The No Boundaries conference has been the main focus of the week, as delegates from all over the country, and speakers from all over the world came to Watershed (as well as the Guildhall in York) to discuss the role of arts and culture in 21st century society. We have also been playing with the marvellous, magnetic Little Bits, and are bidding farewell to an amazing member of the core team, as she leaves for Brighton. Read on to find out more...

REACT Producer Tom, Studio Creative Technologist David and Watershed Comms Assistant, Roseanna gave an Internet of Things workshop to a number of Arts Council England’s Creative Media leads from across the country. The workshop involved using Little Bits, magnetic electrical components that make circuit building as simple as using Lego. The workshop sought to get people coming up with playful ideas that broach both the physical and digital space, and Little Bits provide a fun way to prototype these ideas.

We are delighted that nu desine’s Alphasphere has been awarded the People’s Choice Best Instrument Award as part of Georgia Tech’s Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition 2014. Other featured instruments include Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 and Yoshihito Nakanishi’s Powder Box. Have a look on the Competition website to see wonderful futuristic instruments from across the globe.

This week, Watershed hosted half of the No Boundaries conference, which was co-ordinated here in the Studio. The event was live streamed between Watershed and the Guildhall in York, and also streamed live online. The conference invited a line-up of incredible, international speakers to the two venues. The Studio was host to the conference’s Bristol Open Sessions, where delegates and speakers initiated their own discussions. Lizzie Ostrom (Odette Toilette) held a scent workshop in the Studio, which had our brains consciously engaging with our noses in a way they never had before! The conference also featured an evening event, consisting of a Superstar DJ competition, which was live-streamed between the two venues. Watch the talks and join the debate here.

Start-up residents, Amy and May, who form ANAGRAM, have been rigging up an immersive documentary environment underneath the Studio. They will be using ropes, audio, and other props and prompts to guide people through the darkness, and through a world of characters who know the true meaning of being lost. Booking is open to i-Docs attendees, and they are looking for volunteers too, so if you are interested in helping with the project, send us an email.

We are so very sad that Studio Assistant and No Boundaries Co-ordinator, Hannah is leaving us for an amazing post at Brighton Dome and Festival. We will all miss her immensely and we wish her all the best in her exciting new role.

REACT’s Tom and Matt have gone to India to support the UnBox Future Cities Lab, which seeks to bring creative practitioners and researchers from the UK and India together for a hands-on 10 day lab in Ahmedabad. Projects will focus on notions of ‘Future Cities’, and we can’t wait to hear more about the labs when they return. Follow their progress via the UnBox Storify.