Transmedia: Downtown Davis Interactive Art Walk

Wandering into downtown Davis, many notice the many murals on the sides of buildings or sculptures on corners. Downtown Davis possesses the first interactive transmedia art walk in the world.

The downtown Davis area has at least 40 works of art. Many of these works have a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, which allows the viewer to watch a video of the work’s creation on their smartphone and leave a message for the artist.

via The Aggie

The Burning Man Phenomenon Softens to Commercial Interests

Burning Man is best known as a hedonistic week-long art festival 110 miles north of Reno on a dry lake called the playa. But almost imperceptibly over the last few years, it has become a place where CEOs, venture capitalists and start-uppers can network.

Burning Man founders are happy about the changes – even courting them.

via SFGate

Transmedia: Next Wave of Public Art Tours in California

Works of art – such realistic murals, abstract sculptures – are embedded with radio-frequency-identification technology chips, which viewers can wave their smartphones over to see multimedia extras about the piece and its creator.

Then there’s the “transmedia” aspect, courtesy of Kumagai. The technology chips are his own patented creation. They can be linked to videos, photos, comments and other digital features.

via Sacramento Bee

The Rise of Animated GIFs as a Form of Digital Art

The GIF is making a comeback by being both functional and allowing any person, brand, or publication to add another form of artistic expression to their editorial content.

Cinemagraphs is a shop created by Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck who invented a new art form leveraging the same practice as a GIF, taking a series of photos and isolating a single area that is animated.

“I think of it as a little movie projector, reel and screen all in one, so it becomes a catalyst for art forms,” Burg said. Cinemagraphs are an evolution of the GIF, reducing file size and having the ability to be taken out of the GIF format to HTML5 video and art installations.

via Contently

The London Pleasure Gardens Regeneration of the Royal Docks

Located in the Olympic East End, the London Pleasure Gardens is a new 20-acre riverside arts and entertainment destination. Patterned after the Pleasure Gardens of the 17th and 19th Centuries, LPG invites visitors to listen to music, admire paintings, stroll, drink, flirt and immerse themselves in culture.

Featuring open-air concerts, dance and theatre arenas, historic and contemporary architecture, an urban nature reserve, a boutique hotel and a floating cocktail bar, LPG will evolve over the next three years, acting as an entertainment centre but also a platform for artists and musicians to showcase their work to the public.

In this video, LPGs creative director, Deborah Armstrong talks about the project, the regeneration of the Royal Docks and the artists and architects involved.

Via Crane.tv

Transmedia: Blending Art and Science at USC Annenberg

Scientists and artists often don’t talk to each other very much. Both solitary disciplines, with long periods of time spent in a lab or in a studio, don’t necessarily lend themselves to collaboration.

In contrast, at the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab they have built an intersection of these two pillars.

The Lab focuses on transmedia storytelling, collective intelligence, and participatory culture.

via Forbes