Where did January go?
February 1, 2010
Posted by Clare in: Watershed | Ideas | Bristol | Add a commentOver the last few months the Watershed team has spent a lot of time thinking about how we can a) be more joined up and b) communicate the thinking behind the ideas and people we work with, rather than just the end results. The process was started through the re-development of DShed (and how to represent a wide breadth of projects, artists and content), but also fits into the thinking being done as part of Watershed's Sustain funding. My new year's resolution then is to spend more time capturing what I am up to, as much for myself (maybe it will help me manage my diary better?) as for a wider audience to see what might be coming up.
So, highlights of last week:
Ed Cookson of The Sancho Plan emailed to ask if we would be interested in the large scale augmented reality installation they are producing. The meeting with Ed (and Phil Stenton and Tarim) was exactly the kind of meeting I like - clear ideas, a good reason to collaborate and lots of mutual value all round. The turn-around is a bit quick and I was obviously ignoring my 'no new projects post-it' but looks like we are going to make something together in early March. Hopefully this project will also bring all of Tarim's hard work to fruition and finally get some interactive work on Bristol's BBC Big Screen (in advance of The Pervasive Media Studio artists residencies in April).
Quite a lot of my time is spent showing people around the Studio, a role I refer to as Dancing Monkey. We host these visits for many reasons (to remain open to new ideas/contacts, to profile projects, to please funders). Whilst sometimes they feel like they are taking me away from 'real work' they often bring valuable and serendipitous contacts and Friday's visits were particularly good, especially as the studio was buzzing with Mobile Pie's Global Games Jam. First came Caroline Thomson, Chief Operating Officer of the BBC and then Paul Gough and Guy Orpen, Vice Chancellors of Research at UWE and University of Bristol respectively. Residents informally presented their projects and fed back on the value of the studio with sincerity and generosity. I am hopeful that UWE, University of Bristol and BBC will all become more involved in the Studio over the forthcoming months and the tour certainly helped establish some common interests.
A couple of years ago we started some interesting work (with Demos) on the public spaces around Watershed but a changed economy forced us to put this work on hold. This week it was really exciting to re-visit this thinking and get together a team from across Watershed to plan a series of Light Graffiti Workshops with Tine Bech. I met Tine when she was taking part in Method (Cultural Leadership Programme) and last year she secured a PhD place with UWE's DCRC. She is now partly based at the Studio and is researching the creation of interactive installations which enhance our engagement with our environment. With DCRC funding we are working with Tine to produce three light drawing workshops to explore how staff, audience and people who don't come to Watershed feel about the space outside of our building. The results will feed in to the eventual creation of a new installation by Tine for this space. Details of how to get involved will be posted soon on the Watershed website.
Other good things: Seeing the footage of AntiVJ's latest work (will post when it's online), Studio advisory group (two years in!), more Theatre Sandbox planning, interviewing for the DCRC Knowledge Transfer associate and catching up with Luke Jerram on his Aeolus project.
The bad bits - having to pull out of assessing for EPSRC's Research in the Wild Call and the Bristol Media digital dinner due to sporting a terrible cough and having to retire to bed.
Meanwhile this week brings a Watershed board meeting in which Mark, Louise and I will present the work we have done towards re-presenting our curatorial policy, and my final interview for the UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur award (which weirdly British Council seem to have taken down the website for).
Arts & Business Research digital case study
February 1, 2010
Posted by Clare in: Watershed | Innovation | Bristol | Add a comment
Back in November I was contacted by Arts&Business as they wanted to feature Watershed as a case study in some research they were doing on how digital technology is affecting the way cultural organisations engage with their audiences.
Today they published a really nice overview of some of the ways Watershed and The Pervasive Media Studio has engaged with digital technologies, through DShed and projects like The Extended Theatre Experience:
"Watershed embodies the future of audiovisual literacy, exploiting the shift towards conversation and participation (rather than mere didactic presentation) that digital technologies enable…. The second aspect is to recognise the entrepreneurial and innovative possibilities that digital technologies afford around a closer working relationship between the cultural and commercial sectors."
Read the full case study (as well as overviews of some other organisations doing great digital work) here.
My first week
December 11, 2009
Posted by Katie Day in: Watershed | Innovation | Technology | Recruitment | Add a commentHi there, I'm Katie Day, the newest addition to the iShed team. Over the coming year I'll be running a new programme: Theatre Sandbox (like Media Sandbox, but with Theatre).
My background is in theatre, and for the last 6 years I've been running my own experimental theatre company full time - www.theotherwayworks.co.uk
I'm based at Watershed for 12 months as part of a Cultural Leadership Placement, so I'm here with two hats on: one to run the Theatre Sandbox scheme, and two to 'develop as a cultural leader' (whatever that means exactly).
This week has been mostly about working out what goes on here at Watershed, iShed, and the Pervasive Media Studio, and who everyone is, and what they do. So, quite a lot then.
Hard to sum all of that up, but here are three things that I've heard people say in meetings this week that have stood out for me (mostly because they're a bit wierd or funny):
- The rendering of fur is a real problem
- Thank God for the Coen Brothers
- I'm very excited by archives
They make a bit more sense when the contexts are explained. Here they are below in the same order:
- In relation to the animation industry, and the creation of furry or animal type characters
- In the Monday morning meeting, in relation to box office takings from the Cinemas
- In relation to future digitisation and re-presentation of archives
I've received a very warm welcome, and have been inspired by what an open and collaborative organisation Watershed is.
I've also, most importantly, eaten some very nice soup in the cafe bar.
See you on Monday.
Attending C&binet - what can it possibly achieve?
October 13, 2009
Posted by Clare in: Events | Watershed | Innovation | Technology | Add a commentIn a couple of weeks time I am attending C&binet (The Creativity and Business International Network), a three day conference bringing together creative businesses and leaders from around the globe.
C&binet was created by the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of Creative Britain's 26 commitments to bring the creative industries into the mainstream of the UK economy. The event's themes include access to finance, new business models, developing talent and securing creative rights. I am participating in a digital economy fringe panel led by Simon Evans of Creative Clusters and was asked by Alastair Findlay of the C&binet team to put together some thoughts for the conference blog on what I hope it will achieve:
What can C&binet achieve?
Producing a purposeful international dialogue around the challenges and opportunities of the creative economy is no small undertaking given the diverse set of interests, disciplines, business models and organisational cultures at play. What then are my hopes for C&binet? It is this very diversity (in attendee and theme) which plays into the concerns of Watershed, a ‘cross art form’ media centre established in Bristol in 1982:
As we know, the creative industries are going through a period of rapid change. As technologies converge and platforms proliferate, finding time and space to develop content, applications and services which capture imagination and deliver value has become even more tricky.
Across our artistic programme, through investment and support schemes like Media Sandbox and in The Pervasive Media Studio (an open innovation research space), Watershed seeks to develop meaningful opportunities for future, emerging and established talent. By joining up creative businesses, artists, researchers, technology firms and (critically) an engaged population of early adopters, we are able to link knowledge, explore new markets and produce innovative ideas, products and processes. But this space is high-risk and there is both challenge and opportunity in responding to demand with an open approach. A need for new thinking is required:
Public service content for instance is being redefined by the inexorable spread of digital connectivity. Digital Britain says 'Public service content in Digital Britain now comes from a much wider range of sources than in the analogue age’. Like Tate, the Royal Opera House and RSC, Watershed’s creative content now reaches a wider public online than through our physical building.
The combination of digital disruption and the UK’s global advantage in high-quality arts and broadcast provision provides huge opportunity: to engage more widely, to explore the pervasive power of 'prosumer' creative energy and to pioneer new forms of economic, cultural and social value. But significant culture shifts will need to occur to enable meaningful, equitable models of collaboration in this space.
For the UK the policy challenge is how we resource risk in a public funding climate that defaults to tangible known and measurable outcomes in conventional economy terms.
To push the boundaries of new technologies, engage the broadest pool of talent and stay internationally competitive we must involve a diverse range of producers and users from across the value chain, understanding that current mechanisms of support and development will be challenged to their core.
My hope is that C&binet will inform and sustain a genuine and meaningful commitment (from those working in the creative economy as well as from policy makers) to cross-sectoral collaboration which responds to this fast moving world with open, engaged ways of thinking and working.
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If you want to get involved, C&binet will be streamed live. You’ll be able to comment on the sessions during the live streaming and feed in to the debate. You can also submit your comments and questions in advance and follow the ongoing debate through the blog and via the c&binet twitter feed.
AntiVJ Artists' Showcase and Discussion now on dShed
September 28, 2009
Posted by Shirin in: Watershed | Innovation | Technology | Bristol | Add a comment
International visual label AntiVJ visited Watershed earlier this month for a showcase of their recent projects and an in-conversation presentation with Watershed's Head of Programme Mark Cosgrove and HP Labs' Research Director Phil Stenton.The event included a talk by AntiVJ member Joanie Lemercier, the demonstration of a 3D installation using AntiVJ's stereoscopic software and a lively discussion on the impact of utilising today's technologies, the relationship between technology and narration and the future of 3D in and outside cinema.
AntiVJ, who received international acclaim for their installations and projections in Montreal, Brussels, New Songdo City and Shanghai, combine powerful video projections with digital mapping techniques and holographic illusions to offer an alternative perception on social spaces and cultural communication. Offering a compelling insight into why AntiVJ are at the forefront of a new, boundary crossing art form, the showcase is now online at dShed.
dShed is Watershed's online showcase of digital creativity being produced in the South West of England and beyond. dShed provides a publishing platform for artists, media producers and communities and a space to view, explore, create, learn, discuss and debate about creative digital media and culture.
