The last couple of weeks have been (literally) choc-a-bloc, as we hear news of exciting new confectionary from Understory, play with wonderful prototypes at the Tangible Memories conference and gleefully watch all of the new Play Sandbox project videos. 

 

James Wheale a.k.a. Understory has been cooking up a storm in the Playground kitchen. He has been splitting his time between the Studio and his culinary lab over in St. Nicks, developing various projects, which explore the wonderful things that can happen when you pair storytelling and food. His dining consoles are nearly ready, and he is very close to the completion of an orgasming chocolate pudding, making use of proximity sensors and binaural recordings to create a very different kind of dining experience… James is also developing various chocolate bar ideas, which are taking him closer and closer to becoming a real-life Willy Wonka. From a sci-fi chocolate bar developed in partnership with DJ Yoda, where every bite will contain a different hidden taste, to a box of chocolates telling the story of two foodie vampires who seek out and eat people based on the provenance of their diet (each chocolate is a victim) James has lots of delicious projects on the go. Let’s hope he needs lots of user testing. Follow @Understory_food for updates.

Over the last few years, a team of artists, researchers, technologists and people from the care community have been co-creating a set of new digital tools, addressing the key societal challenges concerning the care and well-being of older people and the legacy of the memories and stories that they leave for future generations. Bristol University’s Tangible Memories project is now drawing to a close, and last week the team hosted a conference in Watershed in order to share their research and showcase working prototypes. The Tangible Memories team have developed brilliant projects exploring four key themes; Objects for for reminiscence, Objects of Exchange, Objects containing stories and Objects of escape. You can see our vines of the prototypes in action here.

 

 

We are really excited to announce that all of the project videos for REACT’s Play Sandbox scheme are up online. From physical/digital stacking games to flatpack tents that teleport you to other worlds, each of the brilliant Play Sandbox projects were co-developed with a group of 7-12 year olds. The Young Coaches worked with the teams from the very beginning, lending their opinions, values, loves and hates and helping to steer the projects in the right direction. REACT are showcasing all of the Play Sandbox projects at the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield this week, as well as presenting their research around what they have learnt from co-developing projects with children. You can find out more about all of the projects on the Play Sandbox microsite. If you only have 225 seconds to spare, you can watch the overview film below.

This year’s Playable City Award winners, LAX (Anna Grajper and Sebastian Dobiesz) came to the Studio for the first time last week to start preliminary conversations around how to bring their Urbanimals to life. They have been location scouting and meeting local collaborators, and will be back mid July.  

Daredevil Project are going to Joining the Dots, the UK music marketing industry’s most innovative event. They will be using Duel as a tool to put the event’s playlist in the hands of delegates. Visitors will be presented with a choice of two artists and will get to choose between the two, steering the night’s soundtrack either down the smooth path to Stevie Wonder or the rocky road to Meatloaf (for example!).

 A last little note to say, after a wonderful two years working at the Studio, this is my last blog! The Studio Assistant position is being handed over to the wonderful Rosie Cooke, who is starting on 13 July, and will be keeping you up to date with all the exciting Studio projects as they unfold. So Adios amigos, until we meet again…