DIGITAL TAKEOVER II: A MERL LATE

JOIN US FOR A LIVELY EVENING OF DRINKS, LIVE MUSIC, ACTIVITIES AND TALKS SHOWCASING DIGITAL PROJECTS!

Book in advance or buy on the door (subject to availability)
£4 in advance (£3 students and concessions) / £5 (£3.75) on the door
Please note this event is suitable for aged 18+ only

LIVE MUSIC BY FORGET GRAVITY– COCKTAILS BY MILK READING –  SILENT DISCO

Following the success of our first Digital Takeover last year, this event will showcase the exciting projects and activities developed as part of the Arts Council funded #digiRDG: Town and Country project.

• Cocktails by MILK Bar
• Live music by Forget Gravity
• Hear about some of our objects from a robot gallery guide
• Collect a tablet and follow the augmented reality trail
• Object Handling: Learn more about our collections
• Interact and engage with Pepper, a humanoid robot
• Silent Disco: Boogie along to our silent disco tunes
• See the Reading Hackspace Smart Fly Eye close-up
• Hear recordings from The Berkshire Show with Felicity Ford
• Record your own ‘moo’ with our interactive sensory cow
• Have fun with AR and VR interactives and enjoy virtual immersive experiences with PurpleStars and Volume
• Step back in time and experience the former glory of Reading Abbey in VR
• Decorate a gingerbread robot biscuit- suitable for vegetarians
• Design your own ‘Absolute unit’ badge!
• Demonstration of photogrammetry and use within museums
• Have a look at our original ‘Absolute Unit’!
• Draw a museum object and have it 3D printed by Handy Dan for just £2! This will be on a first come, first serve basis
• Join Adam and Jon with ArtLab on a ‘Dada’ inspired magical making mystery tour! Use your skills as a detective to guess what objects from MERL’s collection our 3D printer is creating.
• 3D Scanning: Watch yourself being digitally transformed into a virtual model!
• Create your own fridge magnet or keyring with our 3D printing pens

TALKS SCHEDULE

7.30 –7.45pm   
Let’s Get Real: recent journey into digital @readingmuseum (Brendan Carr, Reading Museum)

7.50 – 8.05pm   
Reading Hackspace and The Things Network Reading, looks at The MERL Connected Crop Project. Learn about the technology and results from this year’s long project, and how to do the same in your own garden, school or allotment. (Mike Beardmore, Reading Hackspace (RLab))

8.10 – 8.25pm 
The Sandbox (Adam Stead and Jon Lockhart, ArtLab)

8.30 –8.45 pm  
Volume is the AI Agency delivering experimental AI experiences including conversational AI Platforms, Humanoid Robotics, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (Aidan Murphy and Michal Kendereski, Volume)

8.50 – 9.05pm  
Developing interactive sensory experiences for The MERL (Kate Allen, PurpleStars)

9.10 – 9.25pm 
Technology in the Museum: Robots, VR and Holograms (Luca Ontonello)

9.30 – 9.45pm   
Look at this absolute unit: the story behind the tweet. Hear about how and why The MERL went viral last week with a photo of a large ram from the man behind the tweet, as well as the project behind it. (Adam Koszary, Reading Museum and The MERL)