Tags: Interact Labs
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.
New Code Club Sessions
Posted: Wed, 20 Jan 2016 15:58
We have booked the next series of Code Club sessions in the Lab. The group will now be meeting fortnightly (on a Monday, 4:30pm until 6pm) and there are still a few places left. You will need to be quick if you want one though, we are limited to 10 youngsters at the moment and the club is proving popular.
This season's group project is an autonomous drawing robot that we are calling "Pollock" (after the famous artist Jackson Pollock). During the six planned sessions we will be learning how to make the robot, program it and create your own drawings with it. We then hope to show off our work at the Spark Children's Arts Festival later in the year.
We are keen on making this project as "open" as possible and even if you aren't able to come to the Code Club sessions you are welcome to get involved. If there is interest we will run additional public Saturday or evening sessions.
To find out more about Pollock visit the project web page.
Phoenix Code Club
Posted: Tue, 15 Dec 2015 12:42
Yesterday was the last Phoenix Code Club of the year. Having started in October, we have built up a great team of seven regular attendees and two STEM Ambassadors. We have spent time working on Scratch programming, getting to know the 3D printer, a little bit of Minecraft and looking at how the Arduino and Raspberry Pi work.
We have been wondering how to develop the group further and have decided that we will now go from meeting monthly to meeting fortnightly. We will also start to become more project focussed, with one group project (maybe a robot!) and individual projects for those who want them.
If you are interested in your child coming along as an attendee (ages 9 to 11) or want to to volunteer as a helper then please get in touch. We will be announcing the dates of the next club meetings in the new year, but they will remain on Monday afternoons from 4:30 to 6pm.
Computer Drawing Exhibition
Posted: Tue, 17 Nov 2015 14:51
We're really pleased to announce that we have been successful in getting Arts Council funding for our "Computer Drawing: DP Henry and Beyond" exhibition. This is something we've wanted to host for a while and the funding allows us to run it in the way we had always wanted!
The exhibition runs from the 2nd until 17th December across two sites. A collection of DP Henry originals will be shown in the Phoenix CaféBar in Leicester and a connected exhibition of artworks by contemporary artists who use drawing in their work (not always drawing machines) will be shown in the LCB Lightbox just 2 minutes away.
There will also be two Saturday workshops at LCB on the 5th and 12th December and an evening of talks at Phoenix on the 17th. It is going to be a fascinating exhibition with some great work on show. Visit http://interactdigitalarts.uk/computer-drawing-exhibition for full details.
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.
Phoenix Code Club
Posted: Mon, 05 Oct 2015 21:15
Interact Labs and Phoenix will be starting a Code Club for 9-11 year-olds on the 12th October 2015. The club will run from 16:30pm until 6pm and will initially meet monthly. We hope to increase the number of sessions as interest grows and we find more volunteers.
Code Club is a national scheme and comes with a wide range of resources to help youngsters learn to code. At Interact Labs we will be adding something of a 'arts' spin to proceedings by encouraging attendees to use their developing programming skills to create images and their own artworks.
We are currently limited to 10 club members at the moment. Attendance is free and can be booked via the Phoenix website.
FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW FOR DETAILS OF HOW TO JOIN
We're on the Talk Talk Digital Heroes Shortlist!
Posted: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 21:08
Interact Labs' Director, Sean Clark, on the shortlist for a Talk Talk Digital Heroes 2015 award under the 'skills' category. It's for the 'art-meets-technology' work that he's been doing at Phoenix Interact Labs over the last couple of years.
There's a prize of £5,000 on offer which, if won, will be invested back in to the Lab to develop it's work further.
If you like the work that Interact Labs has been doing and want to help it get even better then please go to http://digitalheroes.talktalk.co.uk, register and vote for Sean Clark in the Skills category.
Phoenix Interact Labs Bursary Scheme
Posted: Sat, 11 Jul 2015 18:31
Launched in 2014, our scheme offers bursaries of up to £500, workspace and individual programmes of support to artists, designers or technologists interested in experimenting with technology in their practice, to help them create innovative new work.
We're particularly interested in supporting projects that engage with technology and digital culture in a significant and critical way. The selected artists have the freedom to develop their projects in the Phoenix Interact Labs space and work with us to consider new ways of engaging the public beyond the traditional exhibition format.
Interact Labs is a space for people to be creative with digital technology. It includes everything from DIY hardware kits to a 3D printer, providing a supportive environment for learning, experimentation and collaboration.
The Phoenix Interact Labs Bursary Scheme is supported by local technology company Cuttlefish Multimedia. Visit http://interactlabs.co.uk/bursaries to download an application pack.
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.
