EuroGel
This September the Gel Conference travels from NYC to Copenhagen.
Computers and ceramics
By Scott Rench.
Metabiotics
Subtle urban interventions by Alexandre Orion.
Knitting Art
Pretty bloody stuff.
The Bubble Project
Transform corporate monologue into open dialogue.
C’ENTRO
A shoe specially designed for italian politics.
An interview that I made with Nicola Roope is now up at MocoLoco.
Nicolas Roope is the creative mind behind Hulger (formerly Pokia) – the retro-handsets that can turn a dull cell- or VoIP conversation into something special.
Amongst other things, Nicolas talks about Hulger’s transformation from concept to a normal(ish) design product.
• Mocoloco
Canal*ACCESSIBLE is an online mapping project that shows Barcelona from the perspective of people who have difficulty walking.
40 handicapped particpants use their camera-phones to document every problem and obstacle they encounter on their way through the city.
The images are posted to a website and each location and obstacle is described and placed on a map. The result is a map of the parts of Barcelona that is inaccessibility for people confined to wheelchairs.
3,578 architectural barriers and stumbling blocks have been documented on canal*ACCESSIBLE since December 2005. The project recently won Ars Electronica’s Digital Communities award 2006.
Mobile Marathon is a camera phone contest, which takes place at the upcomming Roskilde Festival in Denmark.
Festival-goers are invited to create a story, based on five images taken with their camera phones.
Participants can edit their text and images up to a week after the last day of the festival after which the best stories will receive a prize. Prizes are also awarded during the festival for the best daily image.
With approximately 100.000 visitors annually, the Roskilde Festival is one of the largest music festivals i Europe. The festival runs from June 29 to July 2.
The exclusive department store ILLUM in Copenhagen recently launched an SMS-auction concept called Window Shopping.
Between March 2nd and 24th, the store is putting three luxury items on auction everyday. The items are placed in the window, facing pedestrians who can submit their bids via SMS.
The latest bids are displayed on plasma screens, so that people can follow the action in real time.
• ILLUM
In the boycott against Danish products, muslims in Saudi Arabia – and possibly other countries – have launched a viral anti-marketing campaign using SMS. The SMS contains information on how to determine whether a product is Danish by looking at the first two digits of its barcode (the country code for Denmark is 57).
In response to the boycott, member of the Danish parliament, Louise Frevert tried to catalyze a counter SMS campaign, which encouraged Danes to boycott muslim owned stores. The campaign was a total failure and has been ridiculed by all sides in Denmark – including her own right-wing party.
Related: Mediamatic runs a mini-feature on the cartoon subject. They give credit to the blogger who discovered that a delegation of Danish imams where circulating a phony Mohammed drawing during a visit to the Middle-East. You can also find a ‘stay out of trouble’ guide for the ignorant cartoonist.
My interview with Marko Ahtisaari is now online at the Danish Design Center’s web portal.
Ahtisaari is the Director of Design Strategy at Nokia and I talked to him just before his presentation at the Ars Electronica conference in September.
Besides talking about hot industry concepts such as ‘simplicity’, Ahtisaari offers some insight on the relation between user-centered design and Nokia’s innovation strategies.
• www.ddc.dk (switch to english in the top menu)
Finally! I have worked on this concept for 2-3 stressful weeks and now, we are able to launch the MMS xmas calendar (MMS julekalenderen) – probably the first service of its kind:
A new day = a new artist = a new artwork for you and your mobile phone.
Each day, between December 1-24, subscribers of the xmas calender will receive an MMS-artwork made of text, image or sound. The artworks are created by 24 different international artists, specifically for MMS enabled phones.
The MMS xmas calender is realized in collaboration between the design agency 1508 and the art foundation Artnode – the price of the wireless calendar is 100 kr (14 Euro) and the profit goes directly to the Danish Red Cross.
• www.1508.dk • www.artnode.org
GAYmobile is the name of a new mobile-network operator that is targeting homosexual subscribers in Denmark.
GAYmobile is offering services that are gay all the way and 25% of the profit will be channeled back to the gay community via a special fund called GAYtrust, according to the CEO Thomas Bilgram who is also the head of Copenhagen Pride.
GAYmobile’s service line – called HOMOBILE – might soon be offering a wireless dating service as well as subtle ringtones that indicate the users sexual preferences. Until then, GAYmobile suggests that subsribers use songs like “I am what I am” or anything by ABBA as ringtone.
Just like other Danish MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), GAYmobile is internet-based and the prices are thus among the country’s most affordable.
“You’re kidding me?!” is a wireless voice-based service that helps users simulate a mobile phone conversation. The automatic service is designed to assist people at conferences, gallery openings and other places where being socially disconnected is no fun.
After dialing the service number, users can choose between two types of conversations: a ‘casual’ or an ‘important’ conversation. The user is subsequently guided through a series of words and sentences that – when being repeated – makes it look and sound like a real conversation is taking place!
“You’re kidding me!?” is designed for the INDEX:2005 conference in Copenhagen by 1508 A/S (the design agency that I am working for). The service is based on a conceptual artwork called dialogue that I created some time ago. Now, in collaboration with my colleagues at 1508 the concept has been refined and is fully operational!
Try it out: +45 7015 1508 (local charge).