It’s been a whirlwind of a year in the Studio - we’ve hosted magicians, makers, programmed installations, run countless workshops, launched awards, supported a kickstarter which is set to launch spacecraft to the moon and saw the first AlphaSphere ship from the Studio. Read on to catch up on the latest Studio news and exciting plans for the upcoming year.

Following the huge success of their captivating installation Submergence, Award-winning international artists Squidsoup returned to Bristol Temple Quarter's The Eye, using the same hardware system to explore digital materiality, decay, granularity and movement in physical space. On Monday and Tuesday of last week we opened the doors of The Eye again and invited everyone to their light work in progress. With over 600 visitors in just two days we were chuffed that we could open Submergence once again before the end of the year. For more on Squidsoup’s Submergence check out their website. 

It’s also been a brilliant week over at nu desine as their electronic instrument; the AlphaSphere has been reviewed in Sound on Sound - the UK's leading music technology magazine. Read the whole article. 

REACT have recently announced the UK participants who shall be taking place in the 2014 Unbox LABS. The REACT team are working with British Council to co-curate Unbox LABS, an international project which connects creatives and researchers from the UK and India. In February 2014 participants will travel to Ahmedabad, India, for a 10-day lab experience exploring the theme of Future Cities. 

In Autumn REACT funded six collaborations that sought to explore the future for the documentary form. Academics and filmmakers have spent the last three months intensively researching and developing prototypes, you can read more about Future Documentary.   

Last week saw the close for applications for the next REACT Sandbox. The emphasis of Object Sandbox is on the interactions and experiences that exist between an individual and internet connected, physical objects. Interviews will be in the New Year with the 3-month Sandbox set to run between March 2014 and June 2014. We are looking forward to seeing what exciting projects are selected to be part of this programme.

You can now watch our Magicians in Residence project films on Dshed. Regular readers of our blog will remember that in Autumn we teamed up with the University of Bristol to disrupt normal artist residency service and invite a magician to explore creative ideas that blend technology, interaction design, magic and illusion. Over the past two months we were lucky enough to host Kieron Kirkland, who researched the synergies and opportunities between magic and the maker movement, and Stuart Nolan who developed a mindreading robot that relied on our ideomotor response. Although their residencies have now ended, you can get a taste of the magic and mystery that they brought to the Studio through the films.

Looking ahead, we’re going to be hosting a very exciting two-week lab in January in the Studio as part of the Recife: The Playable City programme. This is an exciting new international initiative that will bring together artists, producers and technologists from Pernambuco (Brazil) and the UK, to develop new ideas at the intersection of art, technology, society and culture that respond to the theme of The Playable City. You can find out about the participants here. We will be blogging about the labs as they unfold and we will also be holding a special lunchtime talk to showcase some of the ideas in development on the 17th January.

The New Year brings the return of our Time Bank Sessions on 19 February. Watershed has grown a significant reputation for its development and use of digital technologies, both in producing work and engaging audiences. We invite creatives, technologists and cultural organisations who are exploring the use of digital technologies in their work to meet with the team to share thoughts, learn from mistakes and give examples of related work. Interested individuals can book 30-minute surgeries between 10:00 and 15:30 to discuss specific questions/areas of interest. To book a surgery, please emailjessica.hoare@watershed.co.uk with a short outline of your practice, institution and/or specific project. We will then match you to members of our team who will be happy to share their knowledge and experience. 

On 25th and 26th February, we will be hosting the latest part in a thought-provoking series of Arts Council England’s State of the Arts conferences. No Boundaries aims to provoke discussion amongst leaders and innovators in arts and culture, in order to find positive approaches to influence change. Visit the website to find out about contributors, which include Abigail Posner from Google and Vikki Heywood from the RSA. Studio Director Clare Reddington is programming some very exciting playable elements of the conference. Tickets are available here.

Just a reminder that we’re taking a break from our Lunchtime Talk programme over the festive break, but they be returning on the 10 January 2014 with a fantastic talk from Producer and New Media Consultant Kim Plowright, who will be talking about the life cycle of projects - from development to post-release. You can find a programme of all our upcoming talks, including the Recife: The Playable City talk, here.

We would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a brilliant New Year. We have a feeling that 2014 has a lot in store for the Studio and we look forward to sharing that with you.