News / Arts
‘Urbanimals’ coming to Bristol
We’ve had talking lampposts and dancing shadows. Now Bristol will be invited to play with animated creatures projected in surprising and little-used corners of the city.
This year’s Playable City Award winner is Urbanimals, created by the Laboratory for Architectural Experiments (LAX), an experimental design team based in Poland who describe themselves as practicing “at the edge of architecture”.
Their colourful creatures will appear across Bristol in September and October, waiting for people to play with them. Expect to leap with dolphins, chase a shy rabbit down the pavement or skip with a cheeky kangaroo.
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Playable City judge Richard Roberts from Jason Bruges Studio said: “It was the fresh response to the brief, and the positive impact that these pieces could make to the everyday city journeys of the people that encounter them that won me over.”
Urbanimals was selected from almost 200 applications received from 60 countries around the world. The team from LAX will now work with Watershed producers across the summer in Bristol to explore their ideas, developing the technology to bring their vision to life.
Ania and Sebastian from LAX said: “Bringing people together through play in forgotten areas of the city lies at the heart of what we do. With Urbanimals we want to highlight the city’s hidden value and treasures inspiring residents to consider their environment in new and unexpected ways, we want to stimulate their senses and inject a sense of excitement and wonder into the everyday urban landscape.”
Playable City Award executive producer Clare Reddington added: “We are very much looking forward to working with Ania and Sebastian to bring Urbanimals to life in unexpected and hidden corners of Bristol. We love the combination of imagination and sophistication that the idea offers and were impressed with their ambitious and playful response to the playable city theme.”
Follow the Urbanimals project as it develops at www.playablecity.com.