The program for the 6th. IoT-MeetUp at V2 Rotterdam is now online; together with an increasing number of meetings worldwide once again we pay tribute to an important development that needs to be discussed together with accompanying human – as well as artistic – values. Come, listen and above all discuss with a fine group of speakers, moderated by Leon van Geest.
On Dec. last year EC-FET’s Walter van der Velde gave a TED-talk in Louvain on future projects and research, the need to think ahead and recognize the value of ‘utopian’ thought.Â
Preparing for the 6th. annual IoT & Built Environment MeetUp, this year on Art & Imagination. Once again on April 9 (WW-IoT.day) in V2, the Institute for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam; speakers confirmed so far: Yvonne Droge Wendel (Rietveld Acad.), Ben van Lier (Centric), Usman Haque (Thingful) , Florian Hellwig (Urland) , Frans Vogelaar & Elizabeth Sikiaridi (hybridspacelab Berlin)  Delfina Fantini van Ditmar (RCA) . Introduction Rob van Kranenburg, moderator Leon van Geest.
More info on program and other speakers soon to come….
January 31st.; the FET-Observe workshop in Brussels, organized and guided by Philine Warnke and Elna Schirrmeister from Fraunhofer Institute. Some 20 researchers from e.g. computing, art, media, design discussed a series of possible/wishful future technologies within a wide range of topics, including ‘Future Living Spaces’, with the aim to frame topics that  need further focused research and funding. Wonderful to experience a critical but constructive discussion from a variety of disciplines as well as a somewhat out-of-line thinking against many current developments.
Yesterday, January 17th., the Humans Issue, the 5th. late afternoon session of Club Imagine in the Theatre Rotterdam. With a focus on humanity and a close link to the arts and imagination  we address the relation between art and science, public and collective. Part of the art-images will be presented on the media-wall soon. Next session on March 14th. about utopian futures.
‘When the peaks of our sky
Come together
My house will have a roof.’
These three lines, part of the short poem ‘De notre temps[1]’, by the French poet Paul Eluard, can be interpreted as the ultimate metaphor on what constitutes the framework of experiencing a home. Being poetry, it surpasses the traditional ontology of what a house and/or home represents, i.e. protection, privacy, a roof over one’s head. It also, however, tributes to the more abstract issues involved that become all the more relevant when our physical world transforms into a hybrid world, a mix of the real and the virtual, of the analogue and the digital. The emphasis in this tends to focus on the technological issues involved; while the abstract is threatened, causing a breach in what constitutes process and result of building houses. After all; the virtual resides within the real; there is no virtual only.
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EC’s Nicole Dewandre presented a fine lecture on human values at the IoT & Built Environment conference on April 9th. 2013 in Rotterdam; on July 2016 she gave a TEDX-ULB-lecture concerning the changing definitions of humanity, ’talking’ to Descartes and referring  to Hannah Arendt’s view of the relational self. A changing world requires a renewed thinking on what it means to be human in a hyperconnected era.
Tussen 2014 en 2016 bracht Theatercollectief Urland 3 voorstellingen rond technologie en maatschappij. “De Internet Trilogie is een collectieve, digitale trip waarin het lichaam transformeert en de toekomst voelbaar wordt gemaakt. De rite schrijft de mythe, natuurlijk op het analoge toneel.” Na afloop van de voorstelling op 4 november 2016 in de Schouwburg Rotterdam werd een boeiende inhoudelijke discussie gevoerd tussen regisseur Florian Hellwig, Martin Pot en publiek.
On Friday, November 4th. Performance Group Urland presented the third part of the IoT-trilogy in the Theatre Rotterdam. Afterwards we enjoyed a fine and most interesting discussion with the audience that proved to be very anxious and involved in theme and background. In particular some questions concerning the role of the arts within this topic raised a discussion which really should be continued since Urland’s performance is – alas – one of the very few devoted to other, more important ethical issues than the technology only.
left to right: Jimi Zoet (Urland), Florian Hellwig (Urland, director), Martin Pot (photo: Marijke Stegen)
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?
