A FREE DAY WHERE ART & TECHNOLOGY COLLIDE. UNCONFERENCE. ART. MUSIC. DANCE. GAMES. MORE...TWEET WITH #playspace TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION...

Make art with your i-Pod.

Create digital music for dancers.

Control an orchestra with your Wii remote.

Use DJ turntables to mix live video.

Have a virtual cinema experience.

Play games.

Plus much much more…

Play Space is a day to create, play and visit virtual worlds...come join us in a fanastic day of connectivity, inspiration and interaction, where digital spaces collide with reality...

Featuring PlayHouse Installations by MadLab; When We Meet Again - a virtual experience from Me And The Machine; games from Larkin' About; Unconference sessions and more...

ARTISTS! WIN A CONNECTIVITY COMMISSION WORTH £1500!

There will be a chance for a group of artists and digital creatives to pitch for a Connectivity Commission  of £1500. If you are interested you must register on the day between 11:30 and 12:15.

Presented by Contact, RE:CON, Contact's Young Programming Team, MDDA, Manchester Beacon, MadLab, BBC Connect & Create, and Manchester City Council.

Supported by FutureEverything.

PLAY SPACE - FULL SCHEDULE

11.30 - 12:15               Registration and arrivals                   Space 5

12.15 – 12:30              Introduction to the day                      Space 1

12.30 – 12.45              Live link to Zion Arts Centre              Space 1

13:00 – 22:00              When We Meet Again                       Meeting Room

Slots every 10 minutes throughout the day.

A wearable film and one-to-one performance. A bizarre sensuous experience featuring you, your invisible friend, a 3D soundtrack, an old forgotten dance, an ocean, a flavour and me. Video filmed from a first person perspective is played on video goggles, replacing your point of view by that one of a performer in the screen. When you are prompted to look down upon your body, what you see is… someone else’s. The brain is tricked into the illusion of being inside a new body and in a foreign space, through which you move and encounter mysterious invisible presences (the performer who interacts with you).

13:00 – 14:00              Unconference Sessions                  Space 3 / Dressing Rooms

We're kickstarting the unconference with 4 themes - curation in a digital age, Tech 2 Create - using 3D printing and Arduinos creatively, Is the arts...open? - looking at issues of open data and open innovation, and Digital storytelling, through games, journalism and online. Join us for invigorating conversations - and later in the day make your own.

13:00 – 18:00              body>space>data Telepresence               Space 1

A five-hour dance workshop around the theme of ‘Identity and multi-identity’ emphasising connectivity and community belonging, through blended virtual physical space. It is for a maximum of 20 participants (emerging to professional dancers).

14:00 – 16:00              iCreate: Music                                               Media Lounge

Two hour workshop that let’s participants learn how to make music using the iPod Touch/iPhone for a maximum of 10 participants who have a particular interest in making music. Participants will need to bring their own iPhones or iPod touch to fully experience the workshop.

14:00 – 16:00              Video Mixing Workshop                               Space 5

A VJ workshop using Serato Scratch Live Video and Resolume Avenue.  Participants will learn how to use traditional vinyl turntables to control and manipulate video using baic scratch and fade techniques.  First, there will be 2x 30 minute taster workshops (14.00 – 15.00), then a 1 hour advanced workshop (15.00 – 16.00).  Places are capped to 10 per workshop.

14:00 – 16:00             'Identity Remixed' Visual Installation         Space 2

Participants will be creating content for the installation via an automated video system. The system will capture voices, drawings, and video of the participants. The collected footage will then be remixed throughout the installation. Led by AlbinoMosquito.

4 x 30 minute workshops for maximum of 8 participants per session.

16:00 – 17:30             Unconference Sessions / Larkin’ About Games Building wide

Larkin’ About’s programme includes a preview of their exciting new team game Village of the Dragon, which draws inspiration from ye olde computer games from times gone by… 

A dragon lives in the castle of Contact Theatre. The castle dwellers love it for keeping unsavoury sorts away, even if it does eat their sheep (or any castle dweller daft enough to get too close). Now the dragon is threatened by marauding knights, the dwellers must find a way to save it…

 Also look out for people scurrying up and down Oxford Road creating stories from nothing more than camera phones and general signage…it’s sure to be good wholesome fun!

17.30-19:00                 Comixed Playback: Identities                         Space 2

Manchester Beacon and Contact Playback will present an interactive session where the topic of identity will be explored through a series of engaging presentations.

Members will have a chance to give their responses and reflections to the talks and have them played back using improvisational  theatre and live VJ-ing.

19.00-20.00                 Games and Food!                             Space 5 and Public areas

Free Food, Super Political Street Fighter  and Larkin’ About

Larkin’ About’s programme includes a preview of their exciting new team game Village of the Dragon, which draws inspiration from ye olde computer games from times gone by… 

A dragon lives in the castle of Contact Theatre. The castle dwellers love it for keeping unsavoury sorts away, even if it does eat their sheep (or any castle dweller daft enough to get too close). Now the dragon is threatened by marauding knights, the dwellers must find a way to save it…

 Also look out for people scurrying up and down Oxford Road creating stories from nothing more than camera phones and general signage…it’s sure to be good wholesome fun!

Could a video game like Street Fighter offer anything at all to the political process? Probably not. That’s why it's a game. However, it might be fun to try and introduce gaming into the political process somehow! So welcome to Super Political Street Fighter - the 2 round game show experience that gives you, the people, the REAL chance to do things differently (Probably) Join your David Dimbleby on steroids like host and his 2 tamed, professional and political street fighters as they invite members of the audience to voice their political ideas, champion their heroes and do ultimate battle in this, the greatest of arenas. FIGHT! 

20.00-21.00     Bringing it all Back Home                            Space 1

Presentation from body>space>data and a live pitch session where six ideas generated as part of the unconference will be judged by a panel from Contact, MDDA, Manchester Beacon, Future Eerything, Zion, and Cornerhouse. The event will conclude with a co-mixed video of the day and interactive summary from Contact Playback.

21:00-23:00     Mixed Movement                                          Space 5

Contact’s regular improvised dance event will be an opportunity for dancers and physical theatre artists to collaborate with the digital musicians who have trained earlier in the day.