategy Board funded collaboration between Watershed, Bristol Old Vic and Hewlett-Packard Research Labs. To read the full journal written by current studio residents Phil Stenton, Erik Geelhoed and Vanessa Bellaar Spruijt visit here, and check out the films made by Geoffrey Taylor here.