A panel discussion about
new platforms for collaboration, creativity and distribution with Mushon Zer-Aviv
+ Dan Phiffer (ShiftSpace), and Kyle Buza
+ Brent Fitzgerald + Amber Frid-Jimenez + Takashi Okamoto (OPENSTUDIO);
moderated by kanarinka.
ShiftSpace
provides a transparent social layer above any website. It is an open source (and
free software) platform that enables users to comment, add to, and modify websites.
ShiftSpace allows users to experience the web as a continuous public space rather
than a collection of isolated and privately-controlled islands. Through ShiftSpace
artists, developers, poets, activists and others can freely meet, play, create
art, debate protest and enjoy the full potential of their online freedom.
Mushon
Zer-Aviv was born in Israel in 1976. He has been involved in and initiated
cross-media projects in art, design, comics, animation, online culture and media
activism. Co-founder of Shual.com design studio. A teacher at Shekar College of
Design & Engineering. An active contributor to Pixelsurgeon.com, Exego.net
and Maarav.org.il online magazines. Curated BD4D Tel-Aviv and started Upgrade!
Tel-Aviv events, both series aimed at creating and developing the Israeli new-media
creative network. Mushon is currently studying at NYUs Interactive Telecommunication
Program.
Dan Phiffer is a new media hacker from California, interested
in exploring cultural dimensions of inexpensive communications networks such as
voice telephony and the Internet. Drawing on his computer science background,
Dan's software projects seek to provide meaningful creative opportunities through
intuitive user interfaces. Dan now lives in Brooklyn, New York and is pursuing
a Masters from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program.
OPENSTUDIO
is web + art + community + economics. It is an open ended experiment that couples
a very simple drawing tool with an economy of artists, curators, collectors, dealers
and viewers. Members can create and modify drawings, set prices and licenses,
exchange and exhibit work, view financial records, and commission one another.
OPENSTUDIO breaks free of the shackles of the tired gallery/patron model representative
of the classic schmism between the creative and the lucrative. It is a declaration
of the new post digital ideals: transparency, community, and cooperation, yet
grounded in economic reality. The lone artist is powerless against the old model.
OPENSTUDIO is an assertion that through collaborative effort, creativity and intelligence
can bring about positive change in our world.
Kyle Buza is a software
engineer who produces creative works through the use of technology. He graduated
Cum Laude from Cornell University, receiving dual bachelor's degrees in Chemistry
and Biology, as well as a Master's degree in Computer Science. He is currently
a graduate student in the Physical Language Workshop at the MIT Media Lab.
Brent
Fitzgerald is a second year Master's student in the Physical Language Workshop
at the MIT Media Lab. His work focuses on design of systems and tools to enable
new forms of authorship and collaboration. Currently he is building a service
to support creation of and participation in lightweight contracts that are socially
constructed, community enforced, and procedurally executed. Prior to joining the
Media Lab, Brent worked for a few years in educational software design. He holds
a B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, with a concentration in natural
language.
Amber Frid-Jimenez is an artist and researcher working
towards her masters with Professor John Maeda in Physical Language Workshop at
the MIT Media Laboratory. With her colleagues, she is designing tools for creating
digital content in a networked environment, as well as the means to leverage creativity
as capital within an experimental online micro-economy. Prior to that she spent
a year as a research designer in the Cognitive Machines Group at the Media Lab.
Frid-Jimenez was a visiting artist at the Banff New Media Institute in 2005 and
an artist-in-residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in 2003.
Takashi
Okamoto is a graphic designer, programmer and technology artist. He received
his Honours Bachelor of Science in Astrophysics from University of Toronto and
a Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from Yale University. Currently, he is
a masters student in the Physical Language Workshop at the MIT Media Lab.
kanarinka
is an artist and the Co-Director of iKatun, an organization whose mission is to
present artwork that fosters public engagement in the politics of information.
kanarinka's research interests include participatory culture, critical cartography,
sex/gender studies and the emotional landscape of Homeland Insecurity. She works
collaboratively to write essays and software, conduct performances, and organize
experimental social gatherings. She is also a member of the Institute for Infinitely
Small Things, collaborates with groups like spurse and Sifting the Inner Belt,
and is co-editing the publication "A Thousand Tiny Sexes". She teaches
at RISDs Digital+Media graduate program.
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