It is a new year, and while it is always fun to make resolutions and plan ahead for the year to come, it is also a time of reflection on the year that has passed, and boy was 2014 a busy year for the lab.  Not only did we sponsor and speak at various industry events, such as the annual UX conference Fluxible, but we also hosted several ‘thinkering’ sessions for various businesses and artists. In fact, we spent a great deal of time supporting various arts endeavors not only throughout the region but in Toronto and British Columbia as well.

We were joined in September by Carey Dodge, Canada’s only Technology Director in the Canadian theatre scene, which is completely different from the traditional Technical Director. Carey comes from a technical background, originally in electroacoustics, and has his MA in sonic arts from Queen’s University Belfast. His professional focus is to integrate technology into performances by Boca Del Lupo, the theatre company he works at with his brother.  Carey visited the lab for a week to work with our projection mapping software and the new version of the Microsoft Kinect. He was also generous enough to share his experiences with local theatre practitioners through Pat the Dog while he was here.

 

REAP also had the pleasure of sponsoring an art installation at Nuit Blanche by a group of Architecture students from the University of Waterloo.  The students put together a massive installation with only a week to build and thousands of kilometers between them as they were all working at various co-op placements around the globe when they first approached us for support. They managed to pull it off and built the 24 foot wall holding 2,000 tubes with 4,000 lights strung along it to spectacular effect.

 

Locally, we helped to support artists who were involved in Night/Shift, K-W’s own version of Nuit Blanche, which is hosted every November in the heart of downtown Kitchener. Our technology made appearances in various installations and performances. Our newest versions of the Microsoft Kinect was used in Samarian Woman 28 arts collective’s installation in the City Hall Rotunda, and our Christie Digital projector was used by the 12 Angry Filmmakers during their filming at the Walper Terrace Hotel.

While we could list several more examples, I think the most important thing to note is that there is a thriving arts scene in Kitchener-Waterloo, filled with vibrant minds who are willing to push the boundaries between arts and technology, and REAP is as happy to support these people and organizations in the year to come as we were last year.

If you have an arts project and you want to incorporate our technology, or if you need space, shoot us an email at reap.uw[at]gmail[dot]com. We’d be happy to hear from you!