It’s been a week of celebrations in the Studio as we turned the grand old age of five last Thursday! nu desine are getting ready to ship their Sphere’s into the world and we’ve got a fantastic brief for you to apply for, read on to find out more:       

It’s been a busy week for nu desine as they’ve been recording AlphaSphere tutorial videos ahead of  shipping orders for their first batch of elite ‘Sphere’s. Over the last few months our humble Edit Suite has been transformed into a mini factory with nu desine constructing their ‘Sphere’s right here in the Studio. We’re pleased to inform you that they’re very nearly ready. In fact they’re hoping to ship them off early next week, all going well. It’s been a crazy journey from their espresso cup, balloon tops and hacked midi controller prototypes to the beautifully designed product they’ve created, and we for one, can’t wait to find out what they’re got up their sleeves next. You can find out more about nu desine on their website here.    

Helen White our Communicating Science resident entered into this residency keen to explore her fascination with the aurora and investigate whether it would be possible to translate solar wind data into something beautiful. Now approaching the half way point of her residency she’s been trying to narrow down and chose a way to visualise the data to take her project further. You can read a post Nicola wrote about Helen’s half way progress event: Work Solar Flares, Sublime Auroras & Data Visualisation and read Helen’s blog here to keep up-to-date with her progress.  

On Thursday we gathered around to celebrate our fifth birthday! We can hardly believe that it’s been five  whole years since we launched the Studio with robots on stilts and Alistair Darling cutting a digital ribbon (although we did dig up these fantastic photos on flickr if you fancy a peak). Five years on and we have worked with hundreds of incredible, inspiring people and organisations from around the world. Some of them took to twitter to share their best wishes and memories – why not take a peak at them. Thank you to everyone that’s made the Studio the fantastic place it is today, and here’s to the next five years!

Don’t forget the deadline to get your ideas in for Bristol Temple Meads Quarter: Gateway Project part of Watershed’s Bristol Temple Quarter project that Vanessa is producing. The Gateway Project brief was launched, by Bristol Festival of Ideas director Andrew Kelly, to create work that helps visitors learn about the area and guide them on their way. Proposals could include short films, posters, cartoons, essays, short stories, street art or drama performances. The Creative Gateway competition will give ten awards of £500 for project proposals to be developed. An overall winner will be announced at the Festival of Ideas awards evening on May 21st, with a prize of £2,500. You can find out more, and propose your fun ideas on their website here.

Also tickets have gone on sale this week for Studio alumni Duncan Speakman, FUEL, Uninvited Guests and Circumstance’s project Give Me Back My Broken Night; a theatrical guided tour, not of the historic past, but of the future of your city. Taking place in the heart of Watershed’s Bristol Temple Quarter, Give Me Back My Broken Night invites you to walk through vacant lots and buildings under construction and share what is planned for the area, and what the utopian and dystopian alternatives might be. Before your eyes, a glowing vision of the future will appear, the collective imagining of all those participating. You can find out more and book tickets on the Watershed Website here.

Finally don’t forget to join us on Friday 1 March for our rescheduled Lunchtime Time about the fantastic interactive story Inanimate Alice. In 2006 Kate Pullinger and Chris Joseph were commissioned to create a series of interactive stories for a marketing campaign for a feature film that didn’t exist.  From that inauspicious beginning, ‘Inanimate Alice’ has gone on to become one of the most popular digital stories for educators around the world, from primary to doctoral level.  How and why did this happen?  Kate will discuss the story’s unique and on-going progress. You can find our upcoming programme of Lunchtime Talks on our events page here.