Feral Bulletins

Join this infrequent list to get occasional updates on Feral Vector and upcoming events. We promise this will be a low traffic list, you'll always have a clear option to unsubscribe, and we won't pass your email address to anyone else.


Powered by MailChimp

> Close this <

Venue: The Birchcliffe Centre

We’ve found a truly fantastic venue for Feral Vector this year. It’s the Birchcliffe Centre; a restored former Baptist Chapel run by the Pennine Heritage Trust. Below are a few of the pictures we took during yesterday’s visit:

P1070031

P1070022

The Pennine Heritage Trust do all kinds of good work involving the industrial and natural heritage of Calderdale, including preparing walking tours for visitors (they’ve even made an app with downloadable guided walks in the area).

P1070011

P1060994

The Birchcliffe Centre has wheelchair access to the main spaces we’ll be using, though unfortunately not the mezzanine. We’ll have the full program online a month before the event; if you have limited mobility and are worried about missing something due to accessibility issues, please get in touch to let us know (hello [at] feral-vector.com). We want it to be for everyone, and will work with you to make sure you can access the things you want to.

P1060978

P1070048

(You can see a few more photos on our new Flickr account)

We’ll also be posting travel and accommodation guides soon, but don’t worry if you’re struggling to find anywhere to stay in Hebden Bridge itself: Hebden Bridge is reachable quickly, especially by rail, from Leeds, Manchester, and any of the towns between them (We recommend Halifax, Mytholmroyd, Sowerby Bridge, and Todmorden as the closest and nicest). Once again, tickets are on Eventbrite.

P1060975

Posted on: by David Hayward No Comments
Posted in News |

Tickets and First Speakers

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to all of our early supporters! All tickets are now up, including student/unwaged ones (If you’re not a student or unwaged, there are only a limited number of early tickets, so if you want one get it while they’re up).

http://feralvector2015.eventbrite.co.uk

As well as that, below are the first of our speakers/doers with some of their work. We’re bringing some Yorkshire natives back from further afield, and tempting a few people up from the Peak District too.

Kerry Turner, originally from up here but now based in Brighton, works as The Rabbit Club to put out experimental work. With her friend Dan Bibby, she recently made the excellent and spooky short gamelike thing Heartwood (we here at Feral Vector are very much in favour of things).

heartwood

Eliott Johnson and Matthew Warshaw are currently collaborating on the astonishing looking A Light in Chorus, which they describe as a game/art project. You can watch a magnificent trailer for it here but before you do that look, look. Look at it:

ALIC

Tom Betts is another child of Yorkshire now based in Brighton. As well as doing procedural generation for Sir, You Are Being Hunted (which often looks eerily similar to the moors around Calderdale), he’s currently completing a PhD on videogames and the digital sublime. He’s also a bit of an expert on computer art. You can find out more and see many beautiful examples of his work at his site.

ResHubInRuins1

Graham T. Spence is, mysteriously, from The Northern Backbone of England, and will be coming a short way to speak about the connections between memory and place, as well as a current related project of his. Along with games and apps, he sometimes makes interesting experimental hardware, and has a good eye for trig points. Here’s some of his work in progress:

https://vine.co/v/OTDqOVzax2d

Once again, tickets are at:

http://feralvector2015.eventbrite.co.uk

Yorkshire! May 29th and 30th, Hebden Bridge.

We’re doing Feral Vector in Yorkshire this year, more precisely the lovely wooded town of Hebden Bridge, nestled in the Calder Valley, on May 29th and 30th. That’s right, two days. Supporter tickets are available at feralvector2015.eventbrite.co.uk, and more types will be available in the coming weeks.

We know. It’s Not London. Surprisingly there is an entire world beyond the M25. Please retrieve your jaw and read on.

Nearby Todmorden

There are lots of reasons for this, but primarily it’s that we can make it a better and longer event up North. We’ve been getting to know some amazing developer communities up here that are large, but struggle to be heard nationally. As well as chafing at the default centres of gravity that seem to pull events in, we’ve always wanted Feral Vector to be in venues closer to good outdoor spaces. What better than the entirety of the Pennines?

We have a fantastic venue that we’ll talk about soon. It’s not quite a cold war fishing trawler, but it is lovely and gives us a chance to do things we’ve not been able to before. UK weather makes things like picnics and other outdoor stuff challenging to organise, and believe me we’ve tried. I think we might solve that problem this year by spreading through time and space.

Stones, near Dobroyd

There’s nowhere to site an event that’s easy to get to from everywhere, but Hebden Bridge comes close. By rail it’s only thirty minutes or so from Manchester or Leeds, two hours from Sheffield or Birmingham; two and a half from Newcastle, Middlesborough, Leamington Spa, or Nottingham; three and a half from London; and just four from Glasgow, Edinburgh, or Bristol.

We’re going to make it worth the trip from any of those places, and we’re particularly excited to be so close to Leeds and Manchester, giving you a lot more options than London does when it comes to travel and places to stay. Also, we get to be near the woods, the moors, and the hills! The Pennines are a lovely place, and we’ve been surprised at how well connected they are. It’ll be worth sticking around for an extra day or two with your walking boots or mountain bike. These photos are what Calderdale looks like in winter. Imagine the spring! Expect bluebells and baby rabbits.

The Basin Stone

Loads of announcements to come, but you can see the lineups from the past few years here and here for an idea of what kind of people and stuff will be around.

Tickets for 2015 are at feralvector2015.eventbrite.co.uk. If you’re a student, unwaged, or just struggling and £40 is a stretch, we’ll be putting different ticket types up soon. Sign up to the mailing list to hear about that as soon as it happens, or follow us on Twitter. We do hope you’ll join us to play, make and discuss games and gamelike things this spring!

Withens Clough Reservoir