VR Playground background
VR Playground is an experiential ride installation and public aerial performance by artist Brendan Walker and his Thrill Laboratory. In VR Playground, Walker propels riders through a series of colourful geometric virtual worlds, each driven by the action of swinging within a cubic structure. He crafts moments of wonder, awe and trepidation to elicit unexpected emotions, which are inadvertently...
BBC World Service looks into The Science of Thrill
"Journalist Karen Bartlett meets Brendan Walker, the former aerospace worker who is working on a project to design the world's first interactive ride." Brendan is the subject of a genetic test that reveals he has a rare thrill seeking gene... 28min programme based on: original research published in The Taxonomy of Thrill; Aerial design practice in the entertainment industry; Thrill...
Blue Peter Thrill Laboratory special
3 Roller Coasters, 3 Presenters... Thrill Laboratory experiments on BBC's Blue Peter, 2009 Thrill Engineer Brendan Walker and his team of Technicians put Blue Peter presenters through a series of scientific experiments to see if they have 'the right stuff' to become Thrill Laboratory guinea pigs, to be tested onboard some of the UK's most thrilling theme park rides. https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=PL4slOqun1hZpE3wSM3KGP83-guPe5CPF-&v=vGnhVZEJZ4I&layout=gallery
chromo11 engineering the thrill
Thrill Laboratory started with a project called chromo11: engineering the thrill. "chromo11* is a project which aims to uncover the complex psychological factors which underpin your thrilling experiences. chromo11 is a resource for artists, designers and writers who want to create their own thrilling experiences. chromo11 is also a site for anyone who wants to be entertained by the many...
The Taxonomy of Thrill
what's it about? The Taxonomy of Thrill investigates the experience of thrill – how it works, why it works, and what such insights might mean for designers. This research represents the first stage of a project called chromo11: engineering the thrill, which aims to design new types of thrilling experiences. If designers understood more about the dynamics of euphoric experiences...
Thrilling Designs
what's it about? Thrilling Designs showcases design work from the research project chromo11: engineering the thrill. Thrilling Designs draws inspiration from the traditions of the fairground, methods of the French Situationists, and research findings presented in The Taxonomy of Thrill. Thrilling Designs presents two design explorations, Airlife and Neophile. Airlife is a collection of thrill rides based on the fusion...
Blue Peter does Smiler at Alton Towers
Helen and Barney join Brendan at Alton Towers to see just how good Smiler is at putting a smile on their faces. Thrill Laboratory uses some cutting edge, realtime, facial muscle recognition software developed by its latest computer science conscript, Dr Michel Valstar. This software is based on Paul Eckman's Facial Action Coding System. There are 43 muscles in the...
Oblivion: Thrill Laboratory
Alton Towers invited Brendan Walker to stage a Thrill Laboratory event based at the park in 2008. Walker chose to focus the event on riders of Oblivion, the world's first vertical drop roller coaste. The resulting event was billed as the UK's largest study of thrill seekers, contributing towards Walker's goal to define the Walker Thrill Factor. Walker created a...
Fairground: Thrill Laboratory
Brendan Walker curates Fairground: Thrill Laboratory at the Dana Centre, featuring a heady mix of three classic British fairground rides - the Miami Trip, the Ghost Train and the Booster; an international team of artists, scientists, performers, technologists, psychologists and showmen; and a carnival of experimentation, food, drink, performance, film, music and discussion. Over three weeks in October 2006,...
Oscillate
An immersive interactive artwork based on two popular entertainment technologies: the multi millennia-old swing and the 21st century Oculus Rift - the former designed to excite the vestibular system, the latter designed to excite the visual cortex Commissioned by Sheffield Doc/Fest, Site Gallery and Crossover as part of the Virtual Reality Arcade, where contemporary art, gaming and immersive technologies...