I went to see the Wired Nextfest in New York, a tradeshow/exhibition focused around technology and the future.
Frankly, I found it a bit disturbing. The vision of the future presented is very much technology for its own sake, dominated by large corporations, and with a strong militaristic streak. There is no real attempt to challenge and probe current issues. There are lots of robots, submarines, spaceships, video displays, military technologies and violent games. However Open Source, copyright, public access, sex & love, democracy, shared public spaces, social networks, politics are all unrepresented. Attendees are very much spectators – there is no way for the public to participate or shape “the future”, rather the message is that the future will be made by governments and businesses. The art pieces on display, while beautiful in their own right, are subverted by the rather creepy corporate context.
However, there were some fun & interesting things. I liked a Kick-Ass Kung Fu game, which used a blue-screen plus a large pressure pad to put the player into a combat video game. Very nice execution of concept. I am sure this will turn up at game arcades all over the place. I was also drawn to one trade show banner in particular which advertised Danny Rozin’s wonderful Circle Mirror, which turned out to be really impressive.
I found the use of enabling technologies at the exhibition quite interesting: video projectors, computer vision techniques, touch screens formed a part of most of the interesting pieces. Access control was very “old school”, paper tickets (in my case printed at home) and long lines. Re-entry was by the time-honored system of a messy ink stamp on your hand.
I think there is room for an “alternative” Nextfest with a much more probing point of view. I think the future will be shaped by other forces.
Pictures from Nextfest are here:
Visit to the Wired Nextfest
I went to see the Wired Nextfest in New York, a tradeshow/exhibition focused around technology and the future.
Frankly, I found it a bit disturbing. The vision of the future presented is very much technology for its own sake, dominated by large corporations, and with a strong militaristic streak. There is no real attempt to challenge and probe current issues. There are lots of robots, submarines, spaceships, video displays, military technologies and violent games. However Open Source, copyright, public access, sex & love, democracy, shared public spaces, social networks, politics are all unrepresented. Attendees are very much spectators – there is no way for the public to participate or shape “the future”, rather the message is that the future will be made by governments and businesses. The art pieces on display, while beautiful in their own right, are subverted by the rather creepy corporate context.
However, there were some fun & interesting things. I liked a Kick-Ass Kung Fu game, which used a blue-screen plus a large pressure pad to put the player into a combat video game. Very nice execution of concept. I am sure this will turn up at game arcades all over the place. I was also drawn to one trade show banner in particular which advertised Danny Rozin’s wonderful Circle Mirror, which turned out to be really impressive.
I found the use of enabling technologies at the exhibition quite interesting: video projectors, computer vision techniques, touch screens formed a part of most of the interesting pieces. Access control was very “old school”, paper tickets (in my case printed at home) and long lines. Re-entry was by the time-honored system of a messy ink stamp on your hand.
I think there is room for an “alternative” Nextfest with a much more probing point of view. I think the future will be shaped by other forces.
Pictures from Nextfest are here: