Interact News
St Georges App Launch - Cultural Quarter Trail
Posted: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 17:17
The new St Georges App and Cultural Quarter Trail was launched on Friday to an audience of over 70 people. The iPhone and Android app - produced in collaboration with Cuttlefish, Phoenix and the University of Leicester - provides historical information about the St Georges aka Cultural Quarter area of Leicester. It contains pictures, text and audio interviews and is a free download from http://www.leicestercultureapp.co.uk. A video about the project can also be found here. The St Georges App is the first output from our Locative Media Hub area of work.
Steven Mills
Posted: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:15
As part of his residency at Two Queens gallery in Leicester, graduate artist Steven Mills experimented with 3D printing at Interact Labs. Using a Kinect-based 3D scanner he produced 3D images of his workspace and then printed these on our FlashForge 3D printer in PLA plastic.
Leicester Hackspace Progress
Posted: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 15:20
Leicester Hackspace meets fortnightly at Interact Labs. At Tuesday's meeting we went to look at a potential space of our own in the Makers Yard - just a couple of minutes from Phoenix Square. The general feedback on the potential space was very positive generated a fair amount of excitement. If you want to feed in to the discussion about the space please visit the Leicester Digital Makers Google Group. At the next meeting (on the 3rd of December) we will discuss all submitted responses. A couple of panoramas of the proposed space are now available.
Creative Manifesto "Lights the Night" in Leicester
Posted: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 23:22
Tonight was the culmination of many months of work by Leicester arts group Creative Manifesto. "Light The Night" saw projection mapped video projections, specially produced lighting and the amazing "Pixel Pyros" show in the Cultural Quarter in Leicester. A huge crowd oo-ed and ahh-ed as they were treated to a truly spectacular evening. See our event page for pictures and a video of the Pixel Pyros show. Pixel Pyros was created by Seb Lee-Delisle. The CQBA and Phoenix were co-producers of the event.
Light the Night - Next Weekend!
Posted: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 22:00
The Creative Manifesto group (who meet every other Tuesday at Interact Labs) have been beavering away over the past few months on a great live multimedia project. "Light the Night" happens on 17th November in Leicester's Cultural Quarter. The event starts at 3:30pm with the highlight being projection mapped visuals designed by Creative Manifesto along Halford Street from 5pm. From what we've seen this is going to look amazing. There will also be a "virtual" pyrotechnics display from 5:30pm called "PixelPyros" as well as live music and specially produced lighting around the area. Follow the link for more information.
The Interact Archive
Posted: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 19:31
If you have visited the Archive or Past Events sections of this site then you might have noticed that quite a bit of new content has been added recently. Most of this new material is from Sean Clark's collection of materials from past digital arts events in Leicester. Our hope is to build a comprehensive archive that will document the development of digital arts in Leicester in the past 10 years. Sean is only about half way through his uploading, so we're pretty sure that by the time he is finished we will be well on the way to achieving this goal. If you have any materials for contribute please get in touch.
Interact Labs Open Day Success
Posted: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 19:39
Interact Labs had its first open day yesterday. Over 60 people came along to see the digital makers "Raspberry Jam" in the Midland Room and have a look around the new Interact Labs space. There were also talks by Sean Clark (Interact Labs), John Rance (Phoenix), Paul Brown (Computer Arts Society), Ernest Edmonds (IOCT) and Tony Goodhew (MagPi contributor). The 3D printer was in constant use throughout the day and there was a real buzz around the event.
A number of concrete things came out of the event. Firstly, there will definitely be a monthly Digital Makers / Raspberry Pi event. This will take a similar format to the opening event, with hardware demonstrations a presentations in the Midland Room - but with the presentations focused solely on technical topics - plus access to the 3D printers in Interact Labs. We will set up an Eventbrite for the next event shortly and announce the speakers.
Secondly, there was a 'fringe' meeting about the idea of a "Leicester Hackspace" yesterday. There is lots of interest in establishing a space in Leicester to give people access to manufacturing hardware. We are going to build on this interest by hosting a fourtnightly Leicester Hackspace meeting at Interact Labs. The first of these will be on the 5th November 2013 at 6:30pm. If you want to be involved you can join in the discussion in the Leicester Digital Makers Google Group.
Finally, it was good to see members of the Creative Manifesto arts group attend the event and start working with the 3D printer. Creative Manifesto also meets fortnightly (alternate Tuesdays to Leicester Hack Space) and are keen to initiate futures joint projects with the Digital Maker community.
So, a very useful event indeed and a good start to the Interact Labs project. You can see pictures from the event here. Remember to join the Facebook Group or email list, or get involved with the Leicester Digital Makers Google Group to find out about future activities.
Layla Curtis' Antipodes Exhibition
Posted: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:05
A new exhibition by Layla Curtis has opened in the Phoenix Cube gallery and Phoenix Café Bar. "Antipodes" features images from pairs of webcams located on exact opposite points on the Earth's surface. Only 4% of the planet's surface contains such "antipodal" points - most areas of land, such as the UK, match with the ocean. The exhibition contains "live" matched webcams from the antipodal points as well as time lapse videos where you see that at these points day and night happen at opposite times. There is also an opportunity to interact with the antipodes.uk.com website on a big screen and view some of Layla's printed images from the project. The exhibition runs from 17th October until 21st December - so you have no excuse to miss it! Layla will be giving a free talk about the project on 10th December for the Computer Arts Society.
BYOB II at The Salon, Leicester
Posted: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 18:16
Leicester's second BYOB event happened last night at The Salon in Highcross, Leicester. The event saw a couple of workshops during the day and then the main event in the evening. There were around 10 projectors showing all manner of imagery, from glitch art and projection mapping to classic VJ material. Pictures from the event can be found in the Interact Archive. We'll be announcing details of the next BYOB event soon.
Bring Your Own Beamer II
Posted: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 21:16
Bring Your Own Beamer will be returning to Leicester on the 12th October 2013. This year's event will take place at The Salon in Leicester's Highcross shopping centre. This temporary art space is perfect for a BYOB event - with plenty of walls and rooms available. We will be running workshops in the afternoon and an open event in the evening. As with other BYOB activities, the event will be free and is open to anyone who has something to show.
