This week, we are surreptitiously casting an eye around for the elusive eggs that remain unfound after last week’s egg hunt, we have closed applications for this year’s Playable City Award and we are having fun beta testing Daredevil’s Duel app.

Applications have now closed for the 2015 Playable City Award. We are delighted to say we have had a brilliant response, and we will be announcing a shortlist at the beginning of May. For those of you who want to get involved in the Studio, we still have four residency opportunities open for practitioners exploring ideas at the point where art, culture and technology meet. Applications are open for one Artist Residency, and three New and Emerging Talent Residencies for those at an early stage in their professional development.

It is the final call for beta testing Duel, Daredevil Project’s new photo sharing app, before they soft launch next week. Download the app and have a play yourselves. In the run up to Duel’s launch, the team have been filming lots of videos in the Studio. Founder and Director Paul Archer has been sharing five things he has learnt every week. His latest video is a five-step guide to surviving SXSW:

Head over to Paul’s YouTube channel for more videos.

We were very happy to see that Brute and Berserker made their way into the latest edition of Wired magazine. Resident Silas Adekunle (who joined us on a Graduate New Talent residency in 2013) has set up Reach Robotics, who are developing adaptable battling robots that are controllable via an app. These Mecha Monsters will battle both virtually and in the real world. Silas hopes that, by maintaining and playing with their robots, kids will be encouraged to learn about science and engineering. 

Resident Tim Senior has just released a Working Paper about The Arts and Humanities in the Internet of Things. The paper is a product of research into REACT’s Objects Sandbox, a three month R&D process supporting six collaborations between academics and creative companies to explore the possibilities of IoT. The paper argues that the rich understanding of society, culture and human experience afforded by academic research will greatly enhance IoT, inspiring the design of meaningful connected objects.

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