I’ve been going to the ‘This happened…’ events whenever I am lucky enough to get a ticket and they never fail to amaze and inspire. I was a little disappointed, however, to miss a few very intriguing presentations which were made at the new Utrecht This Happened. Thankfully, no more!

The new version of the This Happened website is now online, with videos of all the previous presentations available to watch. Such as this great talk from Werner Jainek of Cultured Code, on developing ‘Things‘. I look forward to seeing what else is in-store for the site, and hope that slides from more events are made available; I remember particularly enjoying Troika’s presentation (http://www.thishappened.org/talks/troika-london-6/) and the slides they showed on the development and construction of ‘Cloud‘, and would love another chance to look over the sides again.

photo by Mr Andrew Murray

The prototype for ‘Cloud’, which now lives in Terminal 5 Heathrow, is currently on display at the Design Museum on South-bank (http://www.designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2009/brit-insurance-designs-of-the-year)(until 14th June) as part of the Brit Insurance Design Awards 2009, definitely worth checking out (for more info on this exhibition, and many others, check out the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year).

“I asked my friends to grab their favorite things off their desk at work for a quick photo shoot project.” -Nick Campbell

After looking through more of Nick’s (awesome) photography on his flickr I couldn’t shake the feeling that his work seemed strangely familiar. It was whilst looking through more of his portraits that it hit me.

Nick Campbell directed my favourite ever video short!!

Produced by Colin Davis, edited by Josh Bodnar, starring Benny Monson, shot at a unnervingly beautiful 250fps, ‘Bubbles’ is a perfect blend of chilled Jazz and slo-mo frantic bubble popping. Part of the reason I like the video so much, aside from being a sucker for slo-mo footage and Benny’s manic expression, is the way it gives the impression of being shot underwater. The way all the movements of skin, hair, and clothes are slowed down to a crawl, there even seems a similarity between the way skin pales and eyes look ‘glazed-over’ when underwater… probably a mix of how the video is shot and my own imagination.

Check out more of Nick’s work at http://www.creamyorange.com/.