nokia alphalabs

As part of the Nokia Lumia 800 launch, Wieden + Kennedy, Nokia and onedotzero collaborated to create alphalabs.cc, an experiment that merged technology and the arts

The project started with the objective of getting Nokia’s new Windows phone devices into the hands of developers. In the light of the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft, the mix of existing and potential developers for the new platform proved to be diverse, which created an exciting opportunity.

onedotzero invited a selection of hand-picked artists and developers to attend the launch event at the onedotzero_adventures in motion festival at London’s BFI. The event kicked off with Keith Varty, Head of EDX, Nokia UK/EIRE and Will Coleman, Mobile Product Manager at Microsoft UK, who introduced the new Nokia Lumia 800 and talked about why they were excited by the new possibilities that the partnership created. Will Coleman then led the crowd through the exciting creative, design, and technical opportunities that the combination of the Nokia Lumia 800 handset and the WP7 platform has created.

Shane Walter, co-founder of onedotzero, gave an inspirational talk about code as a medium for creativity, and showcased some exciting examples of this in practice. Shane introduced three experiments that had been created by selected teams of artists and developers for the purpose of inspiring the audience with real working demonstrations. The work showcased the creative possibilities of the platform and the phone, and was impressively developed in just two weeks.

First, Stuart Warren-Hill and Team Holotronica showcased Vequencer, the world’s first real time, multi-device audio visual sequencer. Stuart is one half of the ground breaking act Hexstatic who specialise in audio and visual experiences. He collaborated with a team of developers; Martin Caine, Simon Jackson and Matt Lacey, who are all part of the WP7 and XNA user groups and had worked day and night to create this impressive app.

Next, Max Hattler – a progressive moving image artist from London who worked with IndieSkies, an exciting young games development start up based in Derby, to create Kaleidobooth. Kaleidobooth is a kaleidoscopic camera inspired by children’s toys and psychedelia. It uses the Lumia 800’s 8MP camera and microphone, as well as the Motion API to enable the user to create and interact with the visuals. Kaleidobooth can be downloaded here!

The last demo was Redshift, created by leading digital design studio Field.io and developers Treehouse Dev. Redshift is a prototype for a racing game through music videos. Although in its early stages, this demo is a visually stunning experience supported by a brilliant soundtrack from record label Numbers.