This week, we have announced 4 exciting, funded residency opportunities. We have one artist residency, and three New and Emerging Talent residencies up for grabs for those who want to come and explore ideas at the point where art, culture and technology meet. 

We are delighted that James Richards and Tobit Emmens have joined us as Studio residents to develop well being app, ‘always listening’. James is Director of Chromatrope, and has been an advisor on several of the REACT Sandbox schemes. Tobit is Head of Research Management and Innovation for Devon Partnership NHS Trust, specifically exploring how technological innovation can aid the prevention of self-harm and suicide. Information about their project will be up on our projects page soon.

Nthscreen have just launched their first ever film competition – the Nthscars. They invite you to submit your own dynamic, synchronised multiscreen films, made using the nthscreen app. Submit your films for a chance to win £100.

This week saw the launch of an exciting pilot theatre experience; Flatland is the latest collaboration between theatre company Extant and Studio residents Ad Spiers and Tarim. Extant specialise in creating theatre in which there is no difference between the experiences of the blind and sighted. They have been working with Ad’s company, Haunted Pliers over a number of years, exploring how innovations in haptic technology can move theatre away from sight-reliant experience and into more of a bodily experience. Ad and Tarim have been developing a new iteration of an earlier haptic navigation device, the Haptic Lotus. This new handheld device, the Animotus, uses magnetometers and positioning technology UbiSense to guide each audience member through the space through through the use of subtle haptics. Flatland takes place in a pitch-black space inside an old church in South-East London. The narrative of the performance is based on novella Flatland by Edwin Abbott, thrusting the audience into a two-dimensional world on the brink of a 3-dimensional revolution. Verity and I donned our 'volumising space suits' and entered Flatland on Thursday. It was a really visceral experience, and it was brilliant to see the tech that Ad and Tarim have been developing in the Studio being used to tell stories in such a groundbreaking way. A New Scientist article has been written about the experience.

The danceroom Spectroscopy team have posted a blog about their latest installation at the first ever Bhutan International Festival. Over 1000 people visited the installation to interact with dS’s beautiful visualisation of the nano-world, which was enclosed in a custom-built geodesic dome in the foothills of the Himalayas. As well as having an effect on the visual simulation of particles, the audience’s movements also affect the sound. Have a look at this video of the brilliant moment when 10 Assamese Monks made gave an impromptu performance in the dome; While they danced, dS’s generative sound algorithms spontaneously produced an intense feedback the like of which dS had never heard before.

The Other Way Works have just launched a Kickstarter Campaign for their theatre thriller Black Tonic, where the audience will play detective in bedrooms and corridors of Bristol, Birmingham and Bradford hotels this autumn. Katie Day and Sebastian Harding have recently been working in the Studio with our Creative Technologist, David, developing a magic card table that will trigger layers of audio as the audience play. The project has been selected as Kickstarter Staff Pick. Back them on Kickstarter to help make it happen.