Design in the Dock

At the end of this week the Floating Cinema has its last outing for the summer! We will be taking the boat all the way over in to the uncharted waters of West London for the event Multiplex at the Dock. On Wednesday we will be showing all of the films recorded during the cinema's various tours of the summer, then, on Thursday and Friday, we take on the design theme with a special progamme curated by me!

Having taught in the RCA's design Interactions department for some 15 odd years it's been a great opportunity to pull together some of my favourite projects from the last few years. Probably better films have been made in this time but what I like about all these projects is the way that they engage with a process or an audience in a very direct way - often utilising film as the only way to record the long and varied development of the work. Here's a brief introduction to the projects I've chosen to screen:

Thomas Thwaites, The Toaster Project (11'39") The Toaster Project chronicles Thwaites nine month attempt to make an electric toaster from scratch - literally from the ground up. Starting with digging up the raw materials from abandoned mines around the UK, then attempting to process them himself at home, and finally forming them into a product that Argos sells for only £3.94. An absurdist exploration of economies of scale, his toaster's contradictions serve to highlight the incredible efficiencies of modern capitalism, but also to question our current trajectory. However, does it toast?
Director: Thomas Thwaites 

Ka Fai Choy, SynchroMetrics (3'10") SynchroMetrics is a choreographic study on the experience of synchronicity. The experiment presents a dialogue between natural and digitally stimulated choreography, in an attempt to interlace the conceptual connections of the mind with a technological influence on the body. 
Director: Choy Ka Fai, Performers: Camilla Capon, Ellyen Lancaster, Elly Braund and Abigail Mendonca 
Production Team: Tim Sargent , Ae Yeop Kim, Pei Yin Lim and Joseph Popper 
With Support from: Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London 

Alison Thomson, The Chronic Facility (05'07") The Chronic Facility is a proposal for a healthcare service for people with chronic disease. It takes the service rituals of a restaurant and repurposes it to focus on the exchange of expert knowledge. At the facility, an expert will model in food, parts of the disease, how treatments work or current research.
Director: Alison Thomson, Cinematographer: Maja Zamojda

J. Paul Neeley, Masamichi Souzou (02'00") For the past 9 months, J. Paul Neeley has been tinkering with the many variables of his daily life - from sleeping patterns, to exercise regime and diet - in an attempt to design every part of life to optimize for his happiness. His experience has been so profound that he has created a company, "Masamichi Souzou" to offer such happiness optimization as a service to others. Director: J. Paul Neeley, Credits: Cath Elliot, Jo Price, Marika Takeuchi 

Cesar Harada, Open_Sailing (Open_Sailing 03'56", Energy Animal 01'23", Protei 03'55") Open_Sailing is an international research community trying to develop the International_Ocean_Station as an open-source project, developing hardware and software to enable intelligent human activities at sea.
Directors: Open_Sailing_Crew, Cesar Harada 

Lisa Ma, Wellmen Waters (07'46") Wellman Waters is serviced by a group of conspiracy theorists called Wellmen. They use water fluoridation as a gateway conspiracy for luring potential believers by filtering their tap water for free, as an alternative contribution to society. The film documents two Wellmen proselytising about relevant theories in relation to their upgrade packages to captive audiences.
Director: Lisa Ma, Editor: Alice Powell 

Tuur Van Balen, Pigeon d'Or (11'45") Pigeon d'Or proposes the use of feral pigeons as a platform and interface for synthetic biology in an urban environment by attempting to make a pigeon defecate soap. By modifying the metabolism of pigeons, synthetic biology allows us to add new functionality to what is commonly seen as "flying rats." A special bacteria is designed and created that, when fed to pigeons, turns faeces into detergent and is as harmless to pigeons as yoghurt is to humans. The video shows interactions with pigeon fanciers and other scientists that have contributed to the design of this bacteria and the architectural pigeon interfaces.
Director, camera & sound: Tuur Van Balen.
Credits: with the support of the Flemish Government - Agency for the Arts 

Nitipak Samsen, Coin Flipper (04' 28") Some decisions are so tough, we leave the responsibility to fate or randomness, coin flipping is one of these methods. It makes us feel less guilty and believe we've arrived at the right decision. Here we see Samsen trying to create the working prototype of a 'controllable' coin flipper - so he can get to the decisions he really wants, without guilt...
Director: Nitipak Samsen

Oliver Goodhall, Nuclear is Good. What will it take to convince you (10'33") This project provocatively explores alternative energy futures in the UK, and speculates on how we might go about providing an energy solution that could allow us to meet CO2 emission targets without going short as consumers. The project culminated with a guided tour to the potential site of a new nuclear power station in Bradwell-on-sea, Essex, featured in this film.
Director: Oliver Goodhall, Editing: Ka Fai Choy,
Assistants: Andrew Friend, James Gilpin, Holly Lewis, Anna Long 

Elliott P. Montgomery, The Energy Pilots Introduction Video (03'23") The Energy Pilots research program challenges the status quo energy business, by developing and testing hypothetical (and sometimes outlandish) new business models. Representative devices are demonstrated in public spaces as a way to help study the viability and social implications of these hypothetical strategies.
Director: Elliott P. Montgomeryl

Louise O'Connor, Choreography of the Very Small (06'16") Amateur dancers attempt to interpret the microscopic choreography going on inside our bodies; depicting a bizarre and surreal journey through the heart to the workings of the cells and molecules within.
Director/choreography: Louise O'Connor, Cinematographer: Maja Zamodja,
Music: Gasp! Cracking Eggs 

Zoe Papadopoulou, Nuclear Dialogues (05'20") This project aims to deal with the contentious area of nuclear fission by choosing an open, non-judgemental environment, designed for discussion about the technology and its by-products, predominantly excess heat and hot water.
Director: Zoe Papadopoulou Camera: Matt Robinson 

Tuur Van Balen, Cook Me - Black Bile (06'40") Biotechnologies like synthetic biology can give detailed insight into our metabolic processes and introduce new interactions with our body. In this project, these interactions are proposed as a new form of cooking, to tailor an emotional experience for a specific person at a specific time. The recipe is inspired by Hippocrates' Four Humours theory that sees the body as an entity comprised of four basic substances: yellow bile, blood, phlegm and black bile.
Director, camera & sound: Tuur Van Balen, Additional camera: Gianni Marzo, Patrizio LaForte.
Credits: produced by Z33, Hasselt - Belgium

Milan Metthey, Foreign Affairs (Love Ducking 02'47", 02'44", 01'09", Vulpes Sapiens Mediator 10'30", Wild Sweet Home 04'05") Foreign Affairs is a series of short movies looking at biodiversity and its cultural, social and ethical consequences. From the iconic and beloved Mallard duck to the infamous Urban Fox and endangered Scottish Wildcat, various aspects of our human/animal relationships are treated. Under the influence of humour and self-derision, this series explores and experiments with these ambassadors of the Wild. Dear human being, welcome to the Rest of the World. 

Steven Levon Ounanian, My Mother's Robot (34'37") What if a robot could help you understand your parents? In this lecture filmed at Tate Britain, Steven Ounanian talks about distance, technology, and the bizarre quality of understanding ourselves better through technology, as he gives a demonstration of a robot he made for his mother.
Director: Steven Levon Ounanian, Music: Yair Meshoulam