Tags: DMU
Jorge Ramos Talk Video
Posted: Sat, 30 Jan 2016 18:11
We hosted a very interesting talk by Jorge Lopes Ramos from ZU-UK at Interact Labs on Wednesday. Jorge took us through his experiences of running the interactive/participatory performance Hotel Medea and other arts activities.
His talk was very relevant to anyone interested in the nature of interactivity and audience participation and it generated lots of questions and discussion with the audience. A recording of the talks (and some of the questions) can be found here on Vimeo. If you are interested in knowing more about Hotel Madea there are also plenty of other videos available.
The talk was arranged by the Computer Arts Society Leicester and IOCT.
Creat-A-Con: Plus - CANCELLED
Posted: Tue, 20 Oct 2015 23:26
Following a highly successful Creat-A-Con: Kids event in February, Leicester-based event organisers SideFest will be hosting Creat-A-Con: Plus aimed at College age and above.
Creat-A-Con: Plus will be held in Queen's Building, DMU on Saturday 7th November and is being supported by the Square Mile Project.
Though independent of STEMnet, both Creat-A-Con events support their goal of inspiring members of the public with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics through engagement with local and national organisations, such as Interact Labs and Hackspaces.
You can expect to see a variety of 3D printing, Raspberry Pi, and Oculus projects, as well as indie games, reverse-engineered gaming, and other interactive medium that defy conventional labels!
We have heard that the event has been cancelled. It should hopefully happen next year.
IOCT Talks - Videos Now Available
Posted: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 23:42
Last Wednesday, as part of our Computer Arts Society Talks programme, members of the Institute of Creative Technologies gave a series of talks about their current research. It was a really interesting evening with topics including the Internet of Things, Transmedia Performance and Pata-computed Poetry
A full set of videos of the talks is now available on Vimeo. Click for Introduction, Ernest Edmonds, Tracy Harwood, Dave Everitt, Sophy Smith and Fania Raczinski. Many thanks to the IOCT for making our first CAS Talk of the autumn such as success.
Make||Sound 6th - 13th June 2015
Posted: Tue, 02 Jun 2015 14:58
Make||Sound is an eight-day festival taking place in Leicester's City Centre - at Highcross and Curve - that will be exploring the possibilities and intricacies of sound as an artform. The event runs from from Saturday 6th June until Saturday 13th June 2015 and will play host to musicians, sound designers and creative coders from around the UK and beyond.
Interact Labs will be running two drop-in workshops at the Highcross Shopping Centre as part of the event - on Saturday 6th and Thursday 11th - that will show participants how to generate sound and control lights with Arduino micro-controllers. Attendees will be able to add their creations to Sean Clark's "Colloquy of Jam Jars" installation that will be installed at Highcross throughout the week.
For more information visit the Make||Sound website at http://makefestival.uk. A gallery of pictures of the event will be hosted on Flickr. Feel free to add your own pictures to the group.
Creat-A-Con February 2015
Posted: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 19:46
Creat-A-Con was a one-day Creative Technology organised by Jason Boomer of SideFest. It took place in the Queens Building at DMU in Leicester on the 21st February 2015. Exhibitors included Leicester Hackspace, Creative Manifesto, Starbase Leicester and Interact Labs. Over 500 people attended the event.
Interact and Interact Labs brought a range of art and technology exhibits along for people to play with.
Our Robot Arm always goes down well, and was joined at this event by a new Edison Mini Robot. This is a great little learning 'bot that is also great value for money.
Our WaterColourBot suffered a little in transport and was not performing at its best, but people still liked it. The 3D Printer also suffered a little, but was eventually set-up to produce a steady stream of whistles for people (mostly children) to take away. For many attendees it was the first time that they had seen a 3D printer in action.
We brought some DIY Virtual Reality headsets along too. However, we also had the Oculus Rift on loan to Starbase and in the end settled on encouraging people have a go with that instead. Reports were that the queue didn't die down all day.
Finally, we seem to have found a new star - the Arduino-powered Jamm Jar computer. This is a new project by Sean Clark that features a neoPixel LED ring, Arduino micro-controller, switch and rechargeable battery, all placed in a glass jam jar (see some pictures here). He has been using this device in workshops and is looking to develop it further as part of a new series of artworks. Attendees seemed to be fascinated by them and enjoyed the LED lighting patterns it produced.
Despite the odd technical problem, it was a great day. SideFest brought a very impressive audience to the event and the DMU student volunteers (and the non-DMU ones too) were incredibly helpful. We're already looking forward to the next one!
See our pictures from the event here on Flickr.
Creat-A-Con is Almost Here!
Posted: Mon, 09 Feb 2015 12:22
Creat-A-Con will be coming to Leicester on the 21st February at the Queens Building at De Montfort University. This free event aims to inspire young people in the key S.T.E.M. areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
Interact Labs will be at the event demonstrating:
- The Edison robot and our robot arm
- The WaterColourBot drawing machine
- Scratch programming on the Raspberry Pi
- Our 3D printer
- DIY Virtual Reality headsets
Plus we will be making Arduino-powered interactive lights for use at the MyOptik Festival on the 28th February and testing the wireless video system we are making for the Image is the Servent event on the 27th February.
As if that isn't enough, we will also be showing the Creative Manifesto LED video wall.
Come and be creative with digital technology.
3D Printing / Arduino Projects
Posted: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 21:07
We have a couple of interesting 3D Printing / Arduino projects in the Lab at the moment. Both are being undertaken by final-year DMU Music Technology students and involve the construction of music input devices.
Luke Petterson's project involves modifying a MIDI keyboard to feature transparent keys with coloured LEDs within them to provide a learning and performance tool. The challenges of this project include 3D printing the transparent keys for the keyboard and developing Arduino technology to control the LEDs in the keys.
Evan Campbell is creating a MIDI controller that will contain distance sensors and a switch pad. The distance sensors will allow the musician to be expressive and the switch pad will be used to create a drum sequencer. Again the project makes use of an Arduino, with 3D printing used to create the housing.
Both project are moving ahead nicely. There will be a chance to look at both projects in detail next month at the Creat-A-Con event on the 21st February and in the next Open Lab on the 24th February.
Alice Tuppen - Point. forty
Posted: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 14:14
DMU Masters student Alice Tuppen worked with Interact Labs to produced the technology needed to support her Point. forty show that was exhibited in the Phoenix Cube gallery at the end of January 2014. Sean Clark helped her to design electrical switches and Arduino circuits that could be used to trigger sixteen different video clips when various objects were moved by the exhibition visitors. Micro- and tilt-switches were used to send information to a pair of Mac mini's via an Arduino and a Max/MSP patch. This in turn played the video clips on four screens in the gallery space.
