In 2005 Adam Montandon founded the HMC MediaLab Organisation, a future focused digital arts community. In just 2 years HMC was named as one of the top ten showcase technology companies with the Best of British award.

In 2007 HMC Interactive was acquired by Twofour group, the largest media company outside of London. For 7 years Adam Montandon oversaw the research and development of countless innovative and unusual projects, designed the future focus of the company.

In 2009 Adam Montandon had the fantastic title of Head Of Imagination working across the whole of the Twofour group, working on a range of projects for TV, the web, and real world digital installations.

Also in 2009 Adam Montandon was awarded the position of President of the Europrix Multimedia awards in Austria, the largest awards of its kind in Europe. The Europrix is the Multimedia Oscars, encouraging entries from over 33 different countries and hundreds of different universities across Europe.

In 2010 Adam Montandon left HMC Interactive and TwoFour to become an independent specialist.

Adam Montandon graduated from the University of Plymouth’s cutting edge Medialab Arts course with a First class Honours degree in 2003. Adam then studied at the UK’s Institute of Digital Arts and Technology and was awarded a Master of Science with distinction in the field of Digital Futures in December 2004.

Adam Montandon is heavily involved in the creation, design and production of cyber-architecture for public spaces, theme parks, attractions and events around the world.

Adam Montandon consults and develops interactive concepts for companies like Fox, MTV, Cadbury, CERN, Aardman, and the BBC. Adam has presented digital artwork at top London gallery Tate Britain, the exclusive Port Elliot literature festival and the Jools Holland show among others.

Adam Montandon has lectured at numerous universities and colleges across the UK including the prestigious Royal Institute of Science, the ICA in London, Watershed in Bristol, and internationally at MipTV in Cannes, Transmedial in Berlin, ICE08 in Toronto, Canada, and has been the keynote speaker at countless events including Legoland innovation conference in Denmark and the Europrix at Kunsthaus in Gratz. Adam has also been the subject of documentaries around the world, including the award winning “Cyborgs and Stem Cells” for Research TV, Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet, and even the Richard and Judy show in the UK.

Adam Montandon’s unusual and innovative projects have won international acclaim. He has won First Prize at Submerge 3 years in a row. In 2004 his Cyborg project won the prestigious Europrix award, Europe’s biggest digital media award. Adam also received the Being Digital award for academic achievement. Adam has also won many Media Innovation Awards over the past several years, including Overall Winner in 2009 with Twofour broadcast for his work on medical special effects show Make My Body Younger, and in 2008 he was awarded Outstanding Contribution to Innovation with his company HMC Interactive, and again in 2007 he was awarded Grand Prize for Innovation.

His work has been featured in magazines, newspapers and TV programs around the world. His most recent contribution was to the National Bestseller The Science of Everyday Life by Jay Ingram, out later this year.

Adam Montandon’s current projects include a 6 day event in Denmark encouraging young students to get involved with multimedia for medical care, an environmental multimedia project in Kenya, and the designing and creation of a brand new creative shopping experience that may just be the most interesting shop in the world.

Rule 1: Be Wealthy

The first rule is simple. Be Wealthy. This is very important for any creative business. It’s not just about creating financial wealth, its about creating a wealth of experiences, innovation, and a strong underlying culture of creativity in your business. This is wealth for the long term. By investing in the development of your community, as well as the development of your business, you will reap huge rewards in the long term.

Some questions you might want to ask yourself are:

• Am I measuring success only by the bottom line on my balance sheet when I should be measuring “intangible” things like happiness, imagination, inspiration and good will?
• Am I able to create cultural capital as well as financial capital?
• Am I doing everything I can to encourage future generations to get involved in my industry?
• Do my staff have 100% passion about everything they do, or are they only working to pay the bills?
• Do you describe your business in terms of profit, pipelines, turnover and margins; or in terms of magic, inspiration, dreams and ambitions?
• Do young staff stay with you and develop their skills as they get promoted, retaining knowledge in your company, or do they use their employment as a learning opportunity and take their skills to your competitors in order to move on up?
• If things got bad, and the money ran out, would you still turn up and do your job for free? For how long? How many of your colleagues would do the same?

In my work as a company director, business owner, and consultant I try to re-energise business practices through creativity. You can too.

Rule 2: Be Sexy

Being sexy is more than just being attractive. It’s about having something extra that goes beyond being nice or cute. It’s a combination of how you look, how you act, and more than anything else, your attitude. Sexy is a way of life. Some companies have it, some do not. But everybody wants it.

Sexy is more than just branding, it’s more than shiny wrapping paper, a nice website or a fancy office space. Being sexy is about creating a company that people want to be seen with. Creating an animal magnetism that people just cant resist. You just cant fake sexy, you have to live it, through every element of your company. You cant have a hair out of place.

• Do you fake your appeal through advertising and branding that isn’t true to your core?
• Do you constantly scrutinise your company for imperfections in all areas?
• Do people “get” your company even before they have walked through the door?
• Do you have to over emphasise your companies good features to make up for bad elements?
• When people walk through the door, do they feel super excited, or is it just another day at the office?
• Is your company just so damn attractive that people will fall over themselves to get involved?

If people aren’t literally fighting to collaborate with you, then I’m sorry, but your company isn’t quite as hot as it should be.

Rule 3: Be Better than Everybody Else

This is the final and most important rule. It’s also the hardest to achieve and the most ambitious goal. But it should be the goal of every person on the planet. You should be working every day to be the best in the world. Because if you’re not striving for this, what are you striving for?

The counter intuitive element at work here is that its so much easier to be number 1 than it is to be number 2! When you are the leader, when you are the best, when you are the ultimate, everything just fits together. Set your sights for number 1, and don’t stop until you get there. This inst some bumph about reaching for stars and grabbing moonbeams, this is about having an undying passion to surpass all others. To show to the world that you want it more than anyone else.

You should never be afraid to be number 1. Don’t ever set your goals low. Don’t settle for being number 1 in your local community, be number 1 in the world.

Here’s why its important: as a business, you will be affecting other peoples lives. A lot of amazing things can happen in a lifetime. You can fall in love, you can hold your child in your arms for the first time, you can jump out of aeroplanes, climb mountains, you can have fantastic, incredible, awesome experiences.  Can your business really compete with that? Are you really the most amazing thing in the world?

You’re not just competing against your competitors. You’re competing for the mindspace of your customers. That means you’re up again every single “once in a lifetime” moment that your customer ever had. If you are not giving them amazing, incredible moments, then what are you doing? You’re just wasting their time until they have their next amazing incredible moment somewhere else.

On this website there are lots of different articles to read and projects to view, so if you have the time please check them out.

Talking Statues was an amazing interactive digital outdoor artwork to celebrate the launch of Night at the Museum 2 on Blu-ray and DVD.

Working with Fox home entertainment and Taylor Herring, I developed interactive concepts and directed the special effects filming session for this amazing spectacle.

Sitting side by side in Bond Street, London, Churchill and Roosevelt statues were brought to life, using live digital video effects, and custom designed projection techniques.

The process

First we filmed two actors, one playing Churchill, the other Roosevelt. They filmed a number of lines, as if having a conversation between the two of them. The script was very funny, with lots of jokes about the problems of life as a statue. The filming took place on a special rig that allowed us to keep the heads of the actors very straight. Because, of course, statues cant move! I had to make sure that the actors put all of their expression and emphasis on their eyes, their mouths, and of course, their voices. At the end of the process we had some great comedy moments between the two actors.

Next, the videos are cut and edited together to make seamless conversations between the two actors. The videos were then colour treated and specially stabilised, to make sure that the features on the actors faces matched perfectly with the contours of the statues. Anything unnecessary like hair, cheeks and chins were digitally removed.

After that, the eyes and mouth of each statue were digitally “layered” so that they could be dynamically projected. Each layer was loaded onto two laptops, one for each statue. The video layers were synced with the audio for seamless playback.

Because the event was for one night only, and was completely outdoors, with no power supplys, we were able to design a custom system that used portable batteries to run all of the technology. This avoided any wires, and there was no need for high voltage to be in a public place. So it really was a 100% self contained projection system.

When the projector systems were moved into place, the software was then able to instantly match up the eyes and mouths of the statue with the eyes and mouths of the actors. The video layers could be triggered at any point, allowing TV presenters to literally interview the statues about their experiences. It was a lot of fun, and a great event that attracted a lot of media attention.

The end result

The end result was spookily effective. It was very eerie to see these two classic politicians come to life late at night in London’s Bond Street. It really brought some of the wonder of Night at the Museum to life. During the project we went through a lot of R&D, and we were very pleased with our research into long-life batteries for use in outdoor projections like this. To run this system for over 3 hours without having to plug anything in was a big achievement. The project was put together in just a few weeks, and that gave us just enough time to develop and test prototypes to create a fun and unusual final project.

Credits: Fox Home Entertainment, Taylor Herring, HMC Interactive

In 2004 I created this completely magical interactive experience called The Butterfly Garden for the Submerge exhibition. Its a memorable interactive illusion that puts digital butterflies all around you. Born in the palm of your hand, the interactive creatures flutter from flower to flower, until they eventually fly off into the ether.

People of all ages can interact with the artificially intelligent 3D butterflies by placing their hands above one of sixteen flowers, growing new and different butterflies in their palms. Entire groups of people can interact with the garden at any time. Just make sure you are gentle and calm though. Just like real butterflies, if you make sudden movements you may scare them away.

I have worked on several different versions of the beautiful butterfly garden.The very first was for the Submerge exhibition in Bristol, surrounding the main entrance with two sets of flowers planted on real grass turf. More recently the piece has been recreated for a Bridal show in Plymouth and a Literary festival in Cornwall.

How does it work?

Hidden into every sunflower is a tiny sensor that can detect the movement of your hand, and the distance and position of your hand. As you hold your hand out gently, the intelligent butterflies sense your position, and fly towards you. If you spend enough time playing, you can be surrounded by beautiful creatures.

How was this made?

I had been working with sensors and a computer control system that I wired and designed myself during my time on my degree. The sensors were really delicate and super-sensitive, so I had to find the perfect use for them. I wanted to create an interaction that was light and delicate and delightful. Luckily, Submerge approached me and asked me to create something along the theme of ‘organic/synthetic’ and the ideas just went together beautifully.

Thanks to Submerge

Hardcore Monkey Crash was the unusual name for an amazing mixed media online/offline game experience.

What is Hardcore Monkey Crash?

Hardcore Monkey Crash was a suite of different games that all worked together, featuring a purple monkey (called Hardcore Monkey). We produced various games like a racing game and a shooting game. But the games worked together. Bananas collected in the racing game could be used as ammo in the shooting game. Powerups could be obtained in one game and used in another.

An extra special feature was that we hid secret codes for the Hardcore Monkey Crash games on T-shirts, stickers, posters, books and other merchandise. Players who found the secret codes could upgrade their hardcore monkey with turbo speed or rapid firepower.

The games were available on a wide variety of platforms, including web based games, PDA’s and mobile phone games via SMS.

Hardcore Monkey Crash was ground-breaking at the time, because multi-platform deployment for entertainment had not really happened before in the UK, so it gave players a new, well rounded play experience.

Who made It?

Adam Montandon was the main game programmer. Mike Cobb did all the graphics, design and various interface elements. Andy Early worked on the database and backend to the games. Korash Sanjideh worked on all the audio for the games.

What happened to Hardcore Monkey Crash?

In 2003 Harcore Monkey Crash was awarded 1st prize for Commercial Value at the Submerge awards. The prize was to work with top lawyers Wiggin and Co to develop the idea into a fully fledged company.

After a lot of time and development, Hardcore Monkey Crash became the digital production agency HMC Interactive, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The games and the website are no longer available, as the team moved away from online gaming to create more real world projects. But Hardcore Monkey Crash is still held in high regard as a great example of gameplay across established and emerging platforms.

The Question Table was a prototype design that I created, along with Mike Cobb, as a test to see how information could be saved to your skin.

Based on similar technology that I developed in the Butterfly Garden project, the Question Table was an entirely new concept.

The big idea

The ultimate aim is to allow people of different ages and with different interests experience a museum exhibit in a totally new and interesting way. At the start of your museum visit, you would be given a small personal armband. Each armband containing its own unique RFID chip. The RFID chip would save all your personal preferences on it, so as you approached another interactive experience throughout the museum the information presented to you would be able to change and adapt, based on your chosen options.

Choose your own path

At the start of any museum experience could be 3 different question tables, set at different heights, so that children could select a lower table, with child friendly topics, and adults could try a larger table with more advanced, challenging topics.

The table used special infra-red motion sensors that allow you to physically “scoop up” a question, and drag it off the table. Each circular table had an overspill projection, so that the data you selected would be projected onto your skin.

Around the edge of the table would be a wide range of RFID readers, that would then save the data to your bracelet.

If you were to approach another table, or another side of the table, your data would be loaded off of your bracelet onto your skin, and you could throw it around and manipulate it on the question table.

Cost

This cutting edge and unusual technology is actually very cost effective to implement. The RFID bracelets are cheap enough to be able to be used as a replacement to traditional printed tickets. The benefits are huge too. Each visitor gets their own personalised learning experience, so no two visits are the same, encouraging repeat visits. Also, custom settings can be saved onto the bracelet, so that, for example, teachers could check just how long their students were using each exhibit in a museum, allowing them to review any areas that may have been missed on a school trip.

From dream to reality

The question table is a great example of some of the prototype technology I helped to deign, that went from a dreamsheet concept to full scale mockup. Hopefully you will see this in a museum of the future!

I created a new software program called Visual Voice Pro that turns any kind of sound from a microphone into beautiful colours and light. Famous musician and broadcaster Jools Holland got in touch about developing this software for his live shows, and of course I said “yes”!

Software that can improvise?

Because of the nature of a live music show, anything can happen, especially with Jools Holland’s big band, that love to improvise and have fun with the audience. Its never the same show twice, so using pre-prepared visuals just wouldn’t be enough.

I was able to design and modify my software so that it would be responsive enough to project huge vibrant visual effects across the stage, and have the different instruments mapped via an audio mixer to different visual effects.

Going on the road

I worked with Jools Holland’s live events team and they were really great fun to work with. They were so positive and helpful, they really liked Visual Voice Pro. I collaborated with them to make sure that the software could withstand the heavy demands of an “on-the-road” schedule.

I was very pleased to see my dynamic and interactive graphics used on the UK live tours. Jools Holland and his team are now looking at new ways to incorporate dynamic visuals into live music.

I programmed the software from start to finish, and came up with the initial concept and design. The wonderful Izaskun Arandia-Richards helped get the ball rolling with the project management, and Jools Holland’s visual effects and tour team also had a huge impact in getting it all to work smoothly with the live shows. Darren Perry provided hands on technical support once the show started its tour.

Developing Digital Diversity Conference Programme:

Conference speakers and panel members:

Laura Jordan Bambach – Head of Art, Glue London
As Head of Art at Glue London, Laura Jordan Bambach brings together an experimental and innovative use of technological advances and a deep understanding of the functionality and direction of online media.
Laura cut her teeth as a key figure in the infamous ‘geekgirl’ hyperzine in the early nineties, and has been involved in the design and implementation of many of the world’s most cutting edge digital work for international brands as diverse as Levi’s®, Renault and T-mobile.
After a stint as a lead creative at deepend Sydney, she arrived in London for the deepend head office in 2001, and has worked at a senior level at Lateral and I-D Media London before coming to glue after being impressed by their wealth of outstanding talent and commitment to good design.
She lectures and travels extensively, speaking on net art and the cultural implications of the internet, as well as teaching dynamic lab-based and technical digital media classes at major Universities and centres of excellence.

Richard Barbrook – Imaginary Futures
During the early-1980s Dr. Richard Barbrook helped set up Spectrum Radio, a multi-lingual station operating in London, and published extensively on radio issues. In the late-1980s and early-1990s, Richard worked at the University of Westminster on media regulation in France which inspired his book: ‘Media Freedom: the contradictions of communications in the age of modernity’ (Pluto Press, London 1995). Between 1995 and 2005, Richard was coordinator of the Hypermedia Research Centre at the University of Westminster and course leader of its MA in Hypermedia Studies. In 1997, he was one of the founders of cybersalon.org and is now a director of the
Cybersalon trust. In the late-1990s and early-2000s, Richard wrote a series of influential articles exploring the social and economic implications of the Net, including ‘The Californian Ideology’, ‘The Holy Fools’, ‘The Hi-Tech Gift Economy’, ‘Cyber-communism’ and ‘The Regulation of Liberty’. During the last few years, he has completed ‘Imaginary Futures’ – a book about how ideas from the mid-twentieth century shape our early-twenty-first century conception of artificial intelligence and the information society – which will be published in English by Pluto Press and in Russian by Ultra.Cultura in early-2007. Recently, Richard helped to set up the Creative Workers in a World City group and wrote its first publication: The Class of the New (Mute, London 2006). He is now engaged in further research projects in this area.

Bhaskar Bhatt – Primus Telecommunications Ltd
Bhaskar Bhatt works as a Senior Systems Architect at Primus Telecommunications Ltd, Primary responsibilities includes developing new products for the Telecommunications market and managing critical IT systems. Bhaskar holds a Masters degree in Product Design from Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi (India) and a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He has mainly worked for Finance, Mobile, Web and Telecoms domains. He is an independent design researcher who believes in the fact that appropriate use of design can help in making everyone’s life easier and happier. His writing supports the inclusive design philosophy and advocates that the benefits of the advancements in technology should reach the grass root levels.

Adriana Cronin-Lukas – The Big Blog Company
Was released from Balliol into the community in 1996, serving her time as a management consultant with a Big Five firm in Central and Eastern Europe – ‘management’ and ‘consultancy’ meaning something to businesses in those parts of the world. All this came to an end in 2002 when it became obvious that blogging is much more enjoyable than real work. Since then, the blogging has become the main preoccupation and a route to regaining sanity lost somewhere on the fourth floor of a tall, marble-encrusted building in the City. Adriana has applied her analytical powers to the potential of blogging and would like to make sure that companies also understand that markets are conversations. Occasionally she gets accused of problem-solving.

Dr Paul Coulton – University of Lancaster
Paul Coulton has over 10 years’ research and development experience in mobile systems and applications and is based within the Department of Communication Systems at Lancaster University. Paul has published extensively in this area. The main focus of his current research surrounds innovative m-commerce solutions with a particular emphasis on mobile entertainment, such as games. Many of the research projects encompass novel uses of the latest technologies such as RFID/NFC, an example of which is the mixed reality game PAC-LAN. Paul is also a Director of university spin-out company m-ventions ltd which provides a commercial avenue for his expertise and many of the innovative researchers with whom he works.

Jemima Gibbons – Technical Change
Jemima co-founded media consultancy iKnowHow in 2002 to help companies and individuals, especially those in the creative sector, develop digital media skills. She has worked on strategy for Fulcrum TV, RDF Media and CSV Media, and has produced events and workshops for the UK Film Council and Pact. She is a visiting lecturer on leadership and innovation at Cass Business School. Since 2005, she has run Women in Film and Television’s Technical Change mentoring scheme, backed by ESF EQUAL and UIP, which provides mentors for women in technical areas.

David Dunkley Gyimah – University of Westminster
David is the International and US Batten Award Winner for Innovations in Journalism 95-96 singularly beating off multi-million pound organisations such as Newsweek, The New York Times and USAToday. He is a senior academic at the University of Westminster. A broadcast professional with 18 years experience, He is a member of Chatham House, and a Director of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council. He was a contributor to the Olympic 2012 Think Tank on Culture and Arts under Jude Kelly OBE. David is an international panellist on digital programme making and broadbandcasting.

Richard Harris – Two Worlds
Richard Harris is the principal of Two Worlds. His academic background was in Behavioural Ecology and Computer Science and he has more than twenty years experience as a visionary, strategy and technology consultant, writer and architect and developer of online and interactive knowledge-centered services.

Khadija Khan – Science Museum
Khadija Khan has just joined the Visitors Research Group as the New Audience Advocate at the National Museum of Science and Industry. She has worked there since 2002, and in her previous role at the Museum Khadija managed and coordinated the community outreach team and other special events inside the museum. Up until recently Khadija spent three years a trustee at the Ragged School Museum which is based in the heart of Tower Hamlets. Before joining the Science Museum, her experience mainly reflected community development within the adult and life long learning sectors.

Dr William Kramer – Senior Fellow from the World Resources Institute in Washington DC
William J. Kramer is Deputy Director of the Development Through Enterprise program, and a Senior Fellow, at World Resources Institute. He is involved in all aspects of the Institute’s work on pro-poor business strategies.
Prior to joining WRI, he founded The Knowledge Initiative, Inc., a non-profit organization which explored the relationship of new knowledge creation and economic development. Through the NGO, he did extensive project field work for three years in South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Central Europe.
Mr. Kramer’s work in the non-profit arena follows a 30-year career as an entrepreneur, principally in the book industry. He owned and managed Sidney Kramer Books, the world’s leading bookstore for politics, economics, and area studies for over 50 years. He established Daedalus Books, a leading distributor of remainders and sale books. He founded, and remains president of, Kramerbooks & afterwords, the original bookstore/café, in Washington, D.C. His multiple enterprises in retailing, wholesaling, and publishing have served professionals and general readers worldwide. He was more recently a principal in several companies that served colleges and universities with web-based applications for campuses, including portal development, e-procurement, digital printing and publishing, and course management tools.
As a consultant on development issues, Mr. Kramer has worked with global companies, NGOs, and think tanks. He has served on numerous boards for local, regional, and national organizations. He is the author, with his wife, of a guidebook to Washington, D.C., published by Random House, which went through six editions in the 1980s and 1990s. He is a principal author on the forthcoming book, Tomorrow’s Markets:Poverty Profit and Unmet Human Needs, to be published in October 2006 as a joint publication of World Resources Institute and the International Finance Corporation. Mr. Kramer served as co-director of the seminal conference on business engagement in low-income markets, “Eradicating Poverty Through Profit: Making Business Work for the Poor,” held in San Francisco in December, 2004.

Hannah Marston – University of Teesside
Explore guidelines for the design of computer games for older ad
ults. The overall aim is to identify the current game playing habits and preferences for older adults in the UK and possible future trends.

Sanjay Mistry – EA Games
Sanjay Mistry is a leading creative for computer games experts EA. He has worked for Alias, a major 3D software developer within the film & games industries for seven years and has an in-depth knowledge and fantastic in-site into the use of animation in films and visual effects. Within his time at EA he has become a member of BAFTA and holds a place on the BAFTA Games Advisory Council. Game credits – Harry Potter, Burnout, Madden and Battlefield

Adam Montandon – HMC
Adam Montandon is an expert in Digital Futures, a specialist in cyber-architecture and its relationship with the Cyborg reality. Adam co-founded the interactive agency “HMC Entertainment Systems” in 2004 and in 2005 he founded the HMC MediaLab Organisation, a future focused digital arts community that involves over a thousand “interesting people doing interesting things”.

Michael O’Neill - Adobe

Node-London
Node-London works to raise the visibility of media arts practice in and around the capital, NODE.London [Networked, Open, Distributed, Events. London] has worked as an open organisation, using consensus decision-making and pooling ideas, resources and even people. It has sought to fortify existing media arts networks and to encourage production and experimentation, whilst assisting in the articulation of such innovative artistry to a wider audience.

Rejane Spitz – PUC-Rio University
Rejane Spitz is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Department of Art & Design at PUC-Rio University, Brazil. She has been working with computers in the Arts since 1983. Rejane has been also worked as a curator of exhibitions on Electronic Art, and has written extensively on social and cultural issues related to the use of computers in developing nations. She coordinates the Electronic Arts Unit, an experimental research laboratory working with art and technology at PUC-Rio, Brazil.

Ian Thilthorpe – Senior Manager, Tyne and Wear Museums
In the last 16 years Ian has worked on a range of gallery and display projects, including managing interactive galleries, developing innovative ICT projects and project managing a variety of key major developments. Until recently he was responsible for managing TWMs’ outreach, volunteer and ICT and web provision, currently on secondment to the TWM senior management team and responsible for museums in North and South Tyneside.

Chew TV is a great online video website for young people. Schools, youth groups and young budding creative stars can upload their videos to a website, where other people can comment, rate, review and share their thoughts about the topics of the videos. It’s a safe, online environment where young people can communicate creatively through video.

So, what’s a Chew Table?

Chew TV wanted a new and interesting way to reach more people. The concept is based around a “talkaoke” table…. much like karaoke, but for talking! It sounds crazy, but its lots of fun!

A presenter sits inside the middle of a round table, and simply talks! Other guests can join in around the table, creating their own mini talk-show.

I designed special software that was embedded into the table that allowed videos to be player and sound-synced, so that everyone could watch and share videos together. People could also use the touch surface to tag thought, ideas and comments for discussion.

The entire table could easily fit into a vehicle, and be transported around schools, workshops, classes and youth groups around the UK.

How was it used?

The Chew Table allows presenters and teachers to openly discuss difficult topics, such as bullying, by allowing students to select different videos on the subject, and anonymously discuss them. This creates an interesting and unusual dynamic in the classroom, with lots of buzz and activity. The presenter in the centre of the table keeps the discussion flowing, and people can join in or opt-out however they please.

Its an unusual and fun way to share and talk about video, and a sensitive way to bring difficult issues up in the classroom.

I programmed all the software for the touch screen systems, including a network synchronisation routine that allowed videos to be played seamlessly over multiple screens, as well as an on screen keyboard for commenting, and other col little features, like a secret menu system for the presenter to quickly flip from one video to the next, and various interface design and screen design work. Chew TV provided the videos that were dynamically uploaded to the table, and the physical table itself was designed by the team at Talkaoke.

I had such a great time working with Cadbury World on projects like Chocolate Rain that I was thrilled when they, along with Newangle, asked me to work on a new interactive project for the historic Cadbury Collection.

The Story

Cadbury doesn’t just make great chocolate, Mr Cadbury also designed and built most of area surrounding his factory. He provided houses for the workers, schools, playing fields, sports clubs, and all sorts of other things to make life in Bournville a happy and healthy place to be. Cadbury world wanted to share the idea of building your own, virtual town, and see what it would be like in the future.

The Idea

I was tasked with programming a new interactive game that would take place on a giant interactive table. The game would be a lot like Sim City, where players would create housing, roads, schools, pubs, power plants, and pretty much everything else that you need to build a thriving city. But this game had a twist. Not only did you have to work against time and budget constraints, but you had to work with 3 other friends to help build the city. That means its a 4 player sim city! A very challenging thing to program indeed! But it was a lot of fun.

Each player takes a different side of the table, and must place different buildings down before the time, and the budget run out! Players must work together to make sure that everything is in the right place, as different players will be given different options, keeping the game fast paced and exciting.

Hidden Sensors

Underneath the table were hidden tiny electrostatic sensors that could detect players hands as they waved them over the table. This allowed for fast, large-scale gameplay. Simply by placing your hand on the giant map, a building would be placed under your fingertips.

The average game time lasts around 3 to 4 minutes, and once the buildings are placed in literately thousands of different configurations the camera “zooms out” and shows a realistic view of what that city would look like in 25 years time.

Will it be a thriving metropolis, or a dead end, crime ridden town? Only by working together will you get to find out.

I programmed all the software and the game mechanics, and Electrosonic provided the hardware. The concept was brought to life by Newangle, and Mark Dowsett created the various graphics and hundreds of icons that were used in the game.

I had the wonderful privelidge of being involved with an amazing art show at top London Gallery Tate Briatin, in a collaboartion with the amazing Martin Sextin. In March 2006 Martin Sexton presented New Gothic which combines music, digital art and performance. Featuring  ‘Heraldic Unicorn Lion Grace System’ by Truth Machine, described variously as ‘the high-concept band to end all high-concept bands’ and as a cult religious group by others.

The varying members of this arts collective reportedly all work to a set of instructions cut from the text of books that vary from hermetic works, theological mediations to pulp fiction, erotica and maps. Steve Severin conducts and provides the sonic soundscape.

Ride up with the Magical Lock-down Dark Pegasus: a Harley-Davidson XL53 custom motorcycle resplendent with blue-black Scottish crow wings and ‘pimped’ with a DVD monitor as tail-plate, that echoes TE Lawrence’s quote that “A motorcycle with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on earth, because of its logical extension of our faculties, and the hint, the provocations, to excess.”

Rattus Norvegicus

Meanwhile, I was working with Korash Sanjideh, Andy Early and Mike Cobb to create new visual experiences. We unleashed  chthonic forces with atechnological multimedia film noir Rattus Norvegicus as part of New Gothic at Tate Britain.

Rattus Norvegicus is a dark digital artwork shown for the first time at “Late at Tate Britain” as part of the “Gothic Nightmares” exhibition.