Events

First Friday is a monthly social event open to anyone. These events are somewhere between the last meeting of the week and the first event of your weekend. You might meet an artist or an engineer, a school teacher or a city leader. It is a place to connect with someone you might not otherwise meet, and hear about stuff you didn’t already know. All are welcome - from inside and outside the city, online or in the Watershed building.

May 2024 event

This First Friday event will take place both in Pervasive Media Studio and online on Fri 3 May 17:00-18:00.

May's event is part of the opening night of Diverse Artists Network’s (DAN) DIASPORA! Festival. See a selection of work presented by the Studio Residents.

People joining us in person will have the opportunity to have a look around Pervasive Media Studio and to find out more about some of the work that happens here. There will also be some equipment set up to chat with people joining the event remotely.

As well as the chance to socialise in the Studio, attendees joining the event in person will also get to see a selection of work by some of our Studio Residents. Residents sharing work include:

• Tanuja Amarasuriya and Tim X Atack create original stories for theatre, screen, sound and other forms. They will be sharing an audio demo of Ocean Confessions, created in residence in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka, and originally prototyped as a site-specific headphone piece, experienced at the edge of the sea, at night. The piece is a poetic reflection on the relationship between humans and the sea, using spoken word, orchestral composition and augmented audio to heighten the sensory and psychological experience of that landscape. 
• Compass Presents creates expanded cinema experiences, promenade performances, installations and stages for festivals, and experimental short films made from archive footage. They will be sharing a retrospective of their Around The World In BS5  which was a show that took place every Sunday in June 2023. It was á promenade performance along the length of Stapleton Road, telling the story of the street and introducing audiences to some of its cultures and cuisines through performances and food tastings that took place in its shopfronts. This retrospective will be a chance to experience some of the music and performances from the show (recorded and live), see pics, chat to the team, and sample some Nigerian puff - one of the many tasty treats audiences tried during the event! 
• Yokai Hatchery with Studio resident Axenia Raulet is a drop in, hands on workshop that offers a unique opportunity to explore the theme of liminality through the creation of your own mini yokai. Yokai, mythical creatures from Japanese folklore, are known to inhabit the magical zone of uncertainty and all the spaces in-between where boundaries are fluid, and everything is interconnected. Through the process of crafting mini yokai collages, individuals can tap into their own sense of identity as they navigate the complexities of interwordly existence. 
• Michael Jenkins (8th Sense Media) is a writer/director of film and TV. He is motivated to bring well-told and untold stories to as wide an audience as possible. Micahel believes passionately in the role of film as an engine for change and understanding. During this First Friday, he will be screening two films as part of the diaspora festival: Echoes of our Ancestor is an ode, a visual poem exploring the echoes of our ancestors on the streets and around the historic harbour of Bristol. We are not the virus is a spoken work-piece that pays tribute to the windrush elders.

Check back here later for more information on the work being shared.

The hosted element of the event will finish at 6pm. After that, in person attendees are welcome to continue conversations in Watershed's cafe bar area.

People joining online can participate in short speed networking conversations, facilitated by our chat roulette style software. You will be paired up at random for a series of five minute conversations, one-to-one with other guests. There is an option to take a break between each chat and you are welcome to pop in and out whenever you like. It's fine to join the event late and leave the event early.

Join the First Friday mailing list here.

This event is supported by MyWorld.

Booking info

To join us online sign up here. You will be asked for your email address so we can send you your personal link. Please try and use either Chrome or Firefox on your computer (rather than a mobile device).

If you are attending in person, there is no need to pre-book. Head to our main bar area, buy a drink if you want to, and then follow directions down to Pervasive Media Studio.

About Pervasive Media Studio

The Pervasive Media Studio hosts an international community of over 150 artists, companies, technologists, and academics exploring experience design and creative technology. We are a space for risk taking and early ideas; for the kind of projects and questions that inhabit the meeting points of art, technology, and society.

Our projects span play, robotics, location-based media, food, connected objects, interactive documentary, new forms of performance and more.

We have an open plan studio with a culture if generosity, curiosity, and interruptibility. We believe that by clustering people together from a broad range of backgrounds, with differing skills, experience, and opinions, all of our ideas become better.

Access

Pervasive Media Studio is wheelchair accessible and there is an accessible and gender neutral toilet. There is also a baby changing area.

We have a dedicated quiet room where there is low lighting, sofas, bean bags and space to lie down. This is away from the general open space of the Studio.

If drop in events aren't accessible for you, please email studio@watershed.co.uk to book in. When you book in, we will link you up with a member of our team who will reach out to find out where you would like them to meet you and what time you will arrive. That team member can also arrange a time for you to visit the Studio for a 1-2-1 tour so you can familiarise yourself with our space before attending.