When lightning strikes

Carlos Van Camp started experimenting with generating electricity at the age of 14, following instructions from a science magazine. He used a car ignition coil for the transformer and a capacitor made from a lump of glass and aluminium foil. “My first Tesla coil produced sparks about two or three inches long and I was transfixed,” he says. Today, his stunning visual performances as the Lords of Lightning feature men in metal suits on stage creating arcs up to five metres long—and audiences can’t get enough.

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Let's get digital

Artists with experience in the digital and interactive spaces, this has your name written all over it: projects are being sought for exhibition at Digital Art Live, a collaboration between CoLab (AUT University’s creative technologies research centre) and The Edge (Auckland’s centre for performing arts and entertainment). The interactive space is located on Level 2 of the Aotea Centre in Auckland, consisting of 12 46-inch flat screens organised into a 4x3m layout, just crying out for material to grace their surfaces. Creative work which responds to gestural input is especially sought after, but visual art including text input, audio, real time and social networking technologies are in with a shot too.

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The Church of creativity

The countdown to We Can Create, NZ’s biggest art and creative industries showcase, is officially on. With a spanking new fun customisable homepage and a rapidly expanding speaker lineup headlined by Taika Waititi, hop on over to check out the latest additions (including graphic/toy designer Frank Kozik, frequently credited as having single handedly reviving the “lost” art of the concert poster). The event—curated by communications agency The Church—will be held from August 26-27 at The Edge; secure your earlybird tickets now.

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Kiwi design shines

Last year New Plymouth-based manufacturer Howard Wright’s M8 Intensive Care Bed took out the top nod at the Australian International Design Awards, and with the finalist list for the 2011 awards recently revealed, Kiwi products have once again made the cut. Local agritech company Simcro, together with Fisher & Paykel and Air New Zealand, have all grabbed finalist distinctions, selected from 233 Australian and international entries. The finalist list is comprised of 127 products including cars, medical devices, cooking utensils, building tools and furniture.

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Dream machine

Shot more like a film trailer than an ad (it looks like something straight out of Sin City), Aston Martin’s latest spot goes for the surprise and delight angle, rather than shock and awe. It’s also a slick example of blurring the line between film and animation.

Short and sweet

Good news for filmmaking types: Fresh Shorts, a low-budget scheme from the NZ Film Commission, has moolah to give away to fresh talent. Now in its second round, the scheme aims to identify the next generation of Kiwi feature filmmakers by nurturing and inspiring up-and-coming talent. Funding for 16 films is available, and applications close on July 15.

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Code overload

Some days you might feel as if you’re drowning in digital noise and information overload. Eerily, an enormous art and sonic installation recently unveiled in New York explores how it would feel to be physically consumed by code. The first part projects black and white strips reminiscent of barcodes onto a large screen; the second projects data of all kinds, including the human genome, on the other side of the display. Smaller screens also let punters amuse themselves with endlessly scrolling reams of information.

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Song of the sea

Classical instruments aren’t an obvious candidate for design refinement; we tend to leave them well alone. The Whaletone got its first public showing during Design Week in Milan and is expected to be available for purchase soon. Creator Robert Majkut, a Polish designer who specialises in luxurious interiors, engineered it with a Roland stage keyboard with 500 built-in sounds with optional CD player, sound processor and LED display. However, he says it emulates the authentic string piano sound. Billed as providing “a universe of infinite musical possibilities”, its curves echo the shape of the marine mammal it’s named after.

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They doodle and explore

First came They Draw and Cook—a delightful collection of illustrated recipes. Now the spotlight’s on globetrotting types at They Draw and Travel, where artists can submit visual interpretations of the places they’ve been and seen. And if you enter a city map of your own by July 18, you could win a cash prize for your efforts.

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Heart of a city

From filmmakers Sarah Klein and Tom Mason comes the beautifully imagined Sub City New York — “a visual poem about that moment in New York when you emerge from the subway and find yourself in a new and sometimes unexpected world.” It’s part of a series to be filmed in other metro cities, including London, Paris and Hong Kong.

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Quote of the week

It’s all about perceived danger, rather than real danger.

- Carlos Van Camp on the importance of showmanship