The event which has most piqued my curioisity is entitled “My Dad’s on Twitter but he doesn’t know why”.  More than just another opportunity to ‘talk shop’, this event promises to collate the ideas and input of attendees into a collaborative group mind map exploring how and why people use social media.  In addition, after the event there will be an opportunity for an online audience to have input into the map as well.  I’m keen to see how this will utilise Bubbl.us – something I stumbled across earlier this week, and which looks like another great free tool.

The event which has most piqued my TASTEBUDS however, is definitely the festival finale – a grand high tea for 300 creative workers in Fazeley Studio’s magnificently restored 19th century chapel reception.  Fazeley currently provides a high tea for tenants every Thursday and have decided to build upon the success of this for the festival.  I’ve been promised there are exciting and secretive things planned for this event which will be unveiled on the day, but if the promise of the tea alone isn’t enough of an incentive, there will also be a preview of the latest Ikon Eastside exhibition – an installation by an emerging Chinese artist called Xu Zhen.

For more details on all of the events taking place during the festival, the Fazeley Digital website will keep you in the loop,  as well as provide opportunities to sign-up for certain events and provide feedback/interact with others.

© Adrienne for Created in Birmingham, 2009. | One comment |

The aim of the game is to move about in the real world to locations that are mapped onto the game world of Love City. Players score points by sending messages to players who share locations with them in the game world. The game was originally launched across 3 cities (Nottingham, Leicester and Derby) on Valentines Day 2007.

Mudlark are currently developing ‘Chromaroma’ a project backed by the 4IP fund and Screen West Midlands. The website describes it as ‘a pervasive online game played in the real world’. It uses smart cards and urban mass transit systems as a currency and environment to allow people to play as they commute, travel and move around their urban environments.

This is one of the most exciting companies I have seen in a long time, who seem to be successfully combining a games company, a TV company and a web company. The website is clean, crisp and outlines what they do without all of the usual alienating mumbo-jumbo speak. They will be getting together with an invited a group of people who are also developing new practices, projects and ideas on a similar ethos on Friday 22nd, and hopefully will be posting any interesting outcomes onto their website.

© Kate Spragg for Created in Birmingham, 2009. | One comment |

You can download the audio from the website and play it via a Garmin or TomTom satnav thingy or a GPS-enabled smartphone or PDA. It’ll play on your computer too if you want a taster.

In case you’re interested in creating something similar yourself then have a look at Geovative for the tech behind the scenes.

There’s a bit of a review here from The Guardian and I’ve downloaded them for the next time I’m out and about. If anyone else has a go I’d be interested to hear what you think.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2009. | Add a comment |

Paul Willocks is a graphic designer who makes digital art. He also produces music under the name Tech Star – he designed the above CD cover for the release of his most recent single ‘Switchblade’.

There’s quite an in-depth interview with him on Abduzeedo.

(Found via Behance)

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | Add a comment |

Featuring:

• Paul Groves as Cinderella
• Nicky Getgood as Prince Charming

With special guests:

• Tom Watson MP (West Brom) as Baron Tweetup
• Jemima Kiss (Guardian tech correspondent) as Baroness Tweetup, the wicked stepmother

I’m going to be one of the ugly sisters. Follow @twitpanto on Twitter or check this Twitter search every so often to keep up to date.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | One comment |

LUCID is a research project funded by Advantage West Midlands as part of Birmingham’s Science City project which aims to help SMEs in the area to develop content and applications for mobile devices.

Screen Media Lab has created two workshops to bring ICT and multimedia SMEs in the West Midlands up to speed with the latest developments in mobile information delivery, and enable them to start providing mobile content and services.

The first workshop, on Jan 22nd 09, will give the SMEs an introduction to the issues, technology and opportunities. The second workshop, on Feb 5th 09, will deliver a set of practical tutorials and consultancy with mobile experts.

For more information, please contact Alexa Torlo on 0121 204 9882 or alexa.torlo@bcu.ac.uk

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | Add a comment |

David is a photographer at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and also lectures, consults and does bits of art design and graphic design.

The website was put together by Tak! and has a soundtrack provided by Chris Herbert which is remarkable because it’s interactive (try moving the three lines about) and didn’t have me reaching for the mute button like most autostart music on websites.

(Via Surely?, Tak! and CMYKern)

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | Add a comment |

Media Talent Bank is a collective of creatives, media organisations and freelancers. Through this robust online database of individuals, employers can source the hottest creative talent around through personalised profiles.

This project is funded by Digital Central and managed by Media Content Lab part of Birmingham City University with the aim of galvanising the West Midlands creative and media communities into a strong and sustainable sector

It’ll be interesting to see how this takes off. If you’re a creative type then I’d say it’s probably worth a couple of minutes of your time to fill out a profile – you never know who might be looking to give you some work.

Another site maybe worth checking is Behance. It’s not for everyone though – you have to ask to be invited – but it aims to be a (fairly prestigious) platform for the world’s leading creative professionals. There’s a few folks from Birmingham on there but of those, only Suzie Webb (website) has had a mention here before.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 2 comments |

At long last The Drum is launching “Young Gifted Brum“, a free and continuous program of performing and digital arts for Children and Young People.

The launch will take place on Thursday, 6th November at 5.30pm – 7.30pm at The Drum, Aston and all Young People aged 8-18yrs are welcome to come along if they are interested in Singing, Dance, Music, Digital Art, Acting and Spoken Word to find out what will be on offer in the coming months. They do not have to have any experience and it is not just open to people who want to perform. There will be an opportunity to showcase your talents at two annual events, whether your talents lie in producing, writing, directing, delivering events or performing in them.

There will also be a free “Taster Session” that will take place at The Drum on Saturday, 8th November between 12pm and 4pm.

For more information please contact Dee on (0121) 333 2431

Taken from the Arts Council’s free mailing list, which is free and worth making use of.  I imagine it goes to quite a lot of people nationwide and it’d be great to have plenty of Birmingham (and other West Mids) stuff on it.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | Add a comment |

Eye of the Storm is a digital project that has started off in Birmingham with involvement from Sandra Hall from Friction Arts. Voila le blurb:

What do a human statue, a divorce lawyer, a buddhist and a recovering drug addict have in common? The invisible connections between very different Birmingham lives are laid bare in a new online and real-world project that explores how people find peace within the noise of 21st century living.

There are two parts, with the website showcasing the stories, with an outdoor digital art installation due to appear in the city centre at some point.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | Add a comment |

Hello World is:

Birmingham’s international digital media conference, held at Millennium Point from October 23-24 as part of the Hello Digital festival

Tickets at the talks are free but, given the calibre of some of the speakers (impressive bods from Flickr, Pixar, Channel 4 and so on), really will need to be booked online pretty sharpish.

Here’s the line-up.

Thursday 23 Oct:

• 9.30am – Gaming Gets Serious
• 11.15am – Doing Business in a Digital World
• 2pm – Digital Content Creation and Distribution

Friday 24 Oct:

• 10am – 4iP Regional Launch
• 11.45am – Digital Debate: Do or Die? Coping With Convergence in the Digital Age
• 1pm – “Talent 2 Market”- Developing the Skills of the Creative and Media Sector
• 2.30pm – In Conversation with Heather Champ, Director of Community at Flickr
• 3.45pm – In Conversation with Michal Makarewicz, Pixar Animation Studios

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 3 comments |

cutup loads of tv and film footage and make daft audio and video with the results

and describe themselves as the Chuckle Brothers with samplers. Think adverts, political speeches, sitcoms and music videos all mixed together inna cheeky style, along the lines of Eclectic Method, Negativland and The Party Party, if you’ve heard of them.

My favourite track (so far) is DJ Reach’s recreation of NERD’s ‘Lapdance’, using quotes from Alan Partridge. It’s very special (and maybe ever so slightly NSFW) and is on his Myspace page.

The Chop Shop are DJ Reach (who also has a YouTube page) and Roger Species and they’ll be playing at Custom Made at the Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath on 24 May.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | Add a comment |

On Saturday semi-serious (i think) art group Digital Is Dangerous will be hosting a debate on digital technology’s role in the creative process. Conformed speakers include Robin Giorno, Jonathan Green, Keir Williams and artist and researcher for Wolverhampton uni Robert Grose (cant find a website sorry).

Event starts at 3pm and goes on till 5pm with D.I.D providing “a wonderful selection of edible digital nipples” and this all goes down at Jibbering Records in Mosley. I’ll be the one in with the long hair and mouth full of nipples.

© dannysmith for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 3 comments |

World Record Attempt (deadline for proposals 18th March)

Audiences Central wants to appoint an artist or artist/design team to break the world record for the largest photo mosaic in the world, as the culmination of our ‘Big Picture’ project.

The current record is 94,392 photographs covering an area of 562.85 m2 (6,058.46 ft2). Both numbers need to be surpassed in order to break the record.

MMS Upload Project (deadline for proposals 25th March)

Audiences Central wants to appoint an artist or artist/design team to produce an engaging online concept that will drive MMS photo uploads to the ‘Big Picture’ project.

The same artist/team may apply for both projects.

© jgilbert for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 5 comments |

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | One comment |

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | Add a comment |

The details of next year’s festival are still being put together, but I can reveal that it will be a four-day showcase and it will give everyone in the region the chance to really get stuck in to experimenting in a digital world.

When plans for this were being mooted earlier in the year there was a lot of emphasis on the weight of governmental support (both local, regional and national) behind it and, with this announcement that the city council has committed their portion of the cash it looks to be becoming a reality.

It’ll be interesting to see how this develops over the next year. There’s more to “digital” that just using computers – it’s about embracing the culture that digital environments encourage. One to watch.

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | One comment |

To enter submit “three ideas that you think could work as a 4Talent multimedia feature, along with a current CV and links to a showreel and/or examples of your work.” The successful 10 applicants will then be invited to a workshop featuring “a screening of some best-practice examples of our films, alongside an expert insight of what works for different formats, from talking-head profiles to thematic mini-docs.”

“You’ll then have the chance to introduce yourself and pitch your ideas to the rest of the group. At the end of the day, the best four will be picked by a 4Talent Commissioning Editor and one of our pro producers to receive a £500 commission, and they’ll explain the strengths and weaknesses of the various pitches.”

The Birmingham session is at Maverick Television on Tuesday 16th October. Full details, including examples of what they’re after, on the 4Talent site.

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | One comment |

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | Add a comment |

The Multipack is a community of multi-talented individuals from across the Midlands UK, that come together to discuss all the things web and share their knowledge, skills and talents. It’s a great opportunity to meet like minded developers, designers and perhaps even the odd expert! Come along and share your ideas, and perhaps learn something new.

I’d imagine these are similar to the Flickrmeets and other events of that ilk that bring together disparate people who usually work in isolation and aren’t aware of others in their field working locally. I’ll be attending my first this weekend…

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | Add a comment |

I picked up the above flyer from Ensemble Interakt in Jibbering today and thought it worth posting here. The details in text form:

New British Music with Live Electronics
Monday 30 April 2007, 6pm
Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire
tickets £3 on the door

Surface Tension (flute, guitar & live electronics) Jamie Bullock
Feeding the Addiction (four piccolos) Stephen Mark Barchan
New Work (piano, percussion & video) Tom Littlewood
sevens (autoharp, sensors & live electronics) Cormac Faulkner
Piece for PowerBook and Cello Jonathan Green

I don’t generally post concert and gig details on this blog for one reason. There are far too many of them and if I draw and arbitrary line the accusations of bias and favouritism will legitimately fly. That said, if I come across something that strikes me as genuinely interesting, that appears to be doing something different, then I’ll mention it here. As good as ours are, every city has guitar bands. Not every city has a performance by “autoharp, sensors & live electronics”

Worth noting that I do post info about gigs that pass through my bias filter over on the BrumBlog and would encourage everyone else to do the same on their own blogs.

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | Add a comment |

Congratulations to Tak! who have been recognised by the Webby Awards as an Official Honoree for their work on Tallis Talk for Thomas Talis college, “a platform for pupils and staff to discuss issues & promote creative writing”.

The Webby Awards are actually a rather big deal.

Hailed as the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. Established in 1996, the 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

Tak’s third project for Thomas Tallis, a media archive, is expected to launch in June.

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | Add a comment |

Clusta is a digital creative agency based in Digbeth now in their 10th year. They’ve got a very impressive client list, from local businesses to international brands all of which is innovative and, dare I say it, cutting edge. Their animation for last year’s Plus festival is probably the best introduction to their style. Click on the image below to view it.

They also have a blog spotlighting cool stuff they’ve found. No RSS feed though. Tut tut… Here ’tis.

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | Add a comment |

A major part of this is the confirmation that Birmingham will have an International Digital Film Event in 2008 which will differ quite significantly from the traditional red carpet film festival.

“Birmingham is embracing and leading the UK, if not the world, with this approach to a film festival. The digital revolution in film means that the connection between the audience and the filmmaker can and will be ever more varied and closer. Festivals have the opportunity to tap into that, to move away from the ‘red carpet’, closed approach of the old world, into a ‘film for everyone’ new world. Birmingham is showing its commitment and drive with this announcement to host the UK’s leading digital festival.” – Pete Buckingham, Head of Distribution and Exhibition at the UK Film Council.

Key to this is a series of events and debates throughout 2007 which will build up to and presumably inform the structure of the festival. These aren’t just for industry insiders – the idea is to involve all residents of the city.

Here’s the full press release which really pushes the Digital Hub angle and is positively bursting with enthusiasm, declaring that this process, with the festival as its cherry on top, will make Birmingham the digital media capital of the UK, something that’s been mooted for a while now.

I’m going to be meeting with Suzie Norton, Director of Film Birmingham, on Tuesday to find out what this all means. If you have any suggestions for questions I should ask her, please let me know either by email or in the comments below.

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | 2 comments |

Link via Ten4.

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | Add a comment |

My attention is drawn to Notion Studio, a multimedia production house based at UCE, thanks to a article on the Adobe site spotlighting their music video for Shimm1 in which the buildings of Birmingham transform into giant speakers.

Specialising in high definition video, DVD production and 2D/3D animation, Notion is one of a cluster of organisations based around UCE’s Media and Communications department Notion Studio is run as a commercial business with ties to the education and research environment along with channeling funding opportunities for small to medium sized businesses.

© pete for Created in Birmingham, 2007. | Add a comment |