It’s been a fantastically busy week in the Studio with play testing, open doors, a very special Lunchtime Talk and a fantastic games panel as part of Digital Bristol Week.  Read on to find out more about DBW and about what our wonderful community of residents have been working on:

There’s been lots of production meetings and tech testing for The Raucous Collective, ahead of their upcoming work in progress showings for The Stick House project. The Stick House is a theatre piece inspired by the magical writing of Angela Carter. It fuses live performance, music and pervasive media into a darkly haunting, yet beautiful experience. Working in collaboration, writer Sharon Clark and creative technologist Tom Burton will not only set out to create an exciting piece of performance, but will research how psychological effectors, such as low-level noise, lighting, touch and feel, in combination with pervasive technologies, can create more immersive experiences.

For the last several months the guys at nu desine have been electromagnetic compatibility testing the AlphaSphere; this week they passed.  This essential requirement means that the AlphaSphere itself will not interfere with, or prevent the correct operations of nearby electronic gear. So it looks like they’re the first units will be shipped very soon. You can watch a video of the AlphaSphere being tested here.

Vanessa has been busy producing Watershed’s Bristol Temple Quarter project. This week a competition was launched at Bristol Temple Meads train station, by Bristol Festival of Ideas director Andrew Kelly, to create work that helps visitors learn about the area and guide them on their way. Proposals could include short films, posters, cartoons, essays, short stories, street art or drama performances. The Creative Gateway competition will give ten awards of £500 for project proposals to be developed. An overall winner will be announced at the Festival of Ideas awards evening on May 21st, with a prize of £2,500. You can find out more details and apply on their website.  

Tim has been preparing to run Culture Shift for the British Council in Nairobi next week, on the theme of the Digital Moving Image. We can’t wait to catch up with him when he’s back in the Studio later this month to find out how it goes, In the meantime you can find out more about culture shift on the British Council’s website here and follow Tim on twitter @timkindberg #AfricanInteractive

Last Thursday we took part in a city-wide Open Doors event as part of Digital Bristol Week. We put out an open invitation for people to visit the Studio and perhaps take a tour to meet the residents and see some of the work that is created here. Matt Gibson was one of over 50 people who took up the invitation and he has written a fantastic blog about his experiences that you can read here. Meanwhile in our events space we hosted a brilliant BBC workshop about Digital Production.

Also as part of Digital Bristol Week, Rik Lander ran play testing for his awesome new play The Memory Dealer. It is a form of interactive theatre where the audience becomes part of the story. People were invited to experience the play for free in exchange for responding to research questions. We can’t tell you much more because we don’t want to spoil it for you, but check out their website for details of a full run soon!

In the evening it was the showcase of our 2012 Artist Residencies. The evening started with a showing of two films (that will be available to watch on dShed very soon) that were created to document the projects. After speaking about their projects Juneau Projects demoed their drawing robot that was created with Ad Spiers and Sam Underwood & Tim Atack spoke about their beautiful crafted boxes that will keep making sound for 100 years. It’s been fantastic having them in the Studio over the last few months and can’t wait to see what projects they go on to next. Later this month Juneau Projects have an exhibition The Infocalypse Stack at the Ceri Hand gallery in London that will include their drawing robot, you can find out more on their website here.

Then last Friday we were joined by Dan and Jess from thechineseroom. Back in 2009 they picked up an award for Best World/Story at IndieCade for their experimental mod, Dear Esther, now they have developed into a studio employing over ten people. They joined us in the Studio to talk about their latest game plans, the importance of talking risks, investing in new ideas and content, and being part of the indie games community. It was an absolutely fantastic talk, but don’t despair if you missed it, as the film will be uploaded to dShed late next week so look out for it then.

Then straight after our Lunchtime Talk Watershed hosted a fantastic games panel as part of Digital Bristol Week. The panel brought together by Studio resident Will Luton spoke about what the games industry could bring to other media providers, and how to work collaboratively across genres. Will chaired the panel and he was joined by Jo Twist CEO of UKIE, Colin Macdonald a commissioner from C4, Studio resident James Parker from Opposable Games and Simon Johnson director of games company SlingShot.

Finally don’t forget to join us next Friday, 15 February, for a fantastic Lunchtime Talk from Studio resident Charlotte Crofts. Charlotte will reveal the hidden history of Bristol's spectacular cinema scene, telling tales of bombs, snogging and a murder most horrid, through the lens of two of her projects exploring cinema heritage. Find out more about all our upcoming talks on our events page.