We have an exciting lineup for the 14th edition of This Happened London.
Stefan Dzisiewski-Smith
Stefan will talk about BuffaloGrid which brings pay-as-you go phone charging to the rural poor and the challenges the project faced…. “how do you go about setting up a business in Uganda?”
The Buffalo research team spent two weeks in Uganda testing early prototypes of the Buffalo charging station. This was followed by a further two weeks of research in Ghana.
In Uganda only 4% of its territory is covered by grid electricity and even in those places with access to the grid people have generators, as this grid power is quite unreliable. There is a large mobile phone penetration across the whole economic pyramid and many people have more than one phone, swapping from sim card to sim card according to their needs. People with really low income, living from the land in remote villages would rely on their phones to sell their crops and in more personal ways, people would give each other “miscalls” as a way of saying “Hi, thinking of you”.
Richard Harvey and Keivor John
Richard and Kelvor will share with us how they reimagined the drinking fountain.
Tropism Well automatically detects the presence of a person and elegantly and effortlessly pours an exact serving of a drink before moving back to it’s original position. Audiences that have experienced it are mesmerised and interact with it as though it were a person, often thanking it and perhaps also bowing. The piece is a perfect example of what Harvey & John strives to achieve with their work. When someone bows, and verbally thanks the piece the designers know they have succeed.
Stuart Wood
Stuart is going to talk about Future Self focusing on working with Wayne McGregor.
“Future Self’ studies human movement; what it can reveal about identity and the relationship we have with our own image. The installation captures movement in light creating a three dimensional, ‘living’ sculpture from the composite gestures of those who surround it. Viewers are bound together –in the moment– as an ethereal, illuminated presence.
Andy Huntington
Andy will talk about Little Printer focusing on some of the practical aspects of getting a product to market.
Little Printer lives in your home, bringing you news, puzzles and gossip from friends. Use your smartphone to set up subscriptions and Little Printer will gather them together to create a timely, beautiful miniature newspaper.
Venue:
Victoria and Albert Museum
Hochhauser Auditorium, Sackler Centre
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 2RL
You can travel to the museum in a number of easy ways.
This event is organised in collaboration with the Digital Programmes Team at the V&A.