Week Commencing 4 June

Wowzers, it’s the shortest week of the year but the busiest at The Pervasive Media Studio, we have been celebrating Watershed’s 30th Birthday and the whole building has been buzzing with celebrative activity. The studio threw open it’s doors for an open studio and we were positively bursting at them seams with the fantastic work of the studio residents. If you weren’t around to witness this feast in person here is what you missed.

As you enter the studio the hypnotic sounds of The Rolling Stones resonate in your ears, five earthy coloured stones are being spun around and repositioned to create an orchestra of sound. The Guerilla Dance Project invite you to participate with your environment in a completely new way.

Tucked in the corner sits Charlie Williams with his work SingSmash, this touchtronic game works by the sound of your singing voice, players sing in to the device to navigate an electronic bouncy ball around the screen! Different elements react to different notes and as you progress through the game the notes change and grow in number.

Studio residents Calvium invite you to contribute to their visitor’s book, by downloading their free app you have the opportunity to share your thoughts, memories and comments about Watershed, which are available immediately to view, these are still being gathered; to add your personal touch. If you have an Android phone you can download the app from here. (Or search for Watershed Visitor Book on Google Play). If you have an iPhone or iPad you need to get the free AppFurnace Player app from the Apple App Store. Follow this link <http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/appfurnace-player/id387022138?mt=8>

In the snug of the window box SATSYMPH revealed their work “On a theme of Hermes” this immersive experience recreates Millennium Square as a virtual auditorium for contemporary music and poetry and can be downloaded for free to your iPhone or Android, enabling you to experience the fusing of Marc Yeats’ music, Ralph Hoyte’s poetry and the expertise of coder and musician Phill Phelps.

The Pervasive Media Cookbook, was showcased by DCRC’s lovely Nick Triggs. This collection of cutting-edge ideas, projects and practice is designed to inform, introduce and inspire students and designers into the emerging field of pervasive media.

On the expanse of our 42 inch screen award winning Call of Cthulhu was displaying it’s undead army beneath the battlefields of Europe, this strategy/role playing video game is the creation of Red Wasp who were offering the chance to join their team of investigators and soldiers to battle against an ancient evil, older than humanity itself!

From the sound proof walls of the edit suite, nu desine were jamming, demonstrating and offering go’s on the increasingly popular AlphaSphere, this new electronic musical instrument reinterprets the way we interact with sound. Its distinct design of up to 48 pressure sensitive pads form a self supporting spherical structure, creating a more tactile ways to connect to music.

In the events space the studio showreel showcased 13 exciting films of the work that has been produced in the pervasive Media Studio.

Tarim’s Instant Graffiti was on display throughout the day, you were able to control the virtual etch-a-sketch set up on a screen from the luxury of your own phone.

Propped up in the studio ‘chill out’ space proudly stood Stand + Stare’s Theatre Jukebox, this old skool, arcade style cabinet reveals stories using RFID tags hidden inside a selection of cards. The cards trigger top down projection and audio that are specific to each card, this delicate story telling device is a wonderful combination of old and new technology and manages to conjure a unique intimacy between audience members and story.

Perched on a sofa sat Victoria Forrest with a handful of iPhones demonstrating the app she is designing for arts festivals called ‘Apps for the Arts’ The apps allow visitors to navigate a multi-site festival by artist, date or venue and using a GPS enabled map. Victoria’s work can be adapted to suit the various needs and requirements of the arts organisation in a cost-effective manner.

Tim Kindberg’s Turntable celebrates all things round, using a number of pervasive technologies to suggest a whole new way to experience content Tim’s turntable behaves like a camera obscurer, projecting images onto the surface in front of you.

Hanging out in the kitchen because there was no other room Tangible FX  were performing live demos of their iMoov app, a wireless, motion Midi controller that enables you to control your music in real time whilst expressing yourself at the same time.

And Studio Producer Verity  hosted all of this, conducted hourly tours, where lucky visitors were invited not only to hear all about studio resident’s work and how it came about but to actively engage and have a go with the their work. To witness you own tour of the studio contact admin@pervasivemediastudio.co.uk and book yourself a Friday tour.

Outside the walls of the Studio, Watershed hosted work of other studio residents:

Waterside 1 held David Glowacki’s interactive installation: danceroom Spectroscopy (dS). Fusing 3d imaging and rigorous quantum mechanics, dS transforms people into energy fields and lets them wander through the nano-quantum world, where they trigger sounds and images

Waterside 2: Every half an hour you could catch Davy and Kristin McGuire’s Icebook. This delicate combination of pop up book and miniature theatre show made of paper and light sweeps audiences into a world of fantasy as each page unfolds.

Waterside 3: Peepboard Pleasure is another work of the talented McGuire’s. By popping your head through the hole of this old seaside type attraction you realise that you are the head of a new body, moving images magically envelop you in a world where you become a dancing flapper, a roaring lion or an overweight taxi driver!

In the café/bar Charlotte Crofts’ Projection Hero was set up with lovely Watershed usherettes as assistants. The installation is a miniature cinema (about the size of a small rabbit hutch), with operational cinema screen, curtains and lights which can be manipulated by any mobile device that can access the web. Just scan the QR code on the screen from within the Curzon Memories App to gain control of the cinema.

Mercurial Wrestler’s  Magician’s Cart made a special appearance, outside the Watershed building, every 20 minutes individual audience members were invited to step inside to experience what lies within and maybe meet the Morrelini sisters.