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Newsletter | September 2013
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REVIEW - KiwiJam event a first for AUT
On the weekend of August 31 - September 1, over 30 game enthusiasts camped out in WG for the NZGDA's annual game jam. The KiwiJammers worked on a combination of existing projects, with the best of these being entered into in the Local NZGDA Windows 8 Unity and Global Unity Windows 8 competitions, as well as DIGITAL NATIONZ HOMEGROWN.
The KiwiJammers presented nine final games on the Sunday ranging from touch screen, multiplayer, oculus rift and pc games. The theme for the weekend was "Blasphemous Piano of the Dead" and the results (to be shown on the upcoming AUT Gaming Network website) were downright hilarious and soulful.
Thank you to Ben Tuhoe Kenobi for organising this event, as well as initiators NZGDA and Windows 8. Feedback from the event was very positive and all who participated look forward to seeing KiwiJam develop over future years.
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REVIEW - Colab participation at Survive and Thrive
 Colab was a key player in last weekend's annual arts event, Survive and Thrive.
Kim Newall and Harry Silver ran two workshops on " Fabricating Digital Realities" where they presented their world of creating interactive art from a 'digital cuisine' perspective, complete with the ingredients, recipes, utensils and tastes of digital art!
They were also interviewed by Justin Gregory for Radio New Zealand's Arts on Sunday show. Listen to the interview online.
And on Saturday 14 September, Harry and Kim were joined by Nolwenn Hugain-Lacire and Frances Joseph for Survive and Thrive's POP Share presentation. They discussed the existing Colab ventures that support technology, creativity and the arts including Digital Art Live. Their presentation also introduced the new Colab Meetups and Open Workshops as new ways of building and developing a community of people using interactivity and technology in creative ways.
Colab also showcased interactive art at this event on the AUTv video walls. The works were originally commissioned through Digital Art Live and it was great to see these interactive art works being exhibited in other venues.
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EVENT - Colab workshops and speakers at Digital Nationz
Digital Nationz,(September 28-29) is an expo that brings the best of digital entertainment and new tech to Auckland. Colab will be running two workshops at the event; Augment Yourself! with Kim Newall, and Mobile Filmmaking and Mobile Social Media with Laurent Antonczak and Max Schleser, as well as a 3D Printing Demo each day as well! Phew.
We've also put a stellar panel together to discuss New Tech Horizons, chaired by Ben Tuhoe Kenobi. Speakers include Gregory Bennett, Nolwenn Hugain-Lacire, Lee Simpson, Stefan Marks and Gerbrand van Melle.
Digital Nationz will be introducing the Sony PS4 and XBOX One, there will be the infamous BOT WARZ, and local heavyweight, Kim Dotcom will take on 100 people in 100 games of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
There's a great lineup of speaker and panel discussions featuring overseas guests from leading international game development labels, Kiwi game development labels and tech/digital industry experts.
One day passes are $19, available here. Make sure to register for the workshops as well (only $9 to attend!).
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EVENT(s) - The launch of Colab Meetups
This idea has been months in the making and we're pleased to announce that Colab will be running free weekly Open Workshops, and a monthly meetup for Interactive practitioners.
Weekly Open Workshops
Wednesdays 5 - 9pm
Colab Mechatronics Workshop, Level 11, WG Sir Paul Reeves Building, Governor Fitzroy Place
An open space for people to work on their own projects. The workshops provide an opportunity to experiment, test, learn and develop new works and ideas in a collaborative environment where skills and knowledge are shared.
For help with directions on the day contact Kim Newall, 021 627 963.
Monthly Interactive Practitioners Meetups
Last Wednesday of every month 6 - 8pm
Colab meeting space, Level 10, WG Sir Paul Reeves Building. Governor Fitzroy Place
A monthly event where people meet to share and discuss projects, presentations, research, events and ideas that involve interactivity and technology.
For help with directions on the day contact Harry Silver, 027 246 5332
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COLAB RESEARCH - Gerbrand van Melle presents 'Sound Fossils' at PostgraduateSymposium
 AUT's Postgraduate Centre hosted its 7th annual Postgraduate Symposium in August.
The day involved postgraduate students from various faculties presenting on their research. Keynote speaker was Professor Marilyn Waring who discussed ‘Presumption and Knowledge’.
Colab lecturer, Gerbrand van Melle, presented his MPhil research project, "Sound Fossils: Materialising the immaterial: Sound and memory as intimate personal adornment". The audience was highly engaged, and interested in this creative and collaborative project.
Read more about "Sound Fossils".
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COLAB RESEARCH - Presentations at IE2013
At the end of the month, Colab lecturer Ben Tuhoe Kenobi will be travelling to Melbourne to present a demo and abstract at the Interactive Entertainment conference (IE2013). The conference is hosted by RMIT University in Melbourne (September 30 - October 1), and embraces some of the recent changes in games discourses with a conference theme of: “Matters of Life and Deathâ€.
The demo he is presenting is titled, Filtering the W*, a project created by Daniel Cermak-Sassenrath and Clinton Watkins, co-authored by Ben. Filtering the W* is an Arduino-powered search term generator that retrieves data from the internet and matches images that relate to the search term. All at 25 frames per second, using dials and keys to search. Audio is matched to the imagery via a processing library.
Two 3rd year Colab students will also be attending IE2013 to present their Shadow Showdown installation.
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Elaine Ng Yan Ling, plus photos of two of her smart textiles pieces.
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EVENT - Keynotes announced for Shapeshifting Conference
Shapeshifting: Transformative Paradigms of Fashion and Textile Design will run 14–16 April, 2014. We're delighted to announce that our international keynotes are.... (drum roll please):
We will be profiling individual Shapeshifting Conference keynotes in the this newsletter leading up to the Conference, and begin by introducing Elaine Ng Yan Ling (å´ç‡•çŽ²). She is a British Chinese smart textile designer currently based in Hong Kong and a graduate of Central Saint Martins in London where she earned her MA Design in Textile Futures with distinction. She is a TED fellow and presented ‘Naturology: The secret life of textiles’ at TED Global Conference 2012. Elaine is also the founder of THE FABRICK LAB, which brings together textiles, electronics, biomimicry, interiors and installations. Read her extended bio on the Shapeshifting website, and visit her Vimeo page.
For more info on the conference please see www.shapeshifting.aut.ac.nz
Workshops will be announced next month.
The conference organisers have also extended the call for paper abstracts and proposals for exhibitions to Tuesday 15 October, 2013. Submit your Abstracts now and contribute to this unique conference. |
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POSTGRAD NEWS - New Colab PhD Candidate and call for applications
Colab welcomes new PhD student, Amit Gupta. Based at Colab and the TDL, Amit will be working on the sensing and communication of emotion through smart knitted textiles. The research is being supervised by Assoc. Professor, Frances Joseph and Dr Stefan Marks.
Also - a reminder that we are now seeking applications for postgraduate study in Colab's Honours, Masters and PhD programmes in 2014. Please see the Creative Technologies pages on the AUT website.
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WORKSHOPS - Create Engaging Presentations with Prezi
Prezi is an online tool for creating well-designed presentations that will capture the imagination of your audience. The application enables you to collate rich media and collaborate in real time to showcase your content like never before.
Colab is running two three-hour workshops which offer a hands-on guide to mastering the use of Prezi from the simple basics to more advanced features. The course starts from ‘first steps’ through to best practices for visual design and how to share and present your creations.
Taught by BCT student and AUT Prezi ambassador, Justin Cramer-Roberts.
Tuesday October 8, 2013 | 1pm – 4.30pm
AUT City Campus | $40.00
Register now.
Friday October 11, 2013 | 9am – 12.30pm
AUT City Campus | $40.00
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CALL - Student entries for Emerging Pixels interactive works
The Digital Art Live Committee is calling for applications from creative students interested in presenting interactive works in this space during the exhibition, Emerging Pixels #3.
We invite students to take this opportunity to create work that supports engagement with a public audience through technological experience and explores new forms of digital expression, particularly in the field of behavioural interaction.
The deadline has been extended to Thursday 19 September at 10am.
Download the Application form and submit your idea today!
For more information visit: colab.aut.ac.nz/dal/getting-involved
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DAL EXHIBITION - Rain
By Seung Yul Oh in collaboration with Jeffrey Nusz
August 27 – October 21, 2013
Digital Art Live, Level 2, Aotea Centre
Rain is a playful and chaotic interactive artwork which invites audiences to grow an unpredictable kaleidoscope of objects, images, and sounds. Using a giant controller, the audiences are absorbed into a world where 3D shapes, animals, plants move across the screen.
Oh often works with an egg motif, a reference to discovery, new life, and birth, in all its yolky messiness. In Rain, the water in the foreground, literally catapults a host of objects onto the screen, some of which are bright yellow birds, spinning, hovering and then disappearing as quickly as they came.
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EVENT - Registrations are open for MINA conference and workshop
The 3rd annual Mobile Creativity and Mobile Innovation Symposium, which includes the Mobile Innovation Screening will be held at AUT, November 21-22, 2013.
The Symposium provides a platform for filmmakers, artists, designers, researchers and industry professionals to debate the prospect of wireless, mobile and ubiquitous technologies in art and design environments and the creative industries.
And, after running a successful Mobile Filmmaking workshop in July, MINA co-founders, Laurent Antonczak and Max Schleser will be teaching another two day workshop in the lead up to the 2013 Symposium:
Monday 18 & Tuesday 19 November
AUT City Campus, Room WE402, WE Block
$160 Regular & $90 for Students
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OPPORTUNITY - Technician for AUT's Motion Capture Lab
Position Advertised: MoCap/Performance Space technician
We are currently seeking a Technician to provide technical support for teaching, research and industry activities in Motion Capture and Performance areas. The Technician will be expected to:
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Work with academic staff to support research related activities
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Offer undergraduate and post-graduate student support within the facility
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Develop productive linkages with other faculty members and external stakeholders
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Help manage different stakeholder industry demands
Good luck!
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LAB NEWS - TDL new contract and 3D printed awards
The Textile and Design Lab has just finalised contracts with New Zealand company Footfalls and Heartbeats to continue working on the development of smart knitted textiles for health applications.
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AUT's 3D Printing Lab, created a Mobius strip-inspired award for the Business School's 'Excellence in Business Support Awards' earlier in the month. Through design development and technical knowledge of the 3D Printing Lab, the award winners received some very stunning trophies!
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