Los Angeles based UV/FX Scenic Productions is a company specialized in the design, development and painting of custom Ultra-Violet based scenery, murals and scenic effects.

The Ultra-Violet paint makes it possible for a wall to contain a dual-image that change depending on the light.

UV/FX creates scenic art for Themed Applications, Nightclubs, Music Tours, Stage Productions, Film and Television Commercials, Special Events and Architectural Applications.

• www.uvfx.com

London based Loop.Ph Research explores electronically responsive and light emitting surfaces as a form of visual communication in built space.

Blumen is a recent project that seeks to combine the dynamics of botanical life with wallpaper-like textiles. The Blumen print is constructed from a number of addressable cells and with the use of various sensors the electroluminescent pattern emerges in response to its environment.

• www.loop.ph

The Activity Wallpaper, by Tobias Skog at the Victoria Institute in Sweden, is an information-visualization project that attempt to translate sensorial input such as physical motion and noise into decoration.

A computer connected to input devises continously collects and processes the desired information from a room. Using a projector, the information is displayed on a surface therebye creating a piece of dynamic Wallpaper that reflects the space it inhabits.

• the activity wallpaper

FogScreen is an innovation that creates a thin white screen of fog that can be projected onto, touched, and even walked through.

With the addition of an add-on interactive set, FogScreen also makes it possible to write and draw in the air.

• www.physorg.com

Chris Glaister, Afshin Mehin and Tomas Rosen from the RCA Innovation-Unit has developed the project 'Chronos Chromos Concrete' that combines heating elements and ink to display graphics, words and numbers within concrete.

Thermochromic ink is mixed with concrete. Nickel chromium wires, which heat up when electric current is passed through them, are set beneath the concrete surface. The area above the wire changes colour when a certain temperature is reached. The arrangement of these wires beneath the concrete allows the display of graphics and information.

• innovation.rca.ac.uk

Eearrings, tattoos and piercings have long been accepted as forms of body cosmetics and now the Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery has added to the line of options by inventing a piece of jewelry that can be implanted in the eye.

The implant does not interfere with the ocular functions and is made of a specially designed material that can be molded in all kinds of desired shapes and sizes.

The JewelEye can only be implanted by a registered ophthalmologist under sterile conditions.

• Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery

Behind the website www.symbollix.com is a one-man company, offering to do legit graffiti for advertising purposes.

Despite looking like 'real' graffiti, the commercial graffiti done by Symbollix is non-permanent and envionmentally friendly. The artwork is simply done by cleaning dirt from sidewalks and tunnels.

"Moose", who is the artist behind Symbollix, got the idea when he saw that people had written their names with their fingers on dirty tunnel walls in his hometown of Leeds.

• bbc

The Interactive Shop window at upmarket stationers Bureau in Covent Garden is a mix between virtual and real world shopping. By touching a transparent screen, the window gives the potential customers an opportunity to browse the products before entering.

Although The Interactive Shop Window is introduced only two weeks before x-mas it is not just meant as a gimmick but rather as an indication of how retailers have to compete with online shopping which is now more popular than ever.

The project is developed by MI - The Marketing Innovation Group.

NB. The story has circulated in different media but quite strangely (considering the marketing aspect) it has been pretty difficult to find any visual documentation.

• Full story at the Register

Biomimetics is a term used to describe the concept of taking ideas from nature and implementing them in other technologies such as engineering, design and computing.

"Active Deployable Camouflage" is a project inspired by the ability of Cuttlefish to camouflage themselves against different colored backgrounds. Researchers at The Centre for Biomimetic and Natural Technologies - with the suport of the Ministry of Defence - have developed a gel-based system that mimics their behaviour and can be applied to covers used for camouflaging large military vehicles.

"Military camouflage was born during World War I when the French army created a unit called the Camouflage Division. They employed artists to create outfits and equipment covered with irregular patches – mainly greens and browns – that roughly blended in with the division’s anticipated surroundings. This system is still in use by armies all over the world, although it does have an obvious limitation – the patches are fixed and blend in well with some backgrounds but not others."
Source: EPSRC (The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)

Illustration: Andy Warhol.

• Centre for Biomimetic and Natural Technologies

D-tower is an art piece, commissioned by the city of Doetinchem in the Netherlands, that tries to map the emotions of the inhabitants of Doetinchem.

The project consists of the tower, a questionnaire and a web site that are interactively related. The questionair deals with everyday emotions like hate, love, happiness and fear. These four emotions are represented by four colors, green, red, blue and yellow, and determine the colors of the lamps illuminating the building.

At night time, one can supposedly see which emotion is most deeply felt on that day. Unless, of course, someone has been lying.

The D-tower is conceived by artist Q.S. Serafijn and architect Lars Spuybroek / NOX-Architekten in collaboration with the Rotterdam based v2-lab.

• D-Tower