AE Report #3
Today ars electronica continued with the third and fourth symposium.
Sherry Turkle delivered an incredibly fascinating talk about the changing relationships between people and technology, tech as relational artifacts (aibo, tamagotchi, furby), nurturance as the new killer-app, a shift from projection to engagement.
Marvin Minskys talk was also interesting, more for the presentation than the content. He came across as exactly the kind of person who engages in ai research. You can read a draft of his upcoming book, the emotion machine, at his website, links to the various chapters are in the lower right half of the page.
When Gerhard Dirmoser delivered his talk, JoseÃÅ-Carlos MariaÃÅtegui (i’m fairly certain it was him, though i’m bad with faces-names) was constantly dozing off – i can’t blame him. I’m sure the presented mapping project is a large achievement and that Gerhard Dirmoser is a capable, gifted man, but giving a talk isn’t one of his strengths. The only speech that made me escape online.
Joan Shikegawa made me shiver in my seat – her projection of the “dark age ahead” was almost overwhelming. All those “what ifs” posed – if they turn out to come true, we’re facing a future i don’t even wanna imagine. She also got me even more excited about the upcoming forum #4 on monday with Lawrence Lessig.
The last (astonishing and fascinating) talk of the timeshift symposia came from Stewart Brand. My favourite statement, paraphrased: “Looking back, things’ve got better over the last 10.000 years. Extrapolating from that things will most likely continue to improve.”
Evening: apparition @posthof. From the program:
“Apparition” is a compelling dance and media performance for the stage that successfully integrates interactive sensor and tracking technology in innovative ways to give the dancer the possibility to interact with and control the image and the musical environment.
I’ve always been a sucker for dance theatre and this performance left me plenty impressed. Sometimes i had the impression that dancers, visuals and tech vied for attention, but each of these aspects had it’s fair share in the spotlight. Playful, smooth, sexy, aggressive – highly recommended. There’s another performance tomorrow, 05.09. @19.30 and you’ll still be able to fetch the digital musics in concert later in the evening.
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