As our Producers are gradually making their way back from far-flung continents, the Studio continues to be a hive of activity. People emerged from the thick Bristol fog to participate in the first REACT Objects Sandbox workshop, to carry out Slingshot user testing, and to immerse themselves in trial runs of ANAGRAM’s Door Into the Dark.

Former Studio resident Simon of Slingshot came to the Studio this week, along with some shiny new kit, that will become part of the real world zombie chase game 2.8 hours Later, where players are encouraged to hack into the system whilst on the run. He placed the six consoles around the Studio to see how people found them and to test out some ideas. Simultaneously, underneath the Studio, ANAGRAM have been carrying out testing for their Immersive documentary project; Door Into the Dark, which will premiere parallel with next week’s iDocs.

Our Producers have returned from India/Texas/Coventry, after having given talks or workshops at a collection of wonderful events. Visit the UnBox website to read Matt’s blog post after two weeks of in depth discussion and intrepid design in Ahmedabad. Visit the Watershed website to read Victoria’s write up of her Random String talk; Pulling Rabbits from Haptic Hats, and read Clare’s Huffington Post article about the emerging theme of Playable Cities at SXSW.

We have two new additions to the Studio this week; Tim Senior is the new researcher for Objects Sandbox, who will be working parallel with the project exploring developments in collaboration, the internet of things and the cross-fertilization of ideas between contemporary artistic and scientific practices. We also welcome author, television writer and podcast host Nikesh Shukla, who will be joining Watershed’s engagement team as the Bristol Youth Links new Online Content Editor. He will be helping to co-create an exciting, youth led online platform for young people in Bristol, working with a team of young journalists.

Interactive documentary symposium, iDocs, is taking place in Watershed next week. Hosted by the DCRC and UWE, the conference seeks to open the discussion on what is interesting and/or new in this emergent field, and on the ethical, aesthetic, political and financial consequences of the i-doc (interactive documentary) genre. Just before iDocs kicks off, REACT’s Future Documentary Sandbox projects will be showcased at Watershed. The six projects investigate how can we hold on to what is great about documentary, whilst exploring new, digital media. If you are interested in coming along to the showcase, book your free place here.

On Saturday, the DCRC held a one-day symposium on ‘drone culture’ called Autonomy and Automation: Robotics, AI and the Digital Cultural Future. 40 people came to the Studio to place robotics and AI firmly on the critical agenda. Find out more about the DCRC and upcoming events.

Next week, REACT are hosting a two day China Creative Economy Exchange workshop in the Studio. The delegates coming to Bristol from Shanghai include professionals from animation, media, social entrepreneurship, advertising, social scientists and new media gallery curators. The workshop aims to generate partnership projects around a range of upcoming digital challenges. Read next week’s blog to find out about the topics discussed.