Pervasive Media Studio

Pervasive Media Studio It is a collaboration between Watershed, University of Bristol and UWE Bristol

The Pervasive Media Studio hosts a brilliant community of over 100 artists, creative companies, technologists and academics exploring experience design and creative technology.

This February half-term on Thu 20 Feb, we're excited to invite young people aged 8-14 and their guardians to a special w...
07/02/2025

This February half-term on Thu 20 Feb, we're excited to invite young people aged 8-14 and their guardians to a special workshop with Dr. Libby Miller.

The workshop will focus on making shonky, physical, funny prototypes, and thinking about connection. Shonkbot is a fun, low-cost educational/drawing robot made entirely from bits you can buy.

The workshop will complement our showing of The Wild Robot, which you can enjoy with a 20% discount during this school break.

Book a ticket: https://ow.ly/3xBR50UVxWL

In this week's Lunchtime Talk on Fri 7 Feb, we will hear from Frazer Meakin an experienced facilitator and educator with...
05/02/2025

In this week's Lunchtime Talk on Fri 7 Feb, we will hear from Frazer Meakin an experienced facilitator and educator with over 5 years of experience working with young people in both formal educational and creative settings.

Drawing from his background he will illuminate the need for collaboration to redefine education and career development for a dynamic workforce for creative technology and the wider cultural sector.

This is a free event join us online on YouTube or in the studio.

Book a ticket: https://ow.ly/hvrM50UU2OR

📸 Shamphat

04/02/2025

Following an open call for our Winter Residencies, we’re excited to introduce the two recipients: interdisciplinary Artist, Geraint Edwards who plans to create a series of experimental works in everyday places and Audio-visual Participatory Artist, Natalie Whitney who will focus on the evolution o...

 is a project with Love and light at its heart. For the past ten years they’ve had over 350 international festivals of l...
31/01/2025

is a project with Love and light at its heart. For the past ten years they’ve had over 350 international festivals of light and colour, where people transform their neighbourhood into unique and magical outdoor galleries.

Come and make your own paper display at First Friday February (7 Feb 17:00-19:00) The theme is ‘light’ in collaboration with .

This week our Studio Community Lead Martin O’Leary, Studio Resident Rachel Smith, and long-time Studio collaborators Pla...
30/01/2025

This week our Studio Community Lead Martin O’Leary, Studio Resident Rachel Smith, and long-time Studio collaborators Playfool have been in Tokyo, facilitating some workshops as part of Civic Creative Base Tokyo’s “Future Ideations Camp”, on the topic of “Can AI become life?”.

The camp has brought 25 participants together with researchers from Tokyo University, facilitators from the UK and Japan, and a humanoid robot named Alter3, to create new artworks exploring AI and the nature of life. The resulting artworks will be on show at CCBT in Tokyo until Sun 2 Feb.

📸 Masahiro Muramatsu

In this Lunchtime Talk, on Fri 31 Jan we will hear from the co-founders of experiential design studio Ottomata who speci...
29/01/2025

In this Lunchtime Talk, on Fri 31 Jan we will hear from the co-founders of experiential design studio Ottomata who specialise in the conception of interactive installations and immersive journeys that sparks curiosity, and engage people through art. They will share their approach to crafting personally reflective interactive installations.

This is a free event and is also part of Bristol Light Festival, join us online on YouTube or in the studio.

Book a ticket: https://ow.ly/oQ9p50UJvO8

📸 Ottomata

In this week's Lunchtime Talk on Fri 24 Jan, we'll hear from Dr. Libby Miller (she/her) who will explore how non-experts...
22/01/2025

In this week's Lunchtime Talk on Fri 24 Jan, we'll hear from Dr. Libby Miller (she/her) who will explore how non-experts can be persuaded to participate meaningfully in technical projects.

Dr. Libby Miller has spent the past 14 years working at BBC Research and Development as a technologist and maker. She enjoys creating intentionally imperfect robots and reflecting on themes of connection, embodiment, and meaning.

This is a free event, join us online on YouTube or in the studio.

Book a ticket: https://ow.ly/7jjL50UJvB7

📸 Dr. Libby Miller

In this week's Lunchtime Talk on Fri 17Jan, we'll hear from Queering AI, a q***r collective based in Bristol who are int...
15/01/2025

In this week's Lunchtime Talk on Fri 17Jan, we'll hear from Queering AI, a q***r collective based in Bristol who are interested in building, bringing down, and hacking technology.

The team will share the co-created manifesto, reflect on their experiences from the past year, and present their discoveries. This is a free event, join us online on YouTube or in the studio.

Book a ticket: https://ow.ly/FGTe50UGMVL

It’s a stacked Friday at the studio today! Today’s lunchtime talk welcomes .magner to discuss ethical frameworks of co a...
03/05/2024

It’s a stacked Friday at the studio today! Today’s lunchtime talk welcomes .magner to discuss ethical frameworks of co authorship with imprisoned people in the creation Our Lives Inside - a research led audiovisual project telling their stories through their own prisms of experience - join us at 1pm in the building or online.

Afterwards, we have First Friday! This months event is part of ‘s DIASPORA! Festival, and you’ll be able to see work from and more. We’ll see you at 5pm!

 and  are excited to introduce you to the 6 teams of creators working within the  More Than AI Sandbox – a programme whe...
10/04/2024

and are excited to introduce you to the 6 teams of creators working within the More Than AI Sandbox – a programme where exciting teams of creators transform an experimental idea to a working prototype! Read more viathe link in our bio and meet the teams below!

Creatura Speculatrix by & explores AI evolution beyond human intelligence. Creatura Speculatrix will be an immersive, artificial habitat with creature like machines that prompt us to rethink what we understand about the diversity of intelligence.

The Expression Orchestra asks the question - can AI allow those who can’t play an instrument gain access to musical experience? Pyka will create alternative, easy to use digital instruments designed to empower and broaden young peoples’ access to musical performance.

will create a protoype app - The Apothecary Network exploring how creative tech and AI can play a part in climate action by sharing the knowledge required to establish a network of decolonial community apothecaries. Connecting with nature in radical, anti-racist ways and creating a sense of agency in green spaces.

It’s the year 2349 in Glory Mold. Part slime mold, part AI, Glory Mold is incorporated into every aspect of life-but now, she’s disappearing. An installation chronicling her life & impact made by the hottest curator of the 2340s is coming soon!

Poetic Computation ( )’s Crip Intelligence is a game where disability destroys or rescues AI Foundation Models from companies controlling them through crip-rebellion, AI resistance of care, intelligences & crip-fantasy, making visible the bias & prejudice in AI.

Can a game with AI augmented interactions improve real world relationships? Surfing Light Beams & Kinship Wayfinder explores how AI could help to foster meaningful connections, create trust, empathy and kindness through a multi-user game that gathers people together.

Image description: A computer device covered in a green moss and gloopy mould
Image credit:

Tomorrow evening - PM Studio Resident  presents The Yokai Creature Collage Workshop - an engaging creative session that ...
27/03/2024

Tomorrow evening - PM Studio Resident presents The Yokai Creature Collage Workshop - an engaging creative session that introduces participants to the fascinating world of Japanese folklore and mythical creatures known as yokai. 👺

Led by passionate creature lover Axe, the workshop begins with an insightful presentation about the different types of yokai, their characteristics, and the stories behind them. Participants are then encouraged to tap into their imagination and creativity as they create their own personalized yokai collage creature.

Using a variety of materials such as colored paper, magazine cutouts, and markers, participants bring their chosen yokai to life. The workshop encourages participants to not only learn about these supernatural beings but also express their interpretations and unique artistic style through their creations.

Reserve a space here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/oo/storytelling-through-collage-yokai-hatchery/e-zmpabq

📣 This coming Tuesday the 26th of March; Join us for an evening of experimental art and conversation exploring the theme...
22/03/2024

📣 This coming Tuesday the 26th of March; Join us for an evening of experimental art and conversation exploring the theme of Other Minds, with our 2024 Winter Artists in Residence, Dave Evans and .

Our annual Winter Residencies programme is an opportunity for artists to research and develop their ideas at the Pervasive Media Studio, our creative technologies research space.

This year we supported Dave Evans and Elinor Lower to explore intelligences that are different to human intelligence: animals, machines, or something stranger. We are delighted to share the work and ideas they have developed.

Full info here: https://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/12542/winter-residency-showcase

Tomorrow’s lunchtime talk welcomes Tom Bailey from  - Tom will share a bit about Mechanimal’s ongoing creative explorati...
21/09/2023

Tomorrow’s lunchtime talk welcomes Tom Bailey from - Tom will share a bit about Mechanimal’s ongoing creative exploration into mining, climate and technology.

Following an award-winning theatre show, Megalith (2022), Mechanimal is now expanding its exploration of these themes in collaboration with and Supported by - the company is researching a new live, immersive platform combining audio, projection mapping, motion sensor technology and lots of rocks. Inspired by the Neolithic origins of mining, Stonehenge and ancient stone patterning, we’re in the early stages of developing an engaging hybrid experience, inviting people into a fresh new encounter with rocks and tech.

Mechanimal is an awarding-winning Bristol-based creative company. It creates live performance and immersive installations that explore what it means to live on a changing planet, touring work in the UK and internationally. Projects have focused on bird migration, extinction, resource extraction, Arctic geopolitics, cancer and AI. Making art within the grey space between Humans and non-Human Others, Mechanimal’s work is an evolving exploration of Anthropocene life. The talk is delivered by Mechanimal performance artist Tom Bailey and sound artist Xavier Velastin, creating this project in conjunction with Limbic Cinema.

And we’re back to regular events from our August break tomorrow! 🎈 We’ll be kicking off with our Lunchtime Talk, Open St...
31/08/2023

And we’re back to regular events from our August break tomorrow! 🎈

We’ll be kicking off with our Lunchtime Talk, Open Studio Friday, and excitingly, a special centric First Friday - This event will showcase work from the Make Shift network, a programme supporting early career creatives, who are curious about film and/or creative technology. Come and join us from 10-5 for Open Studio Friday and from 5-6 for First Friday!

📸: Inside Film

Todays’s talk: Ever since writing created a separation, in both time and space, between the storyteller and their audien...
21/07/2023

Todays’s talk:

Ever since writing created a separation, in both time and space, between the storyteller and their audience, changes in technology have altered the relationship between storytellers and their audiences. In order to successfully convey a story to a remote audience, the storyteller has to establish a role for the audience that gives them a relationship to the story. If the media requires them to interact with the story then that interaction needs to be congruent with the role rather than conflict with it.

In this talk, Michael Armstrong (BBC R&D) will talk about the research they have carried out with Maxine Glancy at BBC R&D into the role of the audience across a wide range of media and the challenges faced each time a new technology disrupts the relationship with the audience. Covering issues as diverse as the impact of lighting in theatre to the introduction of radio and the challenges of integrating audience interaction, this talk will be an introduction to their White Paper, The Role of the Audience in Media: how culture, framing and narration give shape to the way stories are understood.

Blog post - https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2022-06-interactive-personal-content-audience-research

White Paper - https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/role-of-audience-in-media-how-culture-framing-narration-shape-way-stories-are-understood

Join us in person or online at 1pm!

03/07/2023

New Voices is our three-month talent development scheme for underrepresented voices in the south west.

In this week's lunchtime talk, we'll hear from Beyond We about their top 10 takeaways after they tried to launch a new v...
08/05/2023

In this week's lunchtime talk, we'll hear from Beyond We about their top 10 takeaways after they tried to launch a new venue boat on the Bristol harbour. Watch online or in person, Friday 12 May at 1pm

Beyond We (Pervasive Media Studio Residents Dr. Mena Fombo and Michael Jenkins) share their top 10 takeaways after they tried to launch a new venue boat on the Bristol harbour.

It's the First Friday of the month so, as is tradition, we're hosting another social today 5-6pm. Join us in person or o...
05/05/2023

It's the First Friday of the month so, as is tradition, we're hosting another social today 5-6pm. Join us in person or online.

First Friday is a monthly social event open to anyone. These events are somewhere between the last meeting of the week and the first event of your weekend.

Address

Watershed, 1 Canons Road
Bristol
BS15TX

Opening Hours

12:30pm - 5pm

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Pervasive Media Studio posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Pervasive Media Studio:

Videos

Share