Field trip! For a very special September edition of CreativeMornings about #Magic, Porto's own choice of global theme, we went to visit the OpenField Creative Lab, a colaborative studio in Porto composed by a multidisciplinary team working on a fusion of art and technology - Francisca Gonçalves, Ivo Teixeira, Nuno Alves de Carvalho, Rodrigo Carvalho e Tiago Gama Rocha. They have been producing shows like Lasers de S. João and organizing fun DIY electronics exploration workshops.

If magic is just advanced technology, as Arthur C. Clarke may have put it, we went to visit a place were a vibrant group of digital artists and technologists prepare magic.

Hugo and Inês from Espiga came by and brought a great breakfast. Luís Silva welcomed attendees at the door, while Filipe Brandão started taking the photos you can see in the event's Flickr album. Catarina David and Duarte Corte-Real busily prepared their gear to record the talk, while Joel Faria opened his notebook and started to draw the proceedings. As people arrived, attendees, the OpenField crew and our group of voluntaries mingled over coffee, fruit juice, cake and sandwiches!

The time came for the talks. Ivo Teixeira introduced the team and told us a bit how such a diverse group found itself and built such an inspiring place to work together on a diverse array of projects.

Ivo, along with Francisca Gonçalves, Nuno Alves de Carvalho, Rodrigo Carvalho proceeded to present short talks on their wide array of projects, from Web work for a local beer brewery, to DIY electronics and visuals workshops, from motion controlled art installations and a painting machine to a public interactive laser show in the city's main square. How did they come with their ideas? What challenges made them change and iterate? What did work? What didn't? Where do you rent lasers?...

Before an interested audience, where José Raimundo could be found also drawing the presenters, Tiago Gama Rocha offered some final thoughts and conclusions. The takeaway? 

"There was no magic, there was a lot of work." 

And that is how magic is made.

See you all soon!

Text by Eduardo Morais. Photos by Filipe Brandão. Top illustrattion by Joel Faria. Bottom illustrations by José Raimundo. GIF animation shot by FIlipe Brandão and prepared by Eduardo Morais.