Weekly Blog: 12/08/13 - 16/08/13

It’s been an exciting week in the Studio with lots of opportunities coming up for everyone to get involved in; you can back a mission to the moon, design us a robot buddy and even head to Brazil if you’re a UK based artist. Read on to find out about all these opportunities and more:

Last week we were busy shortlisting to find three fantastic new Pervasive Media Studio residents in two funded categories; one experimental and energetic new company, startup or project team and two Graduate or New Talent residencies. We’ll be announcing our new residents after the interviews later this month and look forward to welcoming them properly to the Studio in September.

If you’re looking for something creative to get your teeth stuck into over the August Bank Holiday weekend why not have a go at entering our Robot Design Competition? We’re collaborating with the International Conference on Social Robotics 2013 to welcome conceptual or practical submissions to this year's robot design competition, held during the conference. From KITT and K9 to Scutters and Siri; robot friends, pets, helpers and even lovers have captured our Sci-fi imaginations for many years. The competition is open to all disciplines and centres on the theme of ‘companionship’ in social robotics. We are looking for ideas for creating future robots that people will want to spend time with in a social sense, and the benefits that such robots may give to society or individuals. We welcome applicants from any background and in whatever format best suits your idea and your practice. There’s even cash prizes with the winner awarded £400. You can find out more about submitting here.

It’s your last week to fund the awesome kickstarter project Pocket Spacecraft by Studio residents Michael Johnson, in partnership with Helen White, Seth Jackson, Laura Kriefman and a whole host of collaborators. Explorers who back the project will be able to personalise their own spacecraft by adding a picture or message to create their own unique design. They will be able to monitor progress throughout their mission with their own Pocket Mission Control app, tracking the progress of their spacecraft as it is designed, built in the lab and as it travels through space. You can find out more and back them on their kickstarter here.

If you fancy coming to work for us it’s the last weekend to apply for our Projects coordinator position.  Our project coordinator will play a key role in supporting delivery of Watershed projects and events. It offers the opportunity work across Watershed teams and develop excellent relationships with creative, digital and academic organisations. This is a brilliant opportunity to hone project coordination, scheduling and administration skills, in a leading cultural organisation. You’ll be spending time helping to support the iShed team in the Studio and help to deliver some of the exciting projects we’ve got in the pipelines. You can find the full job specification and more information here.

We’ve still got a very exciting call open for artists for ‘Recife: The Playable City’, an international initiative to bring artists, creative producers and technologists together from Brazil’s Pernambuco region and the UK. In collaboration with the British Council and Porto Digital in Brazil, we are seeking four UK-based artists, four Brazilian-based artists and four Brazilian-based producers, to collaborate and develop experimental work exploring the theme of the Playable City. During the three-week programme, practitioners will work together in small teams, to develop playful interventions that rethink public space. Participants will spend two weeks developing ideas in the Studio, and one week developing work at Porto Digital in Recife. Our call for UK artists is live, so find out more and apply here.

Lastly don’t forget to book your slot for Time Bank. Time Bank is aimed at supporting artists, filmmakers and cultural organisations who are exploring the use of digital technologies in their work. The Watershed team will offer their thoughts, learnings, mistakes and examples of related work that we have seen and rated. You can book a half an hour slot to discuss anything, or you can join us at the end of the day for an open discussion where the people who turn up will set the agenda. The next time bank will take place on 11 Sept in the Studio. To book a surgery, please email admin@pmstudio.co.uk with a short description of your work and area of interest and we will endeavour to fix you up with the appropriate member of the Watershed team. You can find out more information here.