on November 4/5 the Dutch Performance Group Urland will perform the 3rd. part of their trilogy: the Internet of Things cycle; Prometheus, the Firebringer. in the Theatre Rotterdam. What happens when Artificial Intelligence becomes self-conscious; when objects become addressable, who becomes master and who becomes slave? On November 4th. I will take part in the discussion afterwards: what is the impact of technology on the arts and – above all – our imagination?
Categoriearchief: blog
art, architecture and the city
architect/urbanist/artist/painter Daniele Cesari (1983, Ferrara, Italy) tries to capture what is unseen – but nevertheless experienced or imagined – within a city and its architecture. The result is a fascinating image of the energy of hidden phenomena; whether the streets are deserted or crowded…..
Alito e Vento
prefab and/or circular
Interesting thoughts by Gordon Stott form Connect Homes on the CORE77 website concerning prefab architecture; his plea for a far more industrial approach in which one can buy a house per m2 fits the current debate on how to give the inhabitant more influence on his future home. This runs parallel with the latest initiative by ARUP on circular housing; their recent project ’the Circular Building‘ was presented recently on the London Design Festival.
the city and its experience
May 30th., the Rotterdam Month of Architecture was officially opened with a dense, disruptive, speed-up and above all humorous lecture by Winy Maas from MVRDV Architects. (a.o. Markthal, Boijmans Depot) , pleading for a increased use of the city’s roofs and thus also facilitating a new experience. Although adding staircases to major buildings after the current one to the Groothandelsgebouw will probably remain rather utopian (?); the fundamental thought of adding a layer to the cities and create lived space above street level and thus expand our views is fascinating.
Internet of Things, a robot & the theatre
Last April 22 I was invited/part of a small group to view the preparations at the Rotterdam Theatre for the 3rd. theatrical production by Urland, a Dutch performance group which has already produced two earlier thematic projects with the role of technology/iot as basics. This 3rd. production contemplates the role of objects and their relation to technology, in part (re)viewed by a most elegant acting industrial robot-arm. Afterwards we had a most interesting discussion concerning technology and theatre in general, but in particular their views on IoT and the relevant philosophy. Their approach and the theatrical results so far make me very curious to an interesting final performance scheduled for September 2016.
internet of things on ethics & privacy
Last Saturday, on WW-IoT-day April 9 we experienced a most inspiring and thoughtful event at V2 with the participation of 5 fine speakers: Rob van Kranenburg about the balance between objects and processes, Linda Kool about Intimate technology and the recent privacy report, Ben van Lier about the 4th.Industrial Revolution, Justin McKeown about the need for human initiative and values, Gerd Kortuem about data-literacy; all building on Jurgen Wege’s notes at the beginning and moderated by Leon van Geest. A debate on the autonomy of objects, the importance of human values, the need for an ethical discussion as well as data-literacy.
look and listen back…………
IoT & Built Environment; Ethics & Privacy
The program for the 5th. IoT & Built Environment MeetUp on April 9 at V2, this year on Ethics & Privacy, is complete. The full program including – most of – the abstracts for the presentations is now on the MeetUp-website, to be completed in the coming days. With this program we wish to discuss/answer the need for a rethinking of the ethical and privacy issues which are so deeply connected to the IoT; to much it still is a technological development with too less attention for the important human issues involved.
This evening will be preceded by a thematic program at the HR.
see for a full list of WW-events the IOTday website.
iot, built environment, ethics & privacy
preparations for the 5th IoT & Built Environment MeetUp on WW.IoT-day, April 9, are in full progress; again at V2 in Rotterdam we will discuss one of the most urgent and important current issues involved; i.e. the accompanying ethics and privacy issues. The format will again be a MeetUp; therefore all visitors need to register on the MU-website. Most speakers are now known; the evening will be moderated and provide enough time for discussion. More info soon………
sensing the virtual
While preparing the text for a book on IoT I re-read a paper by Brian Massumi: ‘Sensing the virtual, building the insensible‘, published in 1998 in Hypersurface Architecture (AD, profile 133, vol.68). What once again is remarkable is that Massumi, ‘building’ on Deleuze, points to the problematic situation architecture has in relation to the virtual:”The virtual is imperceptible. It is insensible. A building is anything but that. A building is most concrete“. His proposal: “Built form could be designed to make the “accidental” a necessary part of the experience of looking at it or dwelling in it. The building would not be considered an end-form so much as a beginning of a new process.”
In a hyperconnected world, with an IoT this brings new options to life and – more important – to inhabiting new forms of architecture, i.e. creating structure as a basis for further experience and – above all – the accidental.
New Babylon
Last September 28th. at the Illinois College of Architecture; a fascinating lecture by Mark Wigley on Constant’s New Babylon, preceded by a.o. a brief introduction from Trudy Nieuwenhuys-van der Horst, wife of Constant and founder of the Fondation Constant. Wigley shows in particular the relevance of New Babylon for our networked world and emphasizes it value where it concerns the – again – actual important of hospitality, given the increasing numbers of refugees worldwide.
actual: currently the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid offers a extensive exhibition of ‘New Babylon’, in close cooperation with Gemeente Museum the Hague and the Fondation Constant, until Feb. 29th. 2016.