Playaway Creative Technology

5 Mar 2020 2 days to go, PlayAway, Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events, PlayAway Games & Music

Zoom Obscura Showcase – Works in Progress

Fri 5th Mar, 14:00 – 15:00 (GMT)

Mini-talks & Demos (Zoom Event):
Zoom Obscura – Works in Progress
Challenging cultures of video-calling through creative intervention

Artists/Speakers:
Ilsa Pouwels, Michael Baldwin, Bea Wijshijer, Paul O’Neill, Martin Disley

Challenging cultures of video-calling through creative intervention: A series of short talks and demos from five artists who have been experimenting with a range of creative and technological ideas to subvert your normal experience of Zoom!

Zoom Obscura is a project that enables us to playfully negotiate our own presence and our own value in the spaces of online video-calling. We bring together artists, academics, hackers, designers and creative technologists to develop critical interventions that make the problematic workings of these technologies legible to wider audiences while empowering users to experiment with, and control how their personal data (visual, audible, text input) manifest in online spaces.

Join us for a preview of the wonderful works in progress that Zoom Obscura has funded, with support of the Human-Data Interaction Network+ and Creative Informatics

Artists/Panelists:

Ilsa Pouwels
Ilse is currently at the Umeå Institute of Design working on her graduate thesis. Focusing on creating interventions that explore and challenge the relation we have with our technologies, undermine through design. Before, she spend time at Tellart and LEGO as an interaction designer. As a designer she is trying to take up challenging problems of merging the physical and digital for societal contexts. With a heart for exploring new technologies through prototyping, approaching them from a different angle to bring a little magic to the world.
http://www.ilsepouwels.nl

Michael Baldwin
I am an American composer whose current work focuses on ways of composing experiences within and through background sociomusical activities. This work has thus far involved audiences and performing musicians listening to audio guides that lead them across discreet sonic, choreographic, and emotional terrains in parallel with musical performances and interpersonal interactions in concert settings.
https://michaelbaldwin.online

Bea Wijshijer
B. Wijshijer is a research-based artist working within digital media and video installation. Wijshijer utilizes online trends and subcultures to deconstruct mediated intimacies and personas on digital platforms. Informed by acceleration aesthetics, their work plays with excess and artifice to interrogate the ways in which late capitalism affects our digital lives. Wijshijer received their BFA in Printmaking from OCAD University in 2017 and an MFA from the University of Waterloo in 2020.
https://www.shrimpychip.net/

Paul O’Neill
Paul is an artist and researcher based in Dublin, Ireland. His practice and research is concerned with the implications of our collective dependency on networked technologies and infrastructures. This discourse is reflected in his academic background, he holds an MSc Multimedia from Dublin City University and an MA in Digital Art from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Paul is currently completing a PhD which focuses on media art practices that critique and subvert techno-solutionist narratives and histories.
https://aswemaysink.com/

Martin Disley
Martin is an artist, researcher and creative technologist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His work interrogates computer vision systems by manifesting their internal contradictions in image, video and sound. Martin was recently artist-in-residence at the National Library of Scotland and his work has exhibited at the V&A Museum (Dundee, Scotland), Summerhall (Edinburgh, Scotland), The Centre for Contemporary Arts (Glasgow, Scotland), Guterhallen Gallery (Soligen, Germany), Sala Aranyo (Barcelona, Spain) and Kunstencentrum Vooruit (Ghent, Belgium).
http://www.martindisley.co.uk

The pandemic has turned their stage shows into interactive online pieces, streamed live weekly on Twitch, including “Escape The North” which was featured as part of the Guardian’s coverage of comedy streaming.
foxdogstudios.com

Zoom Obscura Team
Zoom Obscura is led by researchers from the University of Edinburgh (Pip Thornton, Chris Elsden and Chris Speed), Durham University (Andrew Dwyer), and Kings College London (Mike Duggan), and is in collaboration with Edinburgh-based art & music collective Tinderbox Collective and curator Hannah Redler-Hawes.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/zoom-obscura-works-in-progress-tickets-141494653317&#8243

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4 Mar 2020 2 days to go, Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events, PlayAway Games & Music, PlayAway Workshops

Intro to Pure Data & Interactive Sound Workshop with Yann Seznec

Tinderbox Collective

Thu 4th Mar, 18:00 – 20:00 (GMT)

Workshop (Zoom Event)

Intro to Pure Data & Interactive Sound with Yann Seznec

Price £10/£5 (conc)

If you are on low income please get in touch at admin@tinderboxcollective.org to ask about free spaces

In this interactive workshop with sonic artist Yann Seznec, we’ll be introduced to the basics of getting started with visual programming language Pure Data, and its power for interactive audio.

Suitable for anyone interested in creative technology, completely new to design, and experienced designers with an interest in learning new tools.

To take your digital making further, check out our Bitsy One-Day Game Jam on Tues 2nd March too!

For ages 16+

This workshop is held via a Zoom Call and spaces are limited – please register to attend

You’ll need:

A computer or laptop

Access to internet

Pure Data downloaded to your computer: puredata.info

Headphones

–

Yann Seznec

Yann Seznec is an artist whose work focuses on sound, music, physical interaction, games, and building new instruments. Recent projects include residencies at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Floating Cinema in London, Playable City Lagos, and Timespan in the Scottish Highlands. He has performed at The Roundhouse London, Mutek Montreal, Melbourne Recital Hall, Liquid Rooms Tokyo, Köln Philharmonie, Fak’ugesi Johannesburg, and more. Much of his work involves building custom instruments such as musical pigsties, slinky instruments, candle-based sound installations, electromechanical mushroom spore reactors, and more.

He is founder of BAFTA-winning creative studio Lucky Frame. In December 2015 he received the British Composer Award for Sonic Art for his 2014 Edinburgh Art Festival work “Currents”.

Yann has been Game Designer in Residence at the MICA Game Lab in Baltimore, Maryland, since 2019. This residency runs until August 2021.

Website: yannseznec.com
Twitter: @yannseznec

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3 Mar 2020 PlayAway Ar & Vr, Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events, Playaway Game Design

Virtual Reality (VR) Mini-Talks

Tinderbox Collective

Wed 3rd Mar, 13:00 – 14:00 (GMT)

Virtual Reality Mini-Talks

Speakers:
Jung In Jung
Paul Blackham
Brian Allen (Bearharmmer Games)
Thomas Kildren (Fletcher Studios)
Andy Antoniou (Furry Tail Dragon)

Game designers and creative technologists working in the field of Virtual Reality will demo and talk about their work in a series of 5-15 minute fascinating mini-talks, exploring the range and creative possibility of VR as an interactive artform.

More info coming soon!

Jung In Jung

Jung In Jung is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher. Her work focuses on the playful and intimate relationship with sound, movement, and interactive technology. She has presented her work at various international conferences and festivals. In 2019, she joined the research centre InGAME: Innovation for Games and Media Enterprise based in Dundee, Scotland as a research and development fellow. Her research interests lie in interactive engagement, experimentation with different senses, accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity. Currently, she is involved in several projects from InGAME such as developing and testing a new Text-to-Speech plugin for dyslexic players with Lowtek Games and running the Experimental Games Lab with the partner organisation Biome Collective as a Brain Trust.

Website: www.junginjung.com

Twitter: @junginjung_

Paul Blackham

I am a game artist and research assistant at InGAME. My skillset predominantly focuses on 3D modelling and texturing, but I also work in rapid prototyping of interactive media. I joined InGAME after completing a Professional Masters in Games Development at Abertay University. My experience in a variety of additional areas, such as shader programming and pipeline tool development allow me to work holistically on prototypes or assist in projects wherever needed.

Website: paulblackham.co.uk

Twitter: @mrPaulBalckham

Brian Allen
Independent Unreal Engine VR Game Developer, prior Producer/Product Manager at Studio Roqovan, Gameloft, Gamehouse Canada, and Spinmaster.

Originally from Toronto, Canada but moved to Edinburgh two years ago.

During his talk Brian will showcase virtual reality action RPG (role-playing game) combat & exploration.

Website: Steam
Twitter: @bearhammergames

Thomas Kildren
Hi. I’m Thomas. I’m a stay at home dad; and I’m making a VR game based on the drawings of my kid.

He’s on the autism spectrum and doesn’t talk much – but he really likes to draw. The game is a 3rd person platformer centered around exploration, helping others and solving problems. If the game takes off – I want to donate part of the proceeds to autism awareness and acceptance.

–

Thomas ‘Fletcher’ Kildren is a creative powerhouse from NYC, now living in the gritty Rust Belt. Trained as an illustrator, he made the jump to digital as a Photo Editor at the New York Post. He soon taught himself other disciplines like 3D modeling & animation. VR development has been his biggest achievement, as its the culmination of all his previous disciplines & his fervent hope is that ‘Booper, Get Home!’ will be the launch of his game dev career. He is currently juggling game dev while being a stay-at-home dad tending to a wife, 2 boys and a neurotic housecat.

Website: fletcherstudios.net
Twitter: @thomaskildren

Andy Antoniou
Designer and founder of FurryTailDragon

Andy designs games and immersive experiences with inclusivity at the forefront. He is also an award-winning generalist, creative consultant and director – working across several creative industries. Andy has most recently delivered for the likes of Sky, Nat Geo and Johnson & Johnson.

M is a VR “sitting-simulator” in which snippets of memories are discovered when light and shadows come to life. Orphaned shadows can be picked up and then become physical objects, which are used to alter a fragmented and abstract environment.

This mini-talk will explore some of the ways in which M’s demo was built with accessibility in mind, to make a better VR experience.

Website: FurryTailDragon.com

Twitter: FurryTailDragon

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2 Mar 2020 Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events, Playaway Game Design, PlayAway Workshops

Introduction to Bitsy Workshop: Making Games with Small Tools – with Claire Morwood (Biome Collective)

Tinderbox Collective

Tue 2nd Mar, 09:30 – 12:30 (GMT)

Workshop (Zoom Event)

Introduction to Bitsy Workshop: Making Games with Small Tools – with Claire Morwood (Biome Collective)

Price £10/£5 (conc)

If you are on low income please get in touch at admin@tinderboxcollective.org to ask about free spaces

Play the 16 games made!

PlayAway Jam Bitsy Games

In this workshop with game designer and co-founder of 3-Fold Games Claire Morwood (Biome Collective), we will be introduced to the basics of game design, the history of small digital tools, and set off on making your own Bitsy game!

Suitable for anyone interested in creative technology, completely new to game design, and experienced game designers with an interest in learning new tools.

During the day, Tinderbox is also running a Bitsy One-Day Game Jam! This is open to anyone (whether you attend the workshop or not) to join and share your games.

For ages 16+.

This workshop is held via a Zoom Call and spaces are limited – please register to attend

About Bitsy:
Bitsy is a free-to-use online/browser-based game-making tool created by Adam Le Doux, that allows you to make small games & interactive pieces without programming. You don’t need to download anything to run Bitsy – you’ll just need to have this page open during the workshop to work on your own game:
https://ledoux.itch.io/bitsy

You will need:
A computer or laptop
Access to internet

Claire Morwood
Claire is a self-taught programmer, artist, game designer, and member of games & digital art community Biome Collective. She works freelance as well as on her own personal projects, and has a number of creative interests including pixel art, claymation, programming and developing in Unity.
She is particularly interested in games that promote exploration, personal and diverse narratives, and non-violence. She is also a big fan of small tools such as Bitsy, and their accessible nature. She has run events and game jams (such as Fuse Jam), which aim to provide open creative spaces for people to play and collaborate. Claire’s most recent project is Before I Forget with her company 3-Fold Games, a narrative exploration game about a woman living with dementia.

Websites: shimmerwitch.space | 3foldgames.uk
Twitter: @shimmerwitch

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If you have booked a space for the workshop, please read this Guide from Claire in advance:

Get Setup With Bitsy Guide

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1 Mar 2020 Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events, PlayAway Games & Music, PlayAway Workshops

Artificial Images: An introduction to art and machine learning

Tinderbox Collective

Mon 1st March, 15:00 – 16:00 (GMT)

Talk + Q&A (Zoom Event)

An introduction to art and machine learning.

An exploration of generating and creating art with machine learning, with artist and AI researchers Derrick Schultz and Lia Coleman.

–

Derrick Schultz

Artificial Images is the art practice of Derrick Schultz. Utilizing cutting edge machine learning technology, his work explores multisensory perception, generative abstraction, and the future of ecology.

In addition to creating his own work, Derrick also teaches machine learning to artists, designers, and image makers. Artificial Images courses combine small group personal instruction with a digital community from across the world.

Website: artificial-images.com

Twitter: @dvsch

Instagram: @dvsmethid

Lia Coleman

Lia Coleman is an artist, AI researcher, and educator. She makes art with AI and teaches others how to do it.

Lia teaches machine learning art at Rhode Island School of Design, as well as classes through Artificial Images. She has spoken on AI art at NeurIPS, New York University, RISD, Mozilla Festival, Gray Area, and Partnership on AI. Her writing on AI and new media art has been published by Princeton Architectural Press and Neocha Magazine. Lia holds a BSc in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is an alumnus of the School for Poetic Computation in NYC.

Website: liacoleman.com | linktr.ee/liacole

Twitter: @Lialialiacole

Instagram: @liacole7

Our Creative Technology strand is sponsored by:

Creative Informatics supports creative individuals and organisations in Edinburgh and South East Scotland to do inspiring things with data. Find out about their funding and development opportunities at creativeinformatics.org

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26 Feb 2020 Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events, PlayAway Games, Education & Wellbeing, PlayAway Workshops

Tinderbox Makerbox: Electronic Crafty Kits & Workshop for Young People

Tinderbox Collective

Fri 26th Feb, 16:00-17:00 (GMT)

Free Kits & Optional Workshop (Zoom Event)

Sign up to receive a free Tinderbox Makerbox electronic crafty kit, plus join an optional workshop if you’d like to build the kits with us!

The Tinderbox Makerbox kits are exciting and creative ways to explore the basics of electronics and make something fun in the process!

Sign up to book a free kit for children & young people aged 18 or younger, completely free of charge, while our stocks last.

If you’d like to, you can also join our workshop on Fri 26th where you can build your kit with someone, ask any questions, or just show-off your creation!

The workshop is held via a Zoom Call and spaces are limited – if you’d like to attend the workshop, please register so that we may send your kits in time.

Workshop Age: 10 – 16 years

Available kits:

Jingle Baubells (for ages 8+)

Make a sound-making decorative robot!

Note – these kits were originally festive themed but they can be decorated however you like.

Glowed Up Gloves (for ages 12+)

These kits include sewable electronics for making gloves that light-up when the fingers touch.

You can choose which kit you’d like and if you’d like a space at the workshop when registering.

To find out more about the kits go to:

tinderboxcollective.org/jingle-baubell-instructions

Kit warning:
Please note that these kits contain small parts that are choking hazards for small children, including a ‘coin cell battery’ (3V CR2032) that can be very dangerous if swallowed. Please also be aware that the battery holder is not lockable so the battery is easy to insert and remove even when the kit is assembled.

If you have booked a space for the workshop:

If you have a Jingle Baubells Makerbox you will need these things for the workshop:

One device to join the Zoom call workshop
Glue
A pair of scissors
Bluetack
Your Jingle Baubells kit

If you have a Glowed Up Gloves Makerbox you will need these things for the workshop:

One device to join the Zoom call workshop
A sewing needle
A pair of scissors
Your Glowed Up Gloves kit

If you have any questions please let us know at admin@tinderboxcollective.org

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25 Feb 2020 PlayAway, Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events

CI Lab 15: Just the ticket – Performance, Payment and Data

Tinderbox Collective

Thu 25th Feb, 18:00 – 20:00 GMT

CI Lab 15: Just the ticket – Performance, Payment and Data
with Creative Informatics

Note: This event is being run by Creative Informatics and has a separate booking system. Book a ticket here.

Throughout 2020, live events and festivals were forced to either cancel their plans or move online as venues and performance spaces across the UK and beyond closed their doors in compliance with Covid-19 restrictions. As events moved online, so did audiences, providing new challenges around audience engagement and ticketing for live events producers, who could no longer offer traditional tickets sold through a box office, for a limited number of physical seats.

At a time where content creators stream live on YouTube and Twitch without selling any tickets, relying on advertising, subscriptions, digital gifts and donations to generate income, how can event producers engage online audiences, who often expect creative content to be free and available to enjoy at any time convenient to them?

Join the Creative Informatics team to hear from theatre and festival producers including Edinburgh International Book Festival, Traverse Theatre and Civic Digits Theatre Company, ticketing provider CrowdEngage, and Resident Entrepreneurs Scottie and Centrline, as we consider what ‘tickets’ and payment for live events and performance might look like in the future.

Note: This event is being run by Creative Informatics and has a separate booking system. Book a ticket here.

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24 Feb 2020 Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events, PlayAway Games & Music, PlayAway Workshops

Live coding music patterns with TidalCycles

Tinderbox Collective

Wed 24th Feb, 17:00 – 18:00 (GMT)

Talk + Performance (Zoom Event)

Live coding music patterns with TidalCycles

An introduction to TidalCycles with creator Alex McLean, and its playful, pattern-based approach to making live music with code.

Alex McLean
Alex is a musician, software artist and researcher based between Sheffield and Munich. He is active across the digital arts, co-founding the Algorave and TOPLAP live coding movements, and the AlgoMech festival for algorithmic and mechanical movement. He created the popular free/open source TidalCycles live coding environment for music, performing with it at festivals around the world including Sonar, Glastonbury, STRP, Vivo, Transmediale, Ars Electronica and No Bounds. As a researcher he works part time as part of the PENELOPE project, investigating the structures of ancient weaves, and re-inserting weaving in the history of science and technology.

Websites:
slab.org
tidalcycles.org
post.lurk.org/@yaxu

YouTube: yaxu

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Our Creative Technology strand is sponsored by:

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23 Feb 2020 Playaway Creative Technology, Playaway Events, Playaway Game Design, Playaway Games & Theatre

Mixed Realities: Virtual and Physical Interaction

Tinderbox Collective

Tue 23rd Feb, 18:00 – 19:00 (GMT)

Panel Talk (Zoom Event)
Mixed Realities: Virtual and Physical Interaction

Panelists:
Mona Bozdog
Foxdog Studios
Laura E Hall

Chaired by: Yann Seznec

A discussion with artists and game designers who explore the cross-over between virtual and physical experiences, such as alternate reality games (ARGs) and interactive theatre and comedy.

Yann Seznec
Yann Seznec is an artist whose work focuses on sound, music, physical interaction, games, and building new instruments. Recent projects include residencies at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Floating Cinema in London, Playable City Lagos, and Timespan in the Scottish Highlands. He has performed at The Roundhouse London, Mutek Montreal, Melbourne Recital Hall, Liquid Rooms Tokyo, Köln Philharmonie, Fak’ugesi Johannesburg, and more. Much of his work involves building custom instruments such as musical pigsties, slinky instruments, candle-based sound installations, electromechanical mushroom spore reactors, and more.

Website: yannseznec.com
Twitter: @yannseznec

Mona Bozdog
Mona is a Lecturer in Immersive Experience Design at Abertay University. Her research is practice-based and focuses on the convergence of contemporary performance practices and video games, particularly designing hybrid forms of storytelling, performative games, mixed-reality and immersive experiences and games for public spaces and heritage sites. Mona is currently working on a series of projects that investigate the potential of games for capturing, preserving and sharing lived experience and oral herstories.

Twitter: @MonaBozdog
Website: performingplay.co.uk

Foxdog Studios
Foxdog Studios, Lloyd Henning and Peter Sutton, are computer programmers turned live performers. They create comedy shows that put the audience in control of interactive games and DIY gadgets. Their live show, “Robot Chef”, was a sell-out at the Edinburgh Fringe and had viewers cook sausage and beans by controlling a robot on their phones (a highlight being firing a hotdog from a cannon).

The pandemic has turned their stage shows into interactive online pieces, streamed live weekly on Twitch, including “Escape The North” which was featured as part of the Guardian’s coverage of comedy streaming.

Website: foxdogstudios.com

Twitch: twitch.tv/foxdogstudios

Twitter: @foxdogstudios

Instagram: instagram.com/foxdogstudios

Facebook: facebook.com/foxdogstudios

Laura E Hall

Laura E. Hall is an artist, writer, puzzle-maker, immersive environment and narrative designer living in Portland, Oregon. Her work focuses on the intersections between arts, culture, and technology, especially in gaming.

She is the founder of puzzle, game, and experience design company Timberview Productions, founder of Portland’s first escape the room game company, the award-winning Meridian Adventure Co., and the author of Katamari Damacy for Boss Fight Books and Planning Your Escape for Simon and Schuster’s Tiller Press. She proudly serves on the board of the Portland Indie Game Squad (PIGSquad), a non-profit organization supporting indie game development and community in Portland.

Website: lauraehall.com

Twitter: @lauraehall

Instagram: @lauhall

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