Week commencing 29 October:

Time has been flying here in the Studio; we can’t believe we’re into November already! This week has been jam packed with fantastic events from the XX GameJam in London to Cidade Campus in Portugal.  There’s also been some very exciting meetings and developments for our Artists in Residents, read on to find more...
    
On the 26-27 of October the 1st ever all female XX GamesJam organised by Studio residents Debbie Rawlings and Helen Kennedy took place as part of the London Games Festival. Inspired by Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer and a modern figurehead for women in technology it sought to inspire a new generation of girls to get into coding and help women already in tech to become and discover new role models; our lovely Studio resident Hazel was one of the mentors. The weekend was an amazing success with all tickets being snapped up in just over a week, participants travelling from as far afield as Copenhagen to take part, and press coverage from the BBC. You can read more about it here.

Vanessa Bellaar Spruijt has been in Portugal for nearly two weeks for the production of two parts of the Open City project: Give me back my broken night and Cidade Campus. Clare Reddington, Dick Penny and Mark Leaver joined her on Thursday to deliver keynotes and workshops at the Cidade Campus. You can find out more about the project and check out the range of incredible speakers that were at the event in their latest blog post here.  

Over at Tim’s desk the search for meerkat toys has ended, the array of stuffed meerkats are perched on his desk waiting to star in his multi phone video. He has also been working with partners in Nairobi and L.A to prepare for his panel session as part of Afrika Eye. Bristol will be connecting with Nairobi and LA by video conference and panellists from each country will debate where digital will take African moving image in the future.

Our lovely artists in residence are all settled in to the Studio and are well into the initial research stage. Juneau Projects have been researching how artificial intelligence might help them make an artwork and have arranged a meeting with Dr Peter Hall at Bath University who has created programs which replicate a naive approach to painting and drawing, which is an area that really interests them. They have also been trying to persuade the online chatbot Cleverbot to suggest an artwork to them. You can find out what the Cleverbot has been suggesting (... gold zombies & robot clothes!) and follow their progress on their blog here.

Meanwhile our Artists in Residence duo MrUnderwood and Timothy X Atack have been exploring three different possibilities for their Geiger-Müller Sound System. From giant harps, to a mass unit of resistance, they have been out and about the streets of Bristol looking for possible locations. They are blogging on their project page here, so make sure you check back to find out all the latest developments!

There has been some more good news for Hazel, as a game she worked on as a Creative Director at Aardman Digital has been nominated for Best Casual game in TIGA games industry awards 2012. The game is called Dino Donkey Dash: The Amazing World of Gumball and can be played here, just don’t get too addicted.

Back from China, Adam and Felix from nu desine have already jetted off again, and headed to Monaco to go to the International Clubbing Show, a major leading nightlife meeting event. While at the event they will be demoing and trading the AlphaSphere. This week Dubstop have also published a great interview with Adam on youtube, where he talks about the ‘sphere and it’s journey to production, which you can watch here.

Lastly don’t forget to join us on the 17 November at 1pm for a fantastic Lunchtime Talk from Fred Deakin. Over the last two decades Fred Deakin has been creating interactive spaces in various realms: online through his design agency Airside's work, in live environments via his club nights and concerts by his band Lemon Jelly, and by producing interactive installations specifically for art spaces. In his talk he will describe his process for creating these projects and explain his goals, methods and criteria for success. Don’t miss it!