This week we launched Hello Lamp Post; the first Playable City Award commission, lots of our lovely Studio residents headed over to Bath on Wednesday for MIX conference 2013 and we’re excited to announce the participants taking place in Hack The Quartet. Read on to find out more:

On Monday we launched Hello Lamp Post, the first winner of the Playable City Award. This summer, Bristol residents and visitors will be able to spark up conversations with the city, using any mobile phone (no smart phone required). As the first commission of Bristol’s Playable City Award produced by Watershed, Hello Lamp Post invites you to try a new way of communicating through lamp posts, post boxes and other familiar street furniture, by texting the unique codes found on each object. So, how does it work? Codes can be found around the city, used to identify public objects when they are in need of repair. With Hello Lamp Post, these codes become secret passwords that allow you to ‘wake up’ a sleeping object and discover what it has to say. Will it be pleased to see you? Irritated at having been left in the rain? Or will it tell you a secret? Each exchange will last for a few messages before you are asked to come back and talk some more another day. The more you play, the more the hidden life of the city will be revealed. You can find out more and view conversations happening around the city at the moment on the website here.

nu desine recently announced the release of the AlphaSphere nexus, a brand new mid-level version of the AlphaSphere. It is already available in the USA, and will be launching all over the world in the next several months. So check out their website and social channels to stay up-to-date about when it is available near you. They are also delighted to reveal the first video in their online tutorial series - Understanding the AlphaSphere. You can watch this video for a broad overview of some of the potential and features of this musical instrument. They have lots of other videos planned so subscribe to their youtube channel to be the first to watch.

We’re very excited to announce our amazing Hack The Quartet participants, taking part in a unique two-day hack at Watershed as part of #BristolProms. Hacking the Quartet will bring together talented and curious participants to collaborate with the Sacconi Quartet to make a range of technology-driven explorations of the chamber music world. The hack will last two days, ending in a showcase event at lunchtime on Friday 2 August, where audiences will get to see and hear some of the work created. You can find out more about the showcase as part of our series of Lunchtime talks here, and find out about all the events that Studio director Clare has programmed for #BristolProms on the Watershed website.

Studio residents Lucy Heywood & Barney Heywood (Stand + Stare) have been working with Naomi Said on a new very exciting show for Bristol Ferment called The eye of the hare. Pip Heywood has worked as a documentary film editor for over 30 years. With this autobiographical piece, he applies that craft to live performance. He explores the threads of continuity in his family, a serious accident, and the act of story telling itself. By juxtaposing broad themes like his love of landscape with intimate details such as the feel of his mum’s silk dress, Pip weaves together a story that relates to all of us. Working with a 16mm film editor’s pic-synch and a live camera feed projected on stage, he guides the audience through the processes of editing. As he cuts and splices, the multi-layered story of his life unfolds through personal archives, paintings and poetry. You can find out more here.

On Wednesday Studio residents Ben Gwalchmai and James Wheale headed to Bath to showcase their new story app Fabler at the Making Day for writers at the MIX Conference 2013, a day of experimentation, collaboration and play for writers looking to learn new skills and develop their creative practice. Fabler is a simple concept: the more you walk, the more you hear. When you stop, it stops. You are invited to move through stories literally. Other Studio residents speaking at the MIX were Tom Abba and Stand + Stare who led a workshop using Theatre Jukebox. You can find out more about the conference on the website here.

Finally next Friday we’re very exited to welcome Barney Hawes from communications technology company Sensory Software to give a Lunchtime Talk. He will be joining us to talk about their latest experiments using eye tracking as a control mechanism, allowing you to interact with digital and physical media, just by looking at it. For people with physical disabilities, getting access to a computer can open up a world of opportunity. Advances in eye gaze technology are allowing people to talk, helping very young children to interact with the world, and enabling adults to control their home environment. You can find out more here.