Usman Haque, the founding partner of London-based artists Umbrellium, talks about their work and why they do it, on the eve of a five day residency at Media City.
Umbrellium will be bringing Mini Burble to the UK for the first time next month. The immense 100 ft ‘Mini Burble’ LED-lit balloon sculpture will provide the dramatic centrepiece to The Quays Festival, a series of FREE events taking place between Tuesday 14 – Saturday 18 July 2015.
The shows have an interactive element with selected members of the audience controlling the balloons’ colours through an innovative Mini Burble tablet app.
Haque’s first talk at MediaCityUK will focus on changing urban spaces and the first flight of Mini Burble, which will temporarily change Salford’s skyline over five days in July.
Architecturally-trained Usman, together with the rest of the Umbrellium team, has created interactive installations and dozens of mass-participation initiatives in cities throughout the world.
Umbrellium works throughout the world with communities, organisations, urban developments and city councils to deliver projects that gets people involved in design activities, decision-making and defining project goals.
With a deep intuitive and practical understanding of what makes crowds and networked urban environments valuable, dynamic and delightful, they create mass-participation events that enables citizens to join together in making sense of, contributing to, and actively creating a practical and desirable future for cities.
Usman Haque, Founder of Umbrellium said: “We are very excited to be invited by Quays Culture to bring Mini Burble to the UK for the first time. We look forward to meeting local people and joining us for a discussion of Umbrellium’s interactive environments, urban spectacles and collaboration platforms, on the eve of the five day Quays Festival. We will be actively changing the city’s skyline with beautiful and immersive results.”
Lucy Dusgate, Programme Producer for Quays Culture, says: “This is a fantastic opportunity to meet Usman Haque and find out more about Umbrellium’s amazing work, which changes urban spaces. We feel very fortunate to bring Mini Burble to The Quays this summer in what promises to be a visually spectacular festival. Visitors to MediaCityUK will also have the opportunity to interact and play with the giant digital sculpture, reimagining the Salford skyline, and it’s all family-friendly and free. ”
The free hour-long talk will be at the BBC’s Dock House in Salford Quays at 6pm on Monday 13 July. Places are limited. To register, contact hello@quaysculture.com.
