A big thank you to the people of Bristol and beyond for making the Layered Realities 5G Showcase weekend such a success…

Watershed and the Smart Internet Lab at the University of Bristol asked you to be part of the future before it happens by joining us over the weekend of 17/18 March to explore the future potential of the next generation of wired and wireless connectivity (5G) outdoors in Millennium Square.

You came in spite of the rain, the cold, the wind and the snow – over 3000 of you to be exact – and all the events and talks were packed, which just goes to show the huge appetite you have for exploration of what the future could be.

Below we've included a little round up of the weekend and some of your comments - we love how many of you mentioned it was a "very Bristol" kind of event and really appreciated the bringing together of culture and technology.

Vanessa Bellaar Spruijt, Producer of the Layered Realities 5G Showcase weekend, has written a reflection on the weekend’s activities and how it put arts and culture at the heart of the new technology...

We gave artists and thinkers the chance to experiment with new technology to create meaningful experiences for audiences, but also to test and question how it is or could be applied. Duncan Speakman and Uninvited Guests took people on a guided walk through time using real-time images and sounds based on their own imaginations. Kaleider offered an untethered poetic virtual reality dance piece, and Joanie Lemercier took us through the universe with stunning 3D projections onto a wall of water that responded to your presence.

Here’s just some of the feedback and responses we had from over the weekend…

‘There’s a whole world of digitally-enabled #ar #vr #hologram #connected #music I didn’t know about! Exciting stuff #5GBristol’

Participants of Billennium Square, which imagined the future of Millennium Square in a theatrical AR guided tour where they took a walk through time said:

‘It was a good Bristol experience. Edgy, weird, not the normal, exploring the unusual, and exploring tech and art there live in the middle of it all.’

'That’s why I love Bristol, I love that coming together of lots of different things and it being a bit wacky, and a bit innovative and adventurous and that whole spirit of fun as well within it all. It is the place for this sort of thing'

From the light of the fire, our dancing shadows was an experimental experience which explored two sides of a beautiful, poetic VR world... here's what you thought of that:

From the light of the fire, our dancing shadows - Photograph by Jon Aitken

'I think an event like this makes it a lot more accessible to the general public, often when we talk about layered realities and 5G it’s very technical, I was with a bunch of friends just this afternoon mentioning I was coming to the 5G festival, ‘Oh, what is 5G?’ and I think by building in the creative aspects, building in the interactivity, it enables us to understand the potential of these technologies.'

And finally some responses to Millennium Constellations, stunning 3D projections on to a wall of water that responded to your presence...

'I thought Millennium Constellations was quite outstandingly beautiful, and mesmerising, and I really enjoyed the experience of watching it with a group of people and having that experience with a crowd, because I felt like we were sharing something important, and that was really lovely and quite relaxing actually, even though we were all slightly shivering in the cold.'

'I think showcasing technology like this really brings it to the public, it makes it much less dry, I don’t really understand that much technology but it was really useful to see how it could be used in a public setting, and how it can demonstrate to the public what the different uses can be.'

'I think it makes it real to people, and it makes it feel like something you can grab hold of and touch, and not like something that you don’t understand. I’m not a technological person at all, but when I see a beautiful piece of artwork that uses technology it makes it tangible for me and makes me understand what that technology can do and why it’s exciting for good reason, for positive reasons, as opposed to everyone being sucked into a screen type universe.'

If you came along on at the weekend at didn't get to share your thoughts we would really love to hear from you: please drop us a line!

If you didn't make it down take a look at this short film (made by Drew Cox) which captures the magic and beauty of Joanie Lemercier's stunning Millennium Constellations:

Read Vanessa Bellaar Spruijt's reflections on producing the Layered Realities 5G Showcase here.

The Layered Realities Weekend, 5G Showcase was produced by Watershed on behalf of the Smart Internet Lab, University of Bristol.

Illustration by Graham Johnson – MA Creative Producing Placement student

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