Kooji does Poland...Again! - Day Three

The day began with our group sat in the hotel reception eagerly awaiting Marzena and Janusz’s arrival. It was wonderful seeing them again and Johnny and I had prepared a short welcome speech for them to accompany the flowers we gave them both. Rafal had taught us the correct pronunciation and although I don’t think we said it perfectly they appeared to understand the meaning. We then discussed our plans for the rest of the week; it was a brilliant feeling knowing that it was all coming together after so much preparation had been made.

Lost in Translation: Here we are saying our welcome speech

Our first stop was a visit to Janusz’s group of artist’s at Matki Teresy z Kalcutty in the city centre. It was a real honour to see that they had framed the painting Johnny and I made for them during our last visit. Janusz explained to everyone a little about his background and the work he was doing here in Lublin. Such pioneering work deserves to be acknowledged and it’s great that we are able to help by showcasing this in our final year project. We met Faith, one of the volunteers working with the artists, and she spent the afternoon with us showing us around the Old Town in Lublin. We also had a visit to the nearby shopping plaza and tried some Polish ice cream. Smacznego!

We both felt really honoured to see that they had framed our painting

Johnny, Katherine and our new friend Faith

Heading up to Lublin Castle (which was closed for renovations)

>>> Kooji does Poland...Again! - Day Four

Kooji does Poland...Again! - Day Two

After waving farewell to David our Leeds Met minibus driver we waited patiently for the desk to open so we could check in our luggage. The flight from East Midlands airport to Warsaw was well worth the wait and I’m always amazed how such a large piece of machinery is able to get into the air at all. Much to our relief, Rafal was able to secure a taxi for us from the airport to the train station. The ride into Lublin by train was beautiful and we met two travellers who taught us some Polish and chatted about their experiences hitch hiking in England.

30,000 feet up in the air! Amazing :D

Yup, refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to go!

Another taxi ride later and we arrived at Hotel Campanile, which was a welcome sight. After settling into our rooms we all reconvened in the hotel lobby for some celebratory drinks and sandwiches. A swift power nap helped us to feel more rejuvenated after the long journey, and then Johnny and I set out in the city to explore the local eateries. KFC seemed like the right choice (it was the closest to the hotel!) and so after eating here we returned to our room to turn in for the night. Tomorrow couldn’t come sooner.

>>> Kooji does Poland...Again! - Day Three

Kooji does Poland...Again! - Day One

It’s hard to believe that nine months have passed since our last trip to Poland. This all started by getting involved with the Leeds Met's International Volunteering Projects and the 'Leeds Met Poland 2007' project in particular last June. The opportunity to work within the arts therapy centres, Fundacja Miedzy Nami (The Among Us Foundation) and Matki Teresy z Kalcutty (Mother Teresa of Calcutta) was too good to pass up. We gained so many new experiences, made so many new friends and learnt so much in such at short space of time.

Fundacja Miedzy Nami is a centre for adults with physical and learning disabilities in the village of Kreznica, just outside the city of Lublin in East Poland. The centre runs many creative workshops for its artists including ceramics, woodwork, weaving and arts and crafts. It was an enormous challenge for us to take on this kind of project but incredibly rewarding.

After the two weeks had come to an end my partner Johnny and I were asked to help promote the two centres. I felt that this would make a fantastic final year group project and so began the process of integrating this work with the final year of my BSc (Hons) in Multimedia Technology. I have brought together a team from across my faculty, Innovation North and we are working towards producing a flash website and documentary film for Fundacja Miedzy Nami. My contribution will be the design and build for the flash website and I will use video footage of interviews and events both here in the UK and in Poland.

Heading back to our friends in Lublin, Poland.

Leeds Met University have also helped us in producing a large number of ‘Fundacja’ t-shirts. These will be presented to the artists when we arrive at the centre next week and I can’t wait to see everyone’s faces. The t-shirts look beautiful and their logo on the front looks wonderful.

We are about to set off on another adventure, I’m just about finished with my packing, the cameras are charged and so am I!

>>> Kooji does Poland...Again! - Day Two

Cinema of Horror

Stardom beckoned and we answered the call as film director Peter Kershaw invited us to bring our thespian talents to the Zavvi store. There we performed as extras in his soon to be released short film, "Cinema of Horror". It looks like we have made the final cut though either way we can't wait to see the full feature! Any film that mixes goths with bhangra dancing is certain to be interesting :)

Have a Kooji Christmas and a Merry New Website!

To celebrate the launch of our new website and a brand new year Kooji sends out a message of Christmas cheer and good tidings to all our friends.

Our name in lights!

Kooji finally hits the big screen; The BBC big screen in Millennium Square, Leeds that is! A collection of dream inspired images and sound, this showreel stopped passers by in their tracks during the Christmas period.

BarCamp Leeds 2007

Linda Broughton, Head of the New Technology Institute in Leeds, mentioned BarCamp earlier this year and, after taking a look at what people had said about it online, we decided it'd be something we'd really enjoy. Unfortunately by the time we found out about when it was being held the registration had already closed, so after some good old-fashioned pleading with Linda we were able to secure ourselves places by offering to help out with reception duties. This was a fantastic opportunity as it meant we were able to meet and greet everyone who attended. Groovy BarCamp mugs were dished out to all too, along with some particularly tasty lollypops.

Photo © Richard-G

Armed with a handy Kodak camera we took photos of each BarCamp attendee and began putting together a 'Networking Wall.' If you go here you can find almost everyone's names from the wall, on Flickr.

Photo © Mohsin Ali

Who can forget the 'Box of Mystery.' I had this crazy idea to tempt people in with a cardboard box. Personally, I think too many sugary sweeties and coffee were to blame. "Oooh BEHOLD the Box of Mysssterryyyy!"

Here's a photo of Katherine with Professor Reinhold Behringer from Leeds Met University. He works in Innovation North, the faculty where we both studied.

Photo © Mohsin Ali

Who says you can't draw on walls? :P

Photo © Mohsin Ali

Here's us doing some networkin' schmoozin with Johnny's bro, Andrew.

Photo © Mohsin Ali

RockStar Versus Kooji - FIGHT! A game of Virtual Table Tennis with Ian Bowden from RockStar. I totally beat everyone that night (including the lad to my left (Simon) note the fear in his eyes) :D RockStar took us all out for drinks and burgers afterwards too!

We met some very nice people during BarCamp Leeds 2007, including some we already knew or were later about to know. Here's a shout out to all who crossed our path (all in alphabetical order cos that's the way we like it!):

Ben Dalton

Deb Bassett

Dominic 'The Hodge' Hodgson

Imran Ali

Linda Broughton

Lorna Mitchell

Mark 'Ernie' Earnshaw

Maz Hardey

Paul Bacchus

Paul Jenkins

Paul Stanton

Reinhold Behringer

Ryan Taylor

Simon Edwards (Freestyle)

Simon Wheatley (Virtual Tennis Virtuoso)

Tom Smith (Wacom Extraordinaire!)

City of Light

We were given a leaflet about Leeds Light Night from Chris Nriapia (the BBC Big Screen Manager) who we met up with earlier this month. He recommended going along and taking a look at all the exhibitions set up around the city, so we did. We started with Millenium Square and were given a personalised 'Zombie Tour' of the local vicinity, then across to the Electric Press where we were able to interact with a video installation of a paranoid pedestrian. Everytime you approached the screen without care, the walker would eventually catch you out by looking over his shoulder. Old School Board was our next destination to take a look at one of their staircases, followed by a visit to the Civic Hall to watch a huge video projected onto the side of the building. It was a really cool night and we're definitely going again next year!

Opportunity knocks

Leeds Metropolitan University asked us to create a DVD highlighting the best moments from their international volunteering projects. A series of motion graphics and video were used to great effect and the outcome was a well received promotional tool.

Don't over-(re)Act!

To promote this year's conference on digital live art we were asked to design the branding and website from ground up. To support the events surrounding (re)Actor2 Kooji have produced posters, a brochure, branded items and animation which will feature on large screens around Leeds city centre!