A few weeks ago I travelled to Glasgow to attend the wonderful Culture Hack Scotland 2013!
Culture Hack Scotland is a 48-hour event that took place on July 12-14 at the Whisky Bond in Glasgow. Culture lovers of all types use this time for make exciting projects where technology and arts meet. This was their third year running the hack and I was told that it was their best yet! The things they create can be influenced by data provided by various organisations, including Creative Scotland, Festivals Edinburgh and Glasgow Arts.
I was originally bought in to judge the final creations, but I found myself doing a games workshop at the event too (Along with a Swallowtail helper!) This was a challenge to me, as I'm used to doing games workshops with children and I was worried about patronising those who came along. Thankfully, the workshop went really well! We had a class size of about 15 people who then formed three groups. We took them through the very basics of games design, as well as showing them accessible game engines they could use to get them started if they wanted think about getting started with game development. It’s hard to teach game design in such a short time, but the resulting game ideas were fantastic:
Culture Hack Scotland is a 48-hour event that took place on July 12-14 at the Whisky Bond in Glasgow. Culture lovers of all types use this time for make exciting projects where technology and arts meet. This was their third year running the hack and I was told that it was their best yet! The things they create can be influenced by data provided by various organisations, including Creative Scotland, Festivals Edinburgh and Glasgow Arts.
I was originally bought in to judge the final creations, but I found myself doing a games workshop at the event too (Along with a Swallowtail helper!) This was a challenge to me, as I'm used to doing games workshops with children and I was worried about patronising those who came along. Thankfully, the workshop went really well! We had a class size of about 15 people who then formed three groups. We took them through the very basics of games design, as well as showing them accessible game engines they could use to get them started if they wanted think about getting started with game development. It’s hard to teach game design in such a short time, but the resulting game ideas were fantastic:
(There was also an Arduino workshop with Maklab and a 3D Printing workshop with the Glasgow Sculpture Studios/fearsomengine)
It was strange coming into the event on its last day, when everyone was getting around to finishing their projects. When I first got to the Whisky Bond in Glasgow, I couldn’t believe the amazing positive atmosphere that the room was creating. For a group who hadn’t slept, everyone seemed so nice, grateful and helpful towards each other.
The showcase if the projects at the end were very diverse and inspiring. From a project made in twine, Oculus Rift games, interactive benches, data sculptures, API linking, and much more!
It was strange coming into the event on its last day, when everyone was getting around to finishing their projects. When I first got to the Whisky Bond in Glasgow, I couldn’t believe the amazing positive atmosphere that the room was creating. For a group who hadn’t slept, everyone seemed so nice, grateful and helpful towards each other.
The showcase if the projects at the end were very diverse and inspiring. From a project made in twine, Oculus Rift games, interactive benches, data sculptures, API linking, and much more!
'Sing for your stitches' - a sewing machine powered by song!
The judging period took about an hour and was extremely difficult, as all of the projects were so different. I picked ‘Canna Hear the Birds’ for my main winner, a carpet audio installation shaped as a map of Canna where each step triggered bird noises and song. The team who put this together had never worked together before, and used resources they found around the hack to make their project.
We were also allowed to pick 3 commendations. Mine included a point and click adventure game called ‘Team O’Shanter’ which looked beautiful and was based on Tam O’Shanter by Robert Burns. (You can play the game here: (http://boxoflights.co.uk/tamoshanter/) I also picked the ‘Internet High5 machine’ a hack where you can send high-fives over the internet to trigger a motorised hand strapped to a chair – When this project was presented, the whole room was laughing! And finally ‘Creative Carnage’ a beautiful LED light installation that visualised the orchestral work ‘My Day of Carnage’ by Oliver Searle. It was so hard to believe that these amazing projects were made in just 48 hours!
You can read a much more in-depth review of the event on the SyncTank website, and I would highly recommend checking out @chrisdonia’s flickr set!
We were also allowed to pick 3 commendations. Mine included a point and click adventure game called ‘Team O’Shanter’ which looked beautiful and was based on Tam O’Shanter by Robert Burns. (You can play the game here: (http://boxoflights.co.uk/tamoshanter/) I also picked the ‘Internet High5 machine’ a hack where you can send high-fives over the internet to trigger a motorised hand strapped to a chair – When this project was presented, the whole room was laughing! And finally ‘Creative Carnage’ a beautiful LED light installation that visualised the orchestral work ‘My Day of Carnage’ by Oliver Searle. It was so hard to believe that these amazing projects were made in just 48 hours!
You can read a much more in-depth review of the event on the SyncTank website, and I would highly recommend checking out @chrisdonia’s flickr set!
