PhoneBook is a nice concept from Mobile Art Lab in Japan. Its such a simple idea, to combine a Iphone with a childs picture book. You put the phone inside the book itself, with a window to the screen acting as a little portal within the book. Then whilst flipping through the pages to match the scene on the screen, you can use the touchscreen & tilt sensors to interact with the animations.

“LUMIERE is a four-day festival (12-15 November) that will brighten the historic city of Durham (North East England), bringing a sprinkle of winter magic to the North East. More than 50 artists will create a breathtaking series of installations, illuminations and performances using light. Lumiere will turn the city into a winter wonderland, transforming its stunning buildings, streets and riverbanks, with a nocturnal winter festival that will amaze residents and visitors alike”.

I wish I had time to go, sounds great.

An Artichoke project, in partnership with Sky Arts.

Many works in the programme, including some Pixelsumo faves…

United Visual Artists

Studio Roosegaarde

Field

So I was happy to see WiiWaa from Swedish developers Zoink Games today.

Put your WiiRemote inside the mouth (not bottom) of a soft toy…

And the toy then becomes a sort of virtual puppet, using the tilt & accelerometer sensors to control the on screen character in a variety of ways & situations. Watch video

Apparently to be released next year, although little details so far. Conceived & created by Klaus Lyngeled. Funded by the Nordic Game Program.

Rebecca Lyddon (fairly recent graduate from London College of Communication) in response to a Design Cities brief from the Design Museum:

“It asked us to design a city guide for London breaking away from the norm (showing landmarks and hotspots.)”. Her concept…

“My response explores the way that we learn and gain a personal understanding from our surroundings. By looking at the idea of perception and the way that we look at things I have made a pack which contains 12 masks (flat pack) where the viewer chooses a mask to wear in a location. It is their personal experience which creates a unique view for the viewer to experience.”

View masks. An interesting analogue approach.

On Friday 30th I’m looking forward to talking at Playful in London:

“Playful is a one-day event all about games and play – in all their manifestations, throughout the contemporary media landscape. It’s a conference for architects, artists, designers, developers, geeks, gurus, gamers, tinkerers, thinkerers, bloggers, joggers, and philosophers. We look at what PLAY means both creatively and culturally, and put speakers on the stage who offer different perspectives on where we are currently, where we’ve been, and where we’re going. We want people walking away talking about the nature of games…what they mean to different people inside, on the periphery, outside or miles away from the industry.”

Theres a great lineup of speakers, including:

James Bridle, Robin Burkinshaw, Rexbox (LittleBigPlanet), Russell Davies, Alfie Dennen & Paula Le Dieu (Bus-tops), Kareem Ettouney (Art Directore Media Molecule), Nicholas Felton, Duncan Gough, Leila Johnston, Katy Lindemann, Simon Oliver (Rolando / HandCircus), Molly Range, Roo Reynolds, Daniel Soltis, Tassos Stevens & Tim Wright.

You can buy tickets here, hope to see you there!

I have just posted some documentation of my latest work, Hand from Above.

Hand From Above encourages us to question our normal routine when we often find ourselves rushing from one destination to another. Inspired by Land of the Giants and Goliath, we are reminded of mythical stories by mischievously unleashing a giant hand from the BBC Big Screen. Passers by will be playfully transformed. What if humans weren’t on top of the food chain?

Unsuspecting pedestrians will be tickled, stretched, flicked or removed entirely in real-time by a giant deity.

Hand from Above is a joint co-commission between FACT: Foundation for Art & Creative Technology and Liverpool City Council for BBC Big Screen Liverpool and the Live Sites Network. It premiered during the inaugural Abandon Normal Devices Festival.

Written using openFrameworks & openCV.

Watch video

“This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.”

I really like the concept of creating these playful experiments for the good of using our bodies & the environment.

The World’s Deepest Bin

“To throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so. Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do?”

I like this one best out of the two, particularly as its a new idea. Drop the litter in the bin and a sound plays making it seem like the rubbish is falling a very long distance to the bottom of a pit, encouraging you to put more rubbish in to the bin (or perhaps throwing away things that aren’t rubbish to hear the noise again, eek).

Piano Staircase

“Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do?”

Its nice, but the idea has been done many times before. This is the first time I’ve seen the stairs be made to look like white & black piano keys though, like the big piano toy.

1) Back in 2006 I wrote about Tuned Stairs…

2) Also by the Gainer team for the NTT ICC in Tokyo.

3) And at the Museum of Science in Boston (watch videos).

4) Also in the Science Museum of Minnesota (watch video)

5) And finally also at the Sony Centre in Tokyo (watch video)

In true viral nature you will be able to upload your own video ideas on the theme to win a prize, so it’ll be interesting to see what concepts the people come up with.

The Youth Music Box, designed by Silent Studios & I, has now moved to the next leg of the UK tour to Bristol.

It will be on at Colston Hall, Bristol until 18th October. Go and have a play if you are in the area.

Watch video

This is brilliant. 2 Hidden Cameras, A bunch of Kids, 1 Marshmallow each : The Marshmallow Test

[update]
Here is a video of the scientific study Joachim de Posada talking at TED Talks. Plus an article in the New Yorker.

“Raising awareness of climate change and of the natural world, Pandamonium invited 16 artists to deconstruct, manipulate and interact with WWF’s iconic panda-shaped collection units. The striking result is 16 original artworks reflecting today’s global environment.

Since the 1960s, WWF’s iconic panda collecting units used to be a familiar sight in shops, post offices and waiting rooms, silently imploring the passing public to donate loose change to the charity. Over many years the pandas raised crucial funds for the international conservation organisation, before being decommissioned in 2007. Having realised that the pandas were becoming collector’s items in their own right, WWF-UK teamed up with Artwise Curators to challenge a group of leading British artists with a creative brief to bring a group of decommissioned pandas out of storage and into the limelight once more.

These works will be on display for two months occupying the windows to the west of the store (on the corner of Oxford Street and Orchard Street) and within the Selfridges Concept Store. The works will be auctioned to raise funds for WWF-UK at a special event on 12th October.” (from Artwise)

Troika, Surrogate

Mixed media
H 80 x L 120 cm
Estimated value: £1,000 - £1,500

For this effect, Troika enhanced the baby panda’s eyes with glowing lasers – creating an ‘android’ (or should that be ‘pandroid’?) that becomes a symbol for people’s capacity to destroy themselves and nature with technology.

“If we fast-forward into the not-so-distant future, we could imagine a world where nature and not only the panda but the entire animal world have been pushed aside by bleak man-made landscapes.”

Watch video

Jason Bruges Studio, Panda Eyes

Pandas, perspex, paint, plywood, thermal camera, servo motors, custom DMX platform
H120 x L180 x W 180 cm (including plinth)
Estimated value: £15,000 - £20,000

These 100 rotating pandas detect a viewer’s presence, and track human movement in unison, in a slightly unnerving way – their confrontational stare is slightly unnerving and urges viewers to consider their impact upon the environment.

“Jason Bruges Studio keenly supports the work and intentions of WWF, specifically in relation to environmental science and technological innovation … Using WWF’s world famous panda emblem has given Jason Bruges Studio a platform through which to join the organisation in delivering its important messages.”

Watch video

United Visual Artists, Frozen in Time

C-type print
H 91 x L 71 cm (image size) framed
Estimated value: £1,000 - £1,500

UVA recreated the panda in ice, then allowed it to melt in their studio. This single image remains – the only record of its existence.

“… representative of our lack of understanding of the world we inhabit … the ice melted faster than predicted and once this image was created the piece slipped, fell and smashed into thousands of shards of ice, which melted and flooded our studio.”

Watch video