FutureEverything 2014
27.03. - 01.04.2014 / Manchester, UK
In its 19th year, the festival brought people together to discover, share and experience new ideas about the future. Pioneering the idea of a ‘festival as laboratory’, it combined innovative art and performance with new technology, insightful discussion and playful social experimentation. The conference brought together over 700 international delegates from design, urbanism, art, business and academia.
Taking the theme of ‘Tools for Unknown Futures’, the festival explored how we can collaborate on new tools, devices and systems to transform many spheres of life, from the arts to democracy. Drawing on powerful currents in today’s design scene, it opened up the debate our fascination with tools as the most natural path towards social change, and new ways to question, imagine and make the strange, troubled thing called the future.
ECAS supported events during the festival:
Discussion Panels31.03. - 01.04.2014
Date | 31.03.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘Superfictions: Design for Social Dreaming’ |
Participants | Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Koert van Mensvoort, Tobias Revell |
Location | Room 1 - Great Hall Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/superfictions-design-social-dreaming/ https://vimeo.com/100634511 |
Description | This session gathers accomplished designers that are developing speculative narratives and social scenarios, to rehearse how different our everyday lives can be under the regimes of emerging technologies like genomics, synthetic biology, new materials or robotics. |
Video Recording |
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Date | 31.03.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘Data Driven Football’ |
Participants | Scott Smith, John O'Shea |
Location | Room 2 - Banqueting Hall Manchester Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/data-driven-football/ |
Description | Over 90 minutes, Scott Smith and John O'Shea, guide you on a journey through the strange world of Data-Driven Football. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 31.03.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘Critical Making’ |
Participants | Golan Levin, Garnet Hertz, Justin McGuirk |
Location | Room 1 - Great Hall Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/critical-making/ http://vimeo.com/100631185 |
Description | This session explores whether Critical Making – understood as the practice of questioning and reimagining tools – is a necesary practice today, and how can it be a culturally relevant form. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Video Recording |
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Date | 31.03.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘Cities: Urban Play’ |
Participants | Paul Graham Raven, Liam Young, Holly Gramazio, Esteban Fuertes Gonzalez, Aurora González-Adalid Nuñez, David Jacques Leon Berkvens |
Location | Room 1 - Great Hall Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/cities-urban-play/ http://vimeo.com/106916579 |
Description | This session gathers urbanists that are mapping the geographies of the fantastic all over the globe, along with speculative engineers, architects developing pop up experiments to reinvigorate decayed spaces, and game designers creating ludic experiences that infiltrate our streets and squares. This session will reflect on the City Fictions pop-up urban experiment in this years festival. |
Video Recording |
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Date | 31.03.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘How to Create a Tool’ |
Participants | Tomas Diez, Rachel Rayns, Alexander Gluhak |
Location | Room 1 - Great Hall Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/create-tool/ https://vimeo.com/100607997 |
Description | In this session, Tomas Diez, founder of the promising Smart Citizen sensing platform, and Alex Gluhak from Intel’s Intelligent Cities Lab, discuss how citizen bottom-up and industry’s top-down platforms can exist in the same ecosystem. |
Video Recording |
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Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘City API’ |
Participants | Dan Hill, Emer Coleman, Katalin Gallyas |
Location | |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/city-api/ http://vimeo.com/100709962 |
Description | The lines are blurring between what happens inside city government and what happens outside. There is increasing sophistication in tools and platforms for both government and citizens, but there are real challenges for city councils to run genuinely open platforms at city scale. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Video Recording |
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Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘New Shape of Things’ |
Participants | Dan Williams, Tom Armitage, Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Clare Reddington |
Location | Room 1 - Great Hall Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/new-shape-things-2/ http://vimeo.com/100759334 |
Description | This session investigates how connected objects can become a sophisticated language for creative exploration beyond the canonical visions of the Internet of Things industry. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Video Recording |
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Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘Innovation from Developing Worlds’ |
Participants | Felipe Altenfelder Silva, Josh Harvey, Dan McQuillan, Ruth Daniel |
Location | Room 2 - Banqueting Hall Manchester Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/innovation-developing-worlds-2/ |
Description | This session explores how revolutionary new methods of using existing tools is developing new worlds, and are prompting new methods of advocating change. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘Building Creative Institutions’ |
Participants | Ben Vickers, Seb Chan, Mia Ridge, Alex Fleetwood |
Location | |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/building-creative-institutions/ http://vimeo.com/100643197 |
Description | |
photos | Flickr Gallery (Seb Chan) Flickr Gallery (all participants) |
Video Recording |
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Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘The Secret Lives of Systems and Services’ |
Participants | Eleanor Saitta, Adam Harvey, James Bridle |
Location | Room 1 - Great Hall Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/secret-lives-systems-services-2/ http://vimeo.com/100759335 |
Description | In the aftermath of the Snowden scandal, as we learned that services and products that we use every day are facilitating unprecedented levels of surveillance or our personal lives, it becomes more urgent to understand what our common tools are actually doing as we use them, beyond our face value perception. |
photos | Flickr Gallery (Adam Harvey) Flickr Gallery (James Bridle) |
Video Recording |
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Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘The Data Economy’ |
Participants | Irene Ng, Volker Buscher, Simon Giles, Neil Crockett |
Location | Room 1 - Great Hall Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/data-economy/ |
Description | This session explores the emerging economics and design paradigms that can sustain the technologies likely to have the major impact in the coming years. |
photos | Flickr Gallery (Irene Ng) Flickr Gallery (Volker Buscher) Flickr Gallery (Neil Crockett) |
Video Recording |
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Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Discussion Panel – ‘Big Data and the Arts’ |
Participants | Sejul Malde, Juan Mateos-Garcia |
Location | Room 2 - Banqueting Hall Manchester Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/big-data-arts-workshop/ |
Description | In this session we introduce some of the key findings from recent research and identify ways in which we can increase engagement. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Fireside Chat31.03.2014
Date | 31.03.2014 |
Action | Fireside Chat |
Participants | Adam Greenfield, Adrian Hon |
Location | Room 3 - Reception Room Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/fireside-chat-adrian-hon/ http://futureeverything.org/events/fireside-chat-adam-greenfield/ |
Description | FutureEverything Fireside Chats are a series of intimate, exploratory conversations with internationally renowned artists, designers, thinkers and business leaders from across the FutureEverything Festival programme. |
photos |
Adam Greenfield (Flickr Gallery) Adrian Hon (Flickr Gallery) |
Talk - ‘Coming to terms with the Big Data inside us’ 01.04.2014
Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Talk - ‘Coming to terms with the Big Data inside us’ |
Participants | Abhay Adhikari |
Location | Room 2 - Banqueting Hall Manchester Town Hall, M60 2LA |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/coming-terms-big-data-inside-us/ |
Description | This workshop explores the need for establishing a context when capturing, broadcasting and accessing data about our individual selves. |
photos |
Flickr Gallery |
Performances / DJ Sets28.03. - 01.04.2014
Date | 28.03.2014 |
Action | Performance ‘Lumière’ |
Participants | Robert Henke |
Location | RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/robert-henke-lumiere/ |
Description | Lumière is a live audiovisual performance from acclaimed sound artist and producer Robert Henke. Three powerful white lasers draw rapid successions of ephemeral objects, seemingly floating in space, while the data used to draw the shapes is transformed into audible frequencies. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 30.03.2014 |
Action | Performance ‘Projectors’ (World Première) |
Participants | Martin Messier |
Location | RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/martin-messier-projectors-world-premiere/ https://www.facebook.com/events/751407814873642/ |
Description | Martin Messier is a composer, performance artist and videographer whose work explores the relationship between electroacoustic music and other art forms through experimentation and collaboration. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 29.03.2014 |
Action | DJ Sets - 'Presented by Evian Christ' |
Participants | Lorenzo Senni, T C F, Visionist, Koreless, Evian Christ |
Location | RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/presented-evian-christ-live-evian-christ-koreless-lorenzo-senni-visionist-tcf/ |
Description | |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 30.03.2014 |
Action | Performance - 'This World Made Itself + Zoomwooz Live Cinema' |
Participants | Miwa Matreyek, Zoomwooz |
Location | RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/miwa-matreyek-world-made-zoomwooz-live-cinema/ |
Description | An event to delight adults and children alike combining live-cinema with hundreds of small hand painted paper models and live acting. This special matinee event launches FutureEverything’s new family programme on mothers’ day. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 01.04.2014 |
Action | Performance Tim Hecker (Live) + Julianna Barwick |
Participants | Julianna Barwick, Tim Hecker |
Location | RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/tim-hecker-live-julianna-barwick/ |
Description | For more than a decade, Tim Hecker has been at the forefront of artists working in sonic sculpture and at the intersection of electronic and acoustic composition. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 28.03.2014 |
Action | DJ Sets - 'Faktion Special' |
Participants | Mika Vainio, Source Direct, Ninos du Brasil, EVOL |
Location | Islington Mill 1 James Street, Salford, M3 5HW |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/mika-vainio-source-direct-ninos-du-brasil-nico-vascellari-evol/ |
Description | FutureEverything further a long-running alliance with Faktion, one of the UK’s premier promoters of forward-facing music, to present a pairing of dance music auteurs and cutting edge, extreme music pioneers. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 29.03.2014 |
Action | Performance - 'Longplayer for Voices' |
Participants | Longplayer |
Location | RNCM Carol Nash Recital Room 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/longplayer-voices-listening-post/ |
Description | Developing a version of Longplayer that depends purely on the human voice strips away the uncertainties attached to the future of technology and is a significant development in the projects on-going story. |
photos | |
Flickr Gallery |
Installations28.03. - 03.04.2014
Date | 28.03. - 03.04.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'Winning Formula' at the National Football Museum |
Participants | Near Future Laboratory |
Location | National Football Museum, City Fictions, Urbis Building, Cathedral Gardens, Todd St, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M4 3BG |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/winning-formula/ |
Description | Through narrative and design fiction this installation highlights the implications of an intensifying relationship between data and football. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'A History of the Future in 100 Objects' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Adrian Hon |
Location | Old Bank, City Fictions, Hanover Street, NOMA, M4 4AH |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/history-future-100-objects/ |
Description | An exhibition of fictional objects presented at the City Fictions museum, which presents speculative objects from the future rather than relics from the past. |
photos | ‘City Fictions’ Flickr Gallery |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'Bio Strike' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Asa Calow, Cathrine Kramer, Martin Malthe Borch, Pieter van Boheemen, Zack Denfeld |
Location | New Century House, City Fictions, Corporation St, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/bio-strike/ |
Description | An installation and workshop invites visitors to City Fictions to experience a future when food and DIY biomedical science collide. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'Parliament of Urban Rights' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Zuloark |
Location | New City Square, City Fictions, Next to New Century House, NOMA, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/parliament-urban-rights/ |
Description | A free-access, temporary debating space constructed of wood, open to anyone in Manchester to use for civic purposes, such as neighbour or friend meetings and assemblies. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'Hello Everything' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | PAN Studios |
Location | New City Square, City Fictions, Next to New Century House, NOMA, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/hello-lamp-post/ |
Description | Hello Everything is an opportunity for visitors to share, via SMS, their own urban visions, fictions and narratives – with the street objects around them and the institutions embodied across the site. |
Date | 29.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'BUQs' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Joris Hoogeboom, Teun Verkerk |
Location | New City Square, City Fictions, Next to New Century House, NOMA, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/buqs/ |
Description | BUQs (Ubiquitous Electronic Lifeforms) is a swarm of autonomous, electronic lifeforms, communicating with each other, invading surfaces within the built environment and using them for the creation of sounds. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'SerenA, You Are Not Here' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Nicky Kirk, Mel Woods |
Location | New City Square, City Fictions, Next to New Century House, NOMA, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/you-are-not-here/ |
Description | The fictional city is an information rich environment, both real and imagined. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'NoPayPhone' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Ben Dalton |
Location | New Art Spaces, Federation House, City Fictions, Manchester. Corner of Federation St and Balloon St., |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/nopayphone/ |
Description | NoPayPhone explores the notion of phone boxes as a symbol of privacy, and helps to confuse targeted advertising and profiling by your mobile phone operator and any third-party surveillance of call metadata. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – 'CoGet: Things Move People Around' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Design Informatics |
Location | New City Square, City Fictions, Next to New Century House, NOMA, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/coget-things-move-people-around/ |
Description | Co-things is a public experiment that uses software to predict where things need to be, and borrows the legs of humans to move them. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Installation – '5th Dimensional Camera' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Superflux |
Location | Old Bank, City Fictions, Hanover Street, NOMA, M4 4AH |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/5th-dimensional-camera/ |
Description | The 5th Dimensional Camera blends physics and speculative design to translate Hugh Everett's 'Many Worlds' theory of quantum mechanics into a tangible prototype. |
Showcase - 'Futures 10' for exhibition 'City Fictions'29.03. - 30.03.2014
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Showcase - 'Futures 10' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Stefanie Posavec, James Bridle, Ben Hammersley, Superflux, Lisa Kori & Caitlin Morris (Fabrica), Francis Bitonti, Alex Box, Peter Gregson, Rohan Gunatillake, Lauren Bowker |
Location | Old Bank, City Fictions, Hanover Street, NOMA, M4 4AH |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/futures-10/ |
Description | Futures 10 is a showcase of wearable prototypes. |
Participatory art and events29.03. - 30.03.2014
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Participatory art – 'Social Capital' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Blank Media Collective |
Location | New City Square, City Fictions, Next to New Century House, NOMA, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/blank-media-collective-social-capital/ |
Description | Blank Media Collective are setting up a workshop and construction site in New City Square. They are fabricating experimental building blocks for a participatory sculpture and temporary monument. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Participatory art – 'CV Dazzle Anon Salon' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Adam Harvey |
Location | New City Square, City Fictions, Next to New Century House, NOMA, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/cv-dazzle-anon-salon/ |
Description | A hair and makeup salon at City Fictions gives visitors a free anti-surveillance and facial recognition makeover to make them invisible to ‘Big Brother’. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Participatory art – 'Pink Sheet Method' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Thickear |
Location | New Century House, City Fictions, Corporation St, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/pink-sheet-method/ |
Description | A triptychal response to Data As Culture involves processes of data collection, exhibition, re-examination and degradation taking place in three locations. |
Date | 29.03.2014 |
Action | Participatory event – 'Storystorm' for exhibition 'City Fictions' |
Participants | Mel Woods |
Location | New City Square, City Fictions, Next to New Century House, NOMA, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/storystorm/ |
Description | Storystorm is a forum for citizens and groups to try out or respond to any area of civic future. |
Creative workshops29.03. - 30.03.2014
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Creative workshop – 'Fixperts Hub' |
Participants | Helen Cresswell, Tom Cox |
Location | New Art Spaces, Federation House, City Fictions, Manchester. Corner of Federation St and Balloon St., |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/fixperts-hub/ |
Description | Comprising of a library, makerspace and gallery, it aims to share knowledge, skills and tools and engage communities in thinking about the value of fixing through film, active demonstrations and workshops. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Creative workshop – 'Critical 3D Printing' |
Participants | Golan Levin |
Location | New Art Spaces, Federation House, City Fictions, Manchester. Corner of Federation St and Balloon St., |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/critical-3d-printing/ |
Description | A Family Workshop in 3D Printing: Concepts, Techniques, and Workflows. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Creative workshop – 'Punchcard Economy Workshop' |
Participants | Sam Meech |
Location | New Art Spaces, Federation House, City Fictions, Manchester. Corner of Federation St and Balloon St., |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/punchcard-economy-workshop/ |
Description | Punchcard Economy banners are large scale knitted data visualisation works, based on the Robert Owen's 8 Hour Day Movement slogan: '8 Hours Labour, 8 Hours Recreation, 8 Hours Rest'. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Creative workshop – 'Benjolin Analogue Synth Workshop' |
Participants | Rob Hordijk, Joker Nies |
Location | New Art Spaces, Federation House, City Fictions, Manchester. Corner of Federation St and Balloon St., |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/benjolin-analogue-synth/ |
Description | The Benjolin is a ‘noise box’ that is ‘bent by design’, meaning that it always has an amount of unpredictability while still being intuitive to play. |
Date | 29.03. - 30.03.2014 |
Action | Creative workshop – 'BUQs Workshop' |
Participants | Joris Hoogeboom, Teun Verkerk |
Location | New Art Spaces, Federation House, City Fictions, Manchester. Corner of Federation St and Balloon St., |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/buqs-workshop-2/ |
Description | BUQs (Ubiquitous Electronic Lifeforms)’, the data network at City Fictions is alive, comprising a swarm of autonomous, electronic lifeforms, communicating with each other, invading surfaces within the built environment and using them for the creation of sounds. |
Date | 29.03.2014 |
Action | Creative workshop – 'BBC Connected Studio: The Future of Media' |
Participants | Laura Harrison |
Location | New Century House, City Fictions, Corporation St, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M60 4ES |
Sponsoring Partners | FutureEverything |
Online References |
http://futureeverything.org/events/bbc-connected-studio-future-media-3/ |
Description | Connected Studio is a new approach to deliver innovation at scale by bringing BBC staff closer to the wider Digital industry. |
photos | Flickr Gallery |