GEEK Phew! - First Friday Invitation

GEEK Phew! is a chance to catch up, meet up and say Hi.
6.30pm - 9pm 5th April 2013, all ages welcome. Donations Bar or BYO.

If you helped at GEEK…Phew! you need a bit of R&R – come along meet friends and toast your hard work. If you missed it...want to know what you missed? Be part of next year? Got some great ideas of how to make it better? Or want to find out more? Come along.

GEEK Phew! has a unique soundtrack thanks to our guest curator Robert Urquhart!

“Aside from writing, music and sound have always been an interest, from my first job making whale noises for Channel 4 learning to produce an album for Adaadat Records and DJ'ing for independent record label SEED records under the moniker of the (tongue in-cheek but some would say apt) title of DJ Required, I've always enjoyed the impact that computer use has made on the way we create.

At the GEEK 2013 after party I'll be playing a soundtrack that doesn't just include the blips and beeps of music made by using computers but also music and lyrics that have been influenced by us using computers in our everyday lives – from portents of Orwellian doom to celebrations of social media, as well as movie soundtracks and archive recordings.

I look forward to clicking through and scrolling down to GEEK 2014 and helping out in whatever way I can” - Robert Urquhart

HKD

Building on our successful appointment as designers of the Hong Kong Space Museum the team is in Singapore for start-up meetings for a new gallery about Alfred Russel Wallace for the Singapore Science Centre.

“There is a picture of Alfred Russel Wallace on the cover of the anthology of his works that I have lugged halfway around the world. It was taken in Singapore in 1862 and shows a man with full beard, hat, black frock coat, waistcoat and high collar. Stepping out into 32 degree heat with thunder clouds building overhead I am not thinking about the Theory of Evolution (that he proposed at the same time as Darwin), I can only wonder whether he took his coat off to collect beetles in the jungle? Someone will know, and I am off to meet them later today.”- Richard Houghton, Creative Director HKD

Dates for your Diary

Tiny Games in the Glamper Van at GEEK2013

22nd March, Tiny Games Kickstarter
Don’t miss your chance to be part of this exciting new development by Hide&Seek. Counting our pocket money we want the Tee shirt and the Surprise and the Year of Games! Join us and make this happen!

23rd March 7.00 - 10.00, Pot Luck #7
A buffet of delectable tit-bits, including performance, dance and live art. Two venues Limbo and Marine Studios featured artists include Marcia Farquhar, Peter Morton and Amy Godfrey.

Don't miss out on the £5 special offer at GB Pizza! (more details here)

19th - 21st April, Salinity by Rachel Johnston 
Gudrun Haraldsdottir worked with two wonderful assistants on the monumental transformation of the Winter Gardens for GEEK. Both students want to make their mark in the world of Art and Installation.

Rachel is showing her work at Marine Studios as a pre graduation show, she is looking for feedback and comments – come and meet Rachel and see her work.

Don’t miss the custard-punching launch of GEEK2013 on Thursday 21 February

We’ve toiled a whole long-but-short year on GEEK2013, swept along on a tide of tea and cooperative effort and now it’s nearly here, Forgive us if we’re a bit tired and emotional but we can’t quite believe how much energy and talent has poured into the project. So make sure you write it into your diary for 21-24 February – in big red letters and/or relevant emoticons. And take particular care that you don’t miss the opening event from 6.00pm to 9.00pm on Thursday 21 Feb. Hide&Seek are curating the event and we’re really pleased about this for two reasons: Firstly, their imaginative gameplay will make Margate old town a place of wit and wonder – the perfect start to GEEK2013. You’ll see how the gameplay sprite can climb out of the console and put an intelligent sparkle into public spaces. Secondly, one of the games on offer is Punch The Custard, designed by George Buckenham. Players have to punch a bowl of custard against the clock; punch it just right and the (perfectly ordinary) custard bounces your hand back as though it’s a hard surface. We think it’s a great analogy for everything GEEK – a cultural contribution that’s fun, social, interesting, and sprinkled with learning (it combines electronics, programming, and practical experiments on the viscosity of edible fluids). And did we mention it’s got custard in it? (Photo above by Mike Massaro.)

Adventures In Comics entrants to be unveiled at our 1 February First Friday

We have just confirmed that Mike Garley, editor in chief of VS Comics will be our guest speaker for First Friday this year, and, he has offered to publish the best three comics submissions in his digital comics edition. In light of this exciting news we are extending the deadline for submissions to the 30th January and postponing publication of our paper until the 21st February to coincide with GEEK2013. All entries will be on display at our 1 February First Friday and this exhibition will move to the Pie Factory for 16th to 24th February 2013 where we’ll invite people to identify the stories they think should win. These peoples’-choice picks will share the winners’ podium with the judge’s choice – as chosen by Paul Gravett, author of ‘1001 comics you must read before you die’

Tree with A View preview, and a history-telling game for the Ramsgate Tunnels

One lofty experiment and one that’s deep underground Prosper Together is a project that’s running several ‘experiments’ – unusual ideas and unlikely connections in untested partnerships – that aim to build cultural capacity in east Kent. We’re delighted to be involved in two of these experiments. Firstly, we’re hosting a private view of Tree with A View, a project by artist Alma Tischlerwood and eco-designer Jonathan Deacon on Friday 15th February from 6.30pm - 8.30pm. The project will create a walkable sculpture that offers a unique vantage point for observation and reflection on a site in St Margaret’s Bay. Secondly, we’re working with the Ramsgate Tunnels Heritage Group to prototype a game for a Ramsgate Tunnels. A fun game that respects the tunnels’ history We believe that games will draw younger people into a cultural heritage experience and we plan to link the gameplay to the tunnels’ structure. We’ve already used the freeware Unity 3D software to create a working model that shows how the game will work and we’re running a workshop at GEEK2013 that will invite people to develop their own ideas around the story of the tunnels. The game has to be fun to play but has to respect the tunnels’ history as a WWII air-raid shelter for over 300 families. Please get in touch with RTHG if you have any family stories about the Ramsgate Tunnels and if you want to take part in the games development workshop contact Rick at r.houghton@hkd.uk.com.

Our last First Friday of 2012 is… Nigel Kneale’s The Year of The Sex Olympics

The BBC first broadcast The year of the Sex Olympics in 1968. Nigel Kneale (author of the Quatermass series) wrote it, it starred Leonard Rossiter and an almost unimaginably young Brian Cox, and it predicted reality-TV nearly 30 years before Big Brother arrived. In the play’s dystopian future the underclass are kept pacified by lowest-common-denominator TV – porn, cookery shows, and a reality show where strangers are stranded on a remote island.

And we’ve decided it’s the perfect way to round off this Olympic year. Join us for a rare screening on 7 December. Lights down and curtain up at 6.30pm.