Julie Freeman sends in this write-up on this year's Ars Electronica.
"I've just returned from Ars Electronica in Linz. It was very good - met some interesting people and once the networking b*llox was out of the way some really nice people.
On the whole it was pretty inspiring - a lot of work was kinda yeah, yeah, seen it, done it, but some really stood out. Also it was good to see that a lot of work is being developed in Max which bodes well for my project.
These guys: http://www.maywadenki.com were one of the stars of the show - very funny, very clever, very nonsensical. This work was a stunner - Protrude, Flow (Ars review) a liquid sculpture, always changing and reacting to the sound around and about the exhibit. I'd have loved to see the original dining table piece. the liquid looked like black oil, it was some mad iron powder dissolved in water or oil or something. amazingly nice. otherwise - lots of projected stuff, lots of video analysis. and an _excellent_ interactive performance called Messa di Voce by Tmema which i think you would love.
Also found out about this - kind of a Max look-alike... it's not Mac based, it's a beta, it's a bit buggy but interesting nonetheless. They seem to be addressing some Max weaknesses - real time issues etc.
It also started me thinking about the acceptability levels of using technology in conferences - Linz was chock full of early adopters and yet still phones rang in presentations (and yes even vibrations are audible on a wooden floor). The laptop posse were surfing the wireless network (checking references as soon as they were spoken, take heed presenters - check your facts) or coding their projects while speakers were talking. Keeping your audience engaged is hard enough at the end of a day of pontificating but with the added competition of the Internet and personal email boxes it just got harder."
Posted by .M. at September 17, 2003 11:39 AM | TrackBack