Curiosity Collective : Strive and stuff happens

A few weeks ago a bunch of us went along to HAC, “…an evening concert of contemporary audio-visual computer performances” as part of the Ipswich Pulse Festival. It was all organised by our friend of curiosity, Ryan Jordan.

The line-up was: Phil Archer (who also had a nice interactive plant piece), John Bowers (our new friend), Ed Kelly, Ryan Jordan, our own Matthew Applegate - aka Pixelh8 and From Honey to Ashes (Mick Grierson, Matt Lewis, Jeremy Keenan and Edgar Curtis). Many accompanied by curiosity’s Martin Russ and his amazing visualisers.

In the foyer Tom and I created an illuminated inflatable sculpture, using PC fans and an Arduino (inevitably). This was inspired by Paul and Cefn’s original Flate.

A thoroughly noisy evening was had by all! : )

Cheers,
Dave.

PS - Anyone got any good pictures?

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I love the mechanical simplicity of this and how difficult it must have been to get it to work with such apparent ease. All this is happening with a single motor and cam arrangement.

(via MAKE)

Having seen the wonderful things Tim Hunkin has made, it’d be great to try out some automata for the Proverbs Show. I got a copy of Cabaret Mechanical Movement which looks like a good place to start. Very happy to lend that to anyone who’s interested. I also bought one of the Timberkits kits - lots of fun!

Cheers,
Dave.

Related: Kinetica - Museum of Kinetic Art

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A couple of weeks ago we had a field-trip to the Under the Pier Show at Southwold. We were shown around by its creator and our new friend, Tim Hunkin.

As Tim puts it the Under the Pier Show is, “A mad collection of home-made slot machines & simulator rides on Southwold Pier”. We got Autofrisk’ed, toned-up with Quickfit and journeyed to the bottom of the sea in the Bathyscape. I think my favourite is the Mobility Masterclass; I really like the combination of mechanics and video - it’s also really good fun!

Tim’s short film For Amusement Only talks about many of the things we saw and some interesting reflections of amusement arcades:

Many thanks to Tim for a really entertaining and inspiring evening.

Cheers,
Dave.

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We’ve all been busy getting ready for our third show in Ipswich next week, at St Mary’s at the Quay, Key Street.

We’ve got a really good line-up with lots of news stuff to share with the world:

1. iPhore - Cefn Hoile
Re-imagining of semaphore messages using web-cams and computer vision.

2. Two Wind-up Sculptures - Jonathan Clift
Simple visual puzzles from hacked consumer items.

3. Pixelh8 - Matthew Applegate
Chip-tune musician.

4. train_clock - David Chatting
How transport systems reshape the country. A clock showing the time to travel by train to destinations in the UK from Ipswich.

5. Laser Tag - Graffiti Labs (demonstrated by Tom Juby)
Non-destructive virtual graffiti.

6. Video Feedback - Martin Russ and Cefn Hoile
Emergent imagery from only a camera and a projector.

7. Touch Table - Tom Juby
Multi-touch tabletop.

8. Approaching Years - Craig McCahill
A hybrid portrait which appears to age as you come closer.

9. art is… some theory found on the Internet - Jonathan Clift
Definitions of art scavenged from a well-known search engine.

10. One Pixel Webcam - David Chatting
A view of the changing sky.

11. Bubble Machine - David Chatting, Craig McCahill and Robert Lenne
Leave a message for Bubbles!

Here’s the full programme for the week… [download the poster]

Saturday 19th
Talk: The Curiosity Collective (7:30pm until 9:30pm)
Things kick off with the opening of the show and a talk about us; what we’ve been doing over the past nearly three years, what we want to do in the future and why we’re doing it.

Sunday 20th
Workshop: How to Solder (3pm until 4:30pm)
Interested in trying-out electronic projects, but put-off by soldering? We’ll show you how to get great results.

We will provide a soldering iron, solder and all the things you need to get going for the afternoon. We ask you to bring a small kit you would like to build, such as those available from Maplin or Rapid Electronics. Typically these are less than ten pounds. Battery powered projects only please.

There are limited spaces available, please contact david dot chatting at mac dot com by Saturday 19th to confirm your space.

Monday 21st
Closed to the public

Tuesday 22nd
Closed to the public

Wednesday 23rd
Workshop: Pixelh8’s Chiptune music (6pm until 7:30pm)

Thursday 24th
Open (4pm until 9:30pm)

Friday 25th
Private viewing (4pm until 9:30pm)
Reception from nightfall, about 7:30pm!

Saturday 26th
Open (12 noon until 9:30pm)

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Hi – we’re having another get-together this evening (Wednesday) upstairs again in McGinty’s from 8pm

As ever, please come along to chat about your ideas and projects, the main business of the evening is however to get the programme for the show (19th to 27th April) sorted.

Cheers, hope to see you there,
Dave

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Our friend Nigel Crawley made a really nice Arduino Wiimote Hack at the recent Brighton BarCamp:

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Wednesday is all set for curiosity in McGinty’s from 8pm. It’ll be the usual informal mix of stuff people want to show and chat about, plus a focus on the upcoming show - 19th to 27th April.

I’ve already got a list of over ten pieces that we’re hoping to show. Some are ready to go, others need some work. If you’ve got something you’d like to add or you’d like to see if you could help out with someone else’s - come along on Wednesday.

We’re also going to need a hand with publicity and the like - we’ll need posters and flyers pretty soon.

Remote folk: give Cefn or me a shout and we’ll patch you in by the wonders of the Internet - we can do Skype, iChat, etc, etc

Hope to see you then, cheers,
Dave

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A reminder that Wednesday Night is Curiosity Night!

The list of pieces for the next show is growing nicely and plans are afoot for an exciting second “themed” show in the Autumn.

Please bring along your ideas and projects - I’m going to bring a fixed version of the “mobile-phone-triggered-bubble-machine” that Craig and I built. I’ll also be espousing openframeworks to anyone who’ll listen and show some of the things that were built at this weekend’s workshop.

We’re in McGinty’s again from 8pm, upstairs - the stairs are just by the door for the court-yard area.

Cheers,
Dave.

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Wow! Pixelh8’s on CNN! See here. Well done Matthew!

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