Emergence

For one night only the Soho Theatre bar will be turned upside down and inside out for an all-encompassing interactive wonderland.

EMERGENCE 01/03/2010

Kate Innes Heidi Korkala Helen Randall Hannah Smith Megan Taylor Naomi Workman

A cornucopia of audio-visual delight. Emergence will show case a selection of the best interaction design and participatory art, all to a mesmirising soundtrack from the first ladies of folk This is Laura KEETRA DEAN DIXON / MATTHEW FALLA / CHARLOTTE QUARTERMEIN / ROSS PHILLIPS / MEHMET AKTEN / THOMAS FORSYTH / THIS IS LAURA

EMERGENCE 01/03/2010 For one night only the Soho Theatre bar will be turned upside down and inside out for an all-encompassing interactive wonderland.

GROUP INSPIRATION We are a group of art and design students from a range of disciplines, encompassing painting, illustration, photography and graphic design. Our interest and work in these areas enables us to approach exhibitions and events from many perspectives, and merge crossdisciplinary boundaries.

Our individual practice is different, we come together to promote art and design that is an amalgamation of our interests and inspirations, while also being grounded in contemporary art and design history, cuurent debates and critical issues.

We have come together to combine our ideas of curation and exhibition, to input views from all angles and try to create well rounded and highly artistically informed exhibitions.

Opposite: Inspiration sources from various members of the group. Clockwise from top left: Intergraphic poster

by We Are Build, Futertainment

by Mike Walsh, Julie Verhoeven, Deanne Cheuk and Keetra Dean Dixon flyer from talk at KK Outlet.

Our main interest, as a group, is to provide an arena for new media, produced by a range of different artists and designers; both new talent and established creatives, national and international. We want to find a space in the art world and exhibition circuit, outside of established institutions, to input this new and highly technological art form, and provide a platform for further debate and exploration.

OUTLINE Definition: Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another; in this case the exhibited work and viewers. The combination of many simple interactions can in turn lead to surprising emergent events and reactions. Hence the title of our exhibition comes from this and is mirrored in the works exhibited.

Emergence: Coming forth from a place shut off from view, or from concealment, or the like, into sight and notice: Also for more intangible things like ideas, spreading from a source.

Group:

Kate Innes Heidi Korkala Helen Randall Hannah Smith Megan Taylor Naomi Workman

1.To rise from or as if from immersion: 2.To come forth from obscurity.

3. To become evident.

4. To come into existence.

Aims & Objectives •Produce an off-kilter show that promotes and encourages interaction and participatory art and design.

•Encourage creative play, surprise, delight, wonderment and involvement with the exhibited work and between the viewers.

•Bringing together and promoting a mix of unknown and more established, national and international artists/designers; whose work explores interaction and participatory practice.

SELECTED WORKS Artists & Designers •Digital Confetti - Keetra Dean Dixon with the LAB at Rockwell Group •Wonder Capsule - Keetra Dean Dixon •Aleatoric Geometry - Thomas Forsyth •Video Grid - Ross Phillips •Body Paint - Mehmet Akten •This way up - Matthew Falla

Performance Note: Selection Criteria. We wanted artists and designers who work involved a playful approach along with interaction. Our selection also took into consideration the venue and how the pieces would work within the Soho Theatre Bar.

•Puppetry - Charlotte Quatermein

Music •Band: This is Laura

Above: Example correspondence with the artists and designers in the negotiation of commissioning and hiring artwork.

KEETRA DEAN DIXON Designer & “Experimental Choreographer” Dixon developed many of her core objectives during her 2004 – 2006 masters studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work has gained notoriety for its friendly, sincere absurdism. Her socially-themed objects & installations aim to involve the viewer as an active participant. The pieces create or exemplify heightened emotional moments and often rely on context or unique interactions to complete the work’s narrative.

Keetra Dean’s work has been recognized on several fronts including a presidential teaching award, a place in the permanent design collection at the SFMOMA & the honourable ranking of ADC Young Gun. Her work has been featured in a list of publications & exhibits, the most recent including feature articles in Etapes Magazine, The Royal Magazine & Tactile/High Touch Visuals by Die-Gestalten.

Right: The wonder capsule as it will be presented to guests at the event.

November 2009: KK Outlet, Hoxton. First Solo show: ‘Its All Around You All The Time’.

Wonder Kept: Wonder Capsule This series is an attempt to encapsulate & record moments of surprise & wonder. Wonder Kept: Wonder Capsule Series #1 recontextualises familiar forms & sounds of surprise & reward from childhood. The capsules are placed in public spaces to be discovered OR released at events. When opened at an event/in the gallery space, the recipient has a choice to KEEP or SHARE their capsule, which now holds an audio record of their response. If they choose to SHARE, their capsule is re-sealed & placed in a box bearing their signature.

The new opener’s response will be layered over the original recipient’s recording.

Wonder Capsule:

::Each time the capsule is ::Capsule appears reopened, the to be empty original opener’s response plays ::When opened a magical sound plays ::Capsule immediately begins recording - capturing the sound of the opener’s response

Digital Confetti, collaborative project with the LAB at Rockwell Group.

The installation builds off traditional interactive party elements such as noise makers, confetti, balloons, and fireworks, creating an entertaining centrepiece allowing both individual and group interaction. A weather balloon floats above the exhibition space. Projectors surrounding the balloon display “Digital Confetti�. The graphic on the screen is also effected by special maracas around the room.

Shaking each of the eight maracas has a separate effect on the projected ecosystem. One stirs up the confetti, causing a firework-like spectacle of light, colour and sound. The second brings text to the surface of the balloon. Continued shaking of these maracas causes letters to vibrate and eventually flip and transform into one of a sequence of words related to design. The words are projected as black, causing them to be illuminated by the background explosions of confetti, which encourages collaborative interaction. Each maraca also generates a different musical note, creating a harmony of sounds when all shaken together.

THOMAS FORSYTH Thomas Forsyth is a recent Brighton Graduate, where he studied Wood, Metal, Ceramics and Plastics BA (Hons).

Working across both furniture design, mark making and His ever-growing inspirations include secret compartments, the colour red, human thought processes, fairytales, grey areas and resourceful use of materials.

Much of his work invites curiosity and interaction, with some pretty spectacular results.

Selected Exhibitions: Designersblock @ Interiors 2010 New collaborative project for the mighty Designersblock, NEC, Birmingham, UK, 24th - 27th January 2010

Aleatoric Geometry A playful take on connecting toys such as Lego. Any geometry in this toy is made to be more unpredictable so that it naturally resists rigid plans, designs and control.

To further encourage the process of exploration there are also hidden properties to certain parts.

Just For Kids Craft / design for children by national / regional makers and designers, Bilston Craft Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK, 14th November 2009 - 6th February 2010 Becondale House: The First Arty Party Interactive Aleatoric Geometry installation for live-in art house launch party, London, 12th Sept 2009

ROSS PHILLIPS

Right: Selection of stills taken of the Video Grid installation at The Design Museum, London.

Ross Phillips is an interaction designer and Creative Technical Director at SHOWstudio. He gained a BA in TimeBased Media from the University of the West of England in 1999 and an MA in Hypermedia from Westminster University in 2000. He later moved to Fabrica where he was a consultant for the Interactive Design department.

Since joining SHOWstudio.com in 2003, Phillips has been working on online and location based installations, including ‘Taking Liberty’s’, an installation in the window of Liberty, Regent St, and ‘Tokyo Style Clash’, based at the Beams Superstore in Tokyo. Recent work includes two projects in the 4th Seoul International Media Art Biennale and the Incheon Digital Art Festival, Korea and the exhibitions ‘The Science of Spying’ at the Science Museum, ‘Super Contemporary’ at the Design Museum in London and ‘Decode’ at The V&A. In 2008 he was nominated in the interactive category of the Designs Museum’s ‘Designs of the Year award.

MATTHEW FALLA

Note: Additionally Matthew Falla has worked with the innovative We are Build, to produce touch responsive posters and Intergraphics.

Above: The boxes and example stills of the projections contained within.

Matthew Falla is a London based designer working at the intersection of Graphic and Interaction design, employing media from print to motion graphics to conceptual interactive TV services and electronic devices. A recent graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, he runs the design consultancy, Osmotronic.

This Way Up is a project looking at the idea of content as product. While the main objective of the piece was not intended to promote interaction per se, it is a by-product of the experience and also relates back to creative play and childlike exploration.

Inside the box is a personal screen. To watch, you stick your head in and let the supposedly luxurious experience engulf you. “But happiness is fleeting, after a few moments you are reminded of the futility of the quest for happiness through objects. The realisation hits you. Here you are with your head in a cardboard box chasing a frivolous dream.�

MEHMET AKTEN Mehmet (aka Memo) Akten is an artist, musician and engineer whose work focuses on developing technology to explore the creation and performance of images and sound. Founder of the London based studio The Mega Super Awesome Visuals Company, his experience ranges from large-scale immersive interactive installations; visuals for music videos, live music and/or dance performances; to online works and mobile applications.

Combining traditional design methods and aesthetics with programmatic design, generative systems and natural human-computer interaction; he seeks to create emotional and memorable experiences.

Right: Audience interaction with Body Paint at the Decode Exhibition, The Victoria Albert Museum, London.

Recently he has exhibited installations and performances at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Manchester Bridgewater Hall, Ars Electronica, Glastonbury Festival, Minitek electronic music & innovation festival.

Body Paint is an interactive installation and performance allowing users to paint on a virtual canvas with their body, interpreting gestures and dance into evolving compositions.

The installation is designed to work with any number of people and is scalable to cover small or large areas.

While the installation is suitable for a single user, when multiple users are present a new dynamic emerges between people. A user-to-user interaction is born when the audience start playing with each other through the installation, throwing virtual paint at each other, trying to splash their friends, working collaboratively to create shared artwork, or mischievously trying to vandalize others’ work.

“My work is motivated by an ongoing curiosity and research in creating emotional interactive experiences; and related to that: using the body to perform images and sound.

The former is what really drives me: the challenge of creating an interactive experience so simple, yet joyful, with depth coming from a sense of discovery and playfulness - similar to the excitement and joy that young kids experience as they discover their environment.

These are simple pleasures that quickly lose their charm as we get older, and I’m fascinated by creating fictional environments which can recreate these feelings in adults (and children of course!).”

THIS IS LAURA

This Is Laura is a London based band that work with the idea of collaboration and interaction between musical styles and different instruments.

Starting with two girls and two instruments, they want to create a full and interactive sounding style. Hence they learnt more instruments and invited others to join.

Above: Promotional Stills of This is Laura.

They have been performing together since 2008 and since then have delighted all listeners with a splendid melange of folk, gypsy, circus, nautical and war-time filling our hearts with the sounds of the violin, cello, piano, accordion, hard, auto-harp, drums, trumpet, mandolin and even the ukulele.

Their sweet voices, singing their woeful lyrics is contrasting and exciting when interacting with the well written and talented playing of so many instruments.

The band has hosted its own events, ‘Dancing in the Dust’, which too ran along the lines of interaction and collaboration between themes, having music of all genres, art, film, and fashion all in one place.

The band continues to play gigs all around the country, and continues to push the boundaries of their style.

CHARLOTTE QUARTERMEIN

Charlotte Quatermain is a member of The Rainbow Collectors, an interactive performance company whose mission is to bring the joy of play to festivals, performance spaces and public places.

Above: Performance as part of The Rainbow Collectors. At the event Charlotte will be performing a similar puppet based piece.

The group of puppeteers story tellers, performers and circus fools have done shows and walk-about performances for festivals including The Secret Garden Party, The International Puppetry Buskers festival, Bestival, The Big Chill, as well as performing regularly at club nights, including nights hosted by The Synergy Project.

This type of performance art interacts with an audience interactive walkabouts, to puppetry and to circus spectacle, Charlotte plays with the ideas of enjoyment and embarrassment, engaging audience either physically or mentally.

Charlotte’s masterful puppetry creates highly interactive works of art from the interaction of the puppet and its master, the interacting between the puppet and domestic objects and also the interaction of these puppets with an audience.

FLOOR PLAN

Right: The Soho Theatre Basement Bar & exhibition Floor plan for the event.

BUDGET Core Costs

Budget: We are very fortunate to receive a lot of services for free or in kind, through existing contacts and friends. Hence a lot of the usual costings are not applicable to Emergence.

Artist Fees

£0.00 N/A

Hire of artwork

£1221.00 - Keetra Dean Dixon Wonder Capsules , $20 per capsule.

Insurance

£0.00 Covered by Venue

Curators Fees

£0.00 N/A

Accommodation

£0.00 N/A

Hire of Space

£0.00 N/A

Production Costs Materials

£70.00 Walls and Extension cords

Artsis Assistance £0.00 N/A Technicians

£0.00 N/A

Shipment of Artworks

£65.99 Van Hire, £515.00 Confetti Ball and Wonder Capsules

Private View

£0.00 N/A

Drinks Bar

£0.00 Free bar up to £400 from the Toucan Pub Soho.

Security

£0.00 N/A

Marketing PR Fee

£0.00 Self managed

Design Fee

£0.00 In kind - done by group.

Print

£375.00 150 x Invitations

Postage

£59.00 150 x First Class Stamps

Adverts

£0.00 N/A

Distribution

£0.00 N/A

Website Design

£0.00 N/A or seld produced

Extra Costs Curator and Artists £0.00 N/A Travel Insurance

£0.00

Documentation - Camera Person

£0.00 N/A

Sub Total £2305.99

SPONSORSHIP & FUNDRAISING To aid in the costs of the exhibition we would attempt to gain sponsorship from the following companies, The Toucan Pub and De Lane Lea, a post production company for film and television.

In return they will receive: •Public relation opportunities -Sponsorship noted in publications, and media reviews.

•Signage recognizing contribution.

•Acknowledgment on programs and promotion.

•Target marketing- a way to reach a selected audience, hopefully interested in purchasing the companies’ products or services.

Right: Draft emai for sponsorship requests.

•Gain from consumer trade on the night and in future, due to their proximity to the location •Create public awareness of their company •Both companies would gain from relationships in the community both due to their proximity to event Their generous sponsorship of this event would extend to cover costs including shipment and hire of artworks, marketing and production costs. In return for their contribution, the company will gain exposure, relevant to the media in which they work in.

MARKETING STRATEGY Emergence will be a free event. We will send invites to targeted companies and individuals. The venue capacity is 150 so in regard to public attendance, it will be organised through the use of a reserve mailing list to compile the guest list.

We want to attract those not only with an existing interest in new media and the work presented, but also a new audience and those who may not have originally considered going to such an event.

In order to generate as much interest as possible and reach a wide audience press releases and information will be sent to the following to gain media coverage. We will also utilise our existing media contacts.

Le Cool - Mat Osman, matt@lecool.com Right: Example Le Cool weekly guide listing.

The Imagist It’s Nice That - hello@itsnicethat.com YCN - info@ycnonline.com Unlike - press@unlike.net / harrie@unlike.net Time Out - Can submit event online, two weeks prior to publication.

Examples of companies and individuals that direct invites will be sent to: Mother London Wieden + Kennedy Allofus London KK Outlet The Design Conspiracy - Tom

Utilising social networking sites, such as Facebook, the event will also be placed here and guests invited through not only our independent friends lists, but also tapping the contacts of The Design Museum (and other galleries, art institutions etc.) and those of curators and critics.

Flyers/invite: The flyers will be A5 lenticular sheets with the information either printed on or laser cut out of them. Through the use of such an unusual material we hope to create excitement for the event and also instigate play and interaction before the night.

EMERGENCE Interactive delights...

Emergence 01/03/2010, 18:00 - 23:00 Soho Theatre Basement Bar 21 Dean Street, London, W1D 3NE For one night only the Soho Theatre bar will be turned upside down and inside out for an allencompassing interactive wonderland. Celebrating a wide range of disciplines from puppetry to new digital media; Emergence is a one-off interactive event. The night promises to be an audio-visual feast where the viewer is invited to experience the weird and wonderful digital screen-scape of Ross Phillips, and be the lucky recipients of an exclusive Keera Dean Dixon keepsake. The evening’s soundtrack will be provided by live band, London’s first ladies of folk, ‘This is Laura’.

Mehmet Akten - Body Paint interactive installation

Confetti Balloon interactive experience by Keetra Dean Dixon in collaboration with the LAB at Rockwell Group.

This way up by Matthew Falla, an immersive video experience.

Why is it that as adults we stop truly exploring and interacting with a space, objects and the world around us? Why should we? So embrace your inner child and join us for a night of creative play and interaction - a cornucopia of audio-visual delights.

Through the temporary installation of the works selected and live music and performances, we hope to encourage the exploration of creative play and produce enhanced, memorable experiences with the works. Creating an interactive experience so simple, yet joyful, with depth coming from a sense of discovery and playfulness - similar to the excitement and joy that young kids experience as they discover their environment.

Bringing together a range of national and international artists and designers, Emergence guarantees to be an eye-opening experience to interaction and new digital media Selection of Artists/Designers:

/Keetra Dean Dixon Keetra Dean Dixon is a genuine source of wonder. Attracting the title of “Experimental Choreographer” you never quite know what to expect from this designer/artist. From exquisite typography to multi-media installations, her work guarantees to delight.

Video Grid - Ross Phillips

Increasing recognition of her talent, earned her the accolade of ADC Young Gun in 2008 and her work was included in the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Exhibition.

/Thomas Forsyth Thomas Forsyth is a recent Brighton Graduate, where he studied Wood, Metal, Ceramics and Plastics BA (Hons). Working across both furniture design, mark making and

Aleatoric Geometry by Thomas Forsyth (2008)

His ever-growing inspirations include secret compartments, the colour red, human thought processes, fairytales, grey areas and resourceful use of materials. Much of his work invites curiosity and interaction, with some pretty spectacular results.

/Ross Phillips Ross Phillips is an interaction designer and Creative Technical Director at SHOWstudio. He gained a BA in Time-Based Media from the University of the West of England in 1999 and an MA in Hypermedia from Westminster University in 2000.

Live performance and puppetry from Charlotte Quartermein

Since joining SHOWstudio.com in 2003, Phillips has been working on online and location based installations, including ‘Taking Liberty’s’, an installation in the window of Liberty, Regent St, and ‘Tokyo Style Clash’, based at the Beams Superstore in Tokyo. Recent exhibitions include ‘The Science of Spying’ at the Science Museum, ‘Super Contemporary’ at the Design Museum in London and ‘Decode’ at The V&A. In 2008 he was nominated in the interactive category of the Designs Museum’s ‘Designs of the Year award.

Contacts

For further information / Use of pictures / Interviews Emergence: emergence6@googlemail.com Kate Innes: kate_lisette@hotmail.com Heidi Korkala: hkorkola@camberwell.arts.ac.uk Helen Randall: helen@173phaidon.com

Hannah Smith: hanah_smith@hotmail.com Megan Taylor: rozziecat@yahoo.co.uk

Kate Innes Heidi Korkala Helen Randall Hannah Smith Megan Taylor Naomi Workman