http://www.karyncampbell.com Karyn Campbell Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:54:09 +0000 http://www.karyncampbell.com en http://karyncampbell.com/NATASHA-VITA-MORE http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/NATASHA-VITA-MORE Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:54:09 +0000 Karyn Campbell 2354394 <img src="http://payload2.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/2354394/118_full_issue_40.jpeg" border="0" width="650" height="423" width_o="650" height_o="423" src_o="http://payload2.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/2354394/118_full_issue_40_o.jpeg" align="left" /> THE MEDIA ARTIST BATTLES OUR AGE-OLD FEUD WITH MORTALITY written by Karyn Campbell Natasha Vita-More gazed up from a dormant volcano’s pit and felt she was inside her vagina. It was 1981, and she had just experienced an ectopic pregnancy in Japan. Subsequently, and perhaps prematurely, accepting a role in the film Sleeping Goddess, Waking Muse, Vita-More had set off to the gorgeous Hawaiian landscapes. Inside that pit, mourning her body and her baby, she heard the universe echo. Inspiring a revelation that human enhancements could be made through emerging technologies, Vita-More published the Transhumanist Arts Statement a few years later, a manifesto championing emotional freedom as a vital cog of the transhumanist’s life. Transhumanism is a cultural and scientific movement embracing human augmentation via life extension, genetic engineering, architected realities, and the adoption of nano and biotechnology. Vita-More has focused her work exploring this self-propelled evolution and its inherent ethical questions. She serves as Chairman of humanity+, an organization that promotes morally conscious technological integration. Her next project involves compiling an anthology of hard-hitting transhumanist figures like Dave Criswell, Aubrey de Grey, Marvin Minsky, and Eric Drexler. Beyond the mind-blowing science and the philosophical pondering, Vita-More’s fundamental message is clear: we should embellish our aliveness. For that, she says, is love. In a nutshell, what is it that you’re working on right now? I’m working on my Ph.D., presenting a concept called life expansion. It’s media, so it’s dealing with the theoretical and practice-based approach to human enhancement for the explicit aim of extending life chronologically and biologically, while looking at other platforms for existence, such as computational platforms and others yet to be developed. I’m writing a framework for designers, artists, and individuals in humanities and social sciences to foster better understanding of what this whole human enhancement is—that it’s not just appending the body—it’s actually about an evolution of our species. What will be the one major development that will change how we live in our world? The main thing that will change for us are the environments in which we exist. We have real-time virtuality today. We’ll have different types of virtuality and simulated environments. We’ll also see multiplicity of the self. One agency or one identity will have multiple environments, so we will have to learn how to develop a stronger sense of initial cybernetic approach in steering split personalities or sub-personalities. For example, I’m talking to you now, and there’s a part of me that is still thinking about a movie I was just watching called Rudy. Have you seen that movie? You mean the football movie? Isn’t it fabulous? It’s about a guy who was born somewhat in the wrong body. He was short and stocky, but he wanted to be tall and big. He was born in a family that was not academic, and he didn’t have the money to go to a good school like Notre Dame. But he wanted to; that was his desire. So he re-sculpted himself, he made himself fit, and he succeeded. He never became a 6’2” or 6’4” football player, but he developed the love of his teammates by his passion. And that passion is the driving force of our own ability to synthesize. In the future, we will have different sub-personas coexisting. We’ll need a whole new field of transdisciplinary psychology. <img src="http://payload2.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/2354394/118_full_issue_41.jpeg" border="0" width="650" height="423" width_o="650" height_o="423" src_o="http://payload2.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/2354394/118_full_issue_41_o.jpeg" align="left" /> These new platforms, or environments, where we’ll exist will initially be architected by humans: designers, engineers, and developers. How will living in computational environments change the way that we interact? I think that what is crucial is how we deal with each other and ourselves. I think we are learning through this world of applications—Twittering and social media—that it doesn’t look so pretty. Certainly the designs are a factor; they’re very elegant as a matter of fact, and the apps are elegant. It’s kind of wonderful to be moving with your head down. But we need to consider how we’re respecting real time, and that this level of integration with the application is creating a type of downward personage. You look down, and you’re closed in this world, which takes us around the planet and through time. But there’s something about stopping to smell the roses. There’s something about the Zen, this life that we have, that I think will become very paramount in the architecture of this phase we will go through when we have multiple selves. I think that the architects, programmers and designers of these different realities must be mindful of coexisting, stepping away from the rudeness or the lack of care that social media has promoted. You’ve worked myriad professional roles. Who have you been? I’ll give it to you in a snapshot. First job: I was a model; I modeled for a Kodak photographer. How long did that last? 18 to 20. I’m not tall. I’m petite, so I was a face model. Oh really? For some reason, I thought you were tall. No, I’m only 5’3 1/2”. I’m petite. So that was a deterrent. Now it would not be a deterrent, but at that time I looked too exotic and I was too petite to be a model, and anyway, my love was design. I started my first business in 1971, a commercial art design firm. Then, I taught at Rocky Mountain College in Telluride. I had also had a silk-screening company and a gallery. Then I moved to Hollywood and made short films and videos and exhibited in Women In Video for the United States Film Festival. And from there, I wrote for The Hollywood Reporter. I got my legal certification, my paralegal, which then helped women who were financially struggling. We all need a backup plan. A backup plan, yes! Paralegal. Very stable, learned a lot about law, which is very important. I worked in Japan as a dancer, which was fun. Well, just throw that one in the mix! Here’s the best one, I was in the Merchant Marines. What?! Yes, I was in the Merchant Marines, I was the chief chef on voyage vessels. I was also a pastry chef at a French restaurant in Telluride that a friend of mine owned. I used to make croissants fresh everyday in Telluride, in my home. I don’t do that now. I’m more on the Paleo Diet these days, so it’s just basics. What I’m interested in now is lecturing. I love teaching. I love talking about ideas. Why have women struggled to break out of the spaces that are culturally available for us? On a global scale, I think that it’s very difficult to coexist in a time where we think about women having gone through this glass ceiling, but still, in some countries, [women’s] genitals are being mutilated or sewn up, and it’s just so frustrating. I wonder how it, within the idea of transhumanism, might open up a world of possibility when we remove chronological time and reset the biological clock? Yes, transhumanism will redefine the issues of life or death, and not just the process of death, but what it means to us in a philosophical and psychological way. We’ll start thinking more in quantum time, looking forward and looking back. I think the dream state does that quite beautifully. What will matter more than anything is the passion and desire you have at a particular time in life. I didn’t want children until I was in my late 40s, and at that time I couldn’t get pregnant. I was pregnant at 30, and the baby died, and I almost died, too. Why can’t you bring up children when you are best suited? Not everyone thinks alike, and not everyone wants to achieve certain things in this very classified life. How will society’s perception change as our outward appearances aren’t determined by age? Everything has been determined by our biological clock, hasn’t it? We take up these roles. If you’ve got grey hair and a belly, you’re a grandfather. You think, ‘Oh, he must be a really sweet guy.’ Well, he could be a pervert. It’s so funny, our outward appearance does not mirror our inside consciousness, awareness, and psychology, so I think it’s going to be really interesting. I mean, a whole spectrum of ways that we deal with each other will change! It might be commonplace for someone who is 200 to marry someone who is 21. How will the metabrain look, if your brain runs not just via biologics, but also via mechanics? The brain currently looks like an electrical circuitry. Ideas are just messages. What would we look like from the outside? Who is an upload? It could be designed to look very interesting. I could look exactly like I do now in my wet meat body. I could look very human, or I could be invisible. We already have these different airwaves that are invisible, so a personal identity could be seemingly invisible. If you go into Second Life, you can see a number of different types of avatars. Some look like shapes, forms, symbols, animals, people… There’s no limitation on what we might look like. Before we make that leap, what about wearable technologies? I feel like we’re almost there with smartphones… Most wearable technology designers are into fashion, and some of their designs are absolutely stunning. We’re designing these sub-bodies, these other types of bodies. It’ll be like designing clothes: you’d have your Versace or Tom Ford. And listen, you can’t get any better than Tom Ford. And Donna Karan is excellent, Calvin Klein, et cetera. We’ll have magnificent designs. How do we deal with the haves and the have-nots of information, those who are fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time? This issue is historical throughout human civilization. There have been those who have had access to water, and housing, and agriculture and resources predating Homo sapiens. Today, the right place at the right time may not be America, mind you; it could be Africa in 10 years from now. No one knows. The U.S. was just taken off the high end of the stock market, so we have to consider that things do change. Now we have technology and simulating nanotechnology, re-assemblers, and molecular manufacturing, so the adoption times could be minutes instead of centuries, like with older technology. If that does come about, the issue of the haves and the have-nots will be a thing of the past. The one area here that’s very important when considering future politics is a phrase called ‘morphological freedom.’ Morphological freedom is going to sing really loud as a movement. If there are drugs that help people not die, people will demand that they have them, or make them themselves in open bio labs. How do we face the problems of overpopulation as we continue to live longer? If everyone alive today did not die and kept on reproducing eventually we would hit a threshold. And things break when you hit a threshold, so what does that mean? I think it means something very glorious and wonderful: space exploration. We have not been out in space for so long. I did the pre-astronauts training for space camp in the 1980s. I loved it. I earned my wings because I went through space camp and manned two simulated missions. In one I had to build a hologram. Of course, they give you instructions. It was great. How do you build a hologram? You have to use a laser, and you have all the tools there. It’s not that difficult. We’ve really moved away from space exploration in the last few decades. Except China. They seem to be moving into it. I think that when we’re looking at the financial situation across the planet, looking at Greece, looking at, oh everywhere, it’s horrible. We need a new industry, something to be excited about! We also need to be mining space, the asteroids and the asteroid belt. To me it’s like, ‘Duh.’ Okay, yes, it’s very expensive, but there are a lot of very wealthy people on this planet, and if they knew that they could develop the industry of space, space education, space entertainment, space Olympics, space agriculture, mining… I’m quite sure within a hundred years we will definitely be inhabiting near Earth’s orbit, and certainly mining the asteroids, and there will be a Hilton on the moon. I have no doubt about it. If I told you I wanted to live more, not because I think I deserve more than others, but because I still have experiences and lives left to live, what would you tell me? That’s a darn good reason; that’s my reason. Because I’m an explorer at heart, and there’s so much I want to do. And I will write a book about my life at some point, but not quite yet. I feel like I’ve lived so many different lives, and not half-assed. I’ve lived them passionately and deeply and completely. And in order to do that, I had to have the freedom to know that it wasn’t forever, that I could be in the Merchant Marines for a few years and totally do it. I could be in the film industry as an actress and really do it. I could be a model or I could be a teacher. I could be… Well, I haven’t been an astronaut yet. But I can be a landscape architect and plant 29 trees in my yard and do it passionately. What’s your philosophy on living life, as opposed to evading death? I think it’s your responsibility to invest in your own life. That’s where self-efficacy comes in. You’re given this gift of life, of being alive. Think of all the babies that don’t make it, all the children that die, and you are alive. I mean, I think that we need to start embellishing the fact that we are alive. And who knows if there is a heaven or hell? Who knows anything other than you are alive now? And for goodness’ sake, love it, embrace it, enjoy it. And that, to me, is love. http://karyncampbell.com/MATTHEW-GRAY-GUBLER http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/MATTHEW-GRAY-GUBLER Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:28:43 +0000 Karyn Campbell 2354087 Television’s Resident Goofball Charms with Comic Allegiance written by Karyn Campbell <img src="http://payload2.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/2354087/matthew-gray-gubler.jpeg" border="0" width="670" height="436" width_o="1368" height_o="891" src_o="http://payload2.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/2354087/matthew-gray-gubler_o.jpeg" align="left" /> It’s funny how “awkward” has been co-opted by millennial tweens to mean “quirky and hot.” Actor Matthew Gray Gubler is not awkward, despite what the typical internet superfan might Facebook to her school chum: “OMG he’s sooooo awkward and it’s kewt.” Actually, what’s kewt is Gubler’s smoky-eyed hilarity. He’s charming, infectious, and hypercreative. Sound too gushing? He definitely begs suspicion… Considering dear Gubler “fell” into acting after modeling for Marc Jacobs and landing a bit role in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic, one might sigh to oneself, lucky bastard. But the quick-witted, curious Gub has a touch of OCD, he admits, twittling his chin whiskers in his 1927, Los Angeles living room. In fact, he’s a bit like his character Dr. Reid on TV drama Criminal Minds, who he’s played for seven years. Both would carefully consider their socks while dressing. Though Gubler seems a bit looser in his skin, the former Eagle Scout, just like his case-solving alter ego, assuredly has some tricks up his sleeve. Again, let’s not confuse awkwardness with quirkiness. Gubler’s house is filled with oddities—old portraits, lizard sketches, various gewgaws. He’s even got a lovable white bunny hopping around the hammock in his back yard. GG has quirk for days: between giving college-tour pajama parties, researching Norwegian death metal, and eating cashews “like a vampire sucks blood,” GG finds time to film his CBS drama, do mega-movie voiceovers (Alvin and the Chipmunks), and direct personal projects. His series of self-satirizing shorts entitled Matthew Gray Gubler: The Unauthorized Documentary are funny and widely watched online. He and photographer friend Terry Richardson have something perfectly internet-esque, with their recent sketch “Hollywood Abs” (YouTube it). GG gets it. Despite having played a consistent role for seven years, the guy has avoided the TV-actor pigeonhole (or, “David Schwimmer syndrome”), branding himself a totally unique character from that of Dr. Reid. His theory? “If you’re not afraid of your thoughts,” he says, “I think the internet can celebrate genuineness.” Though Gub doesn’t seem to spend much time browsing online, taking frequent trips abroad to countries like Japan and France where Criminal Minds has found roaring success. He’d like to visit Transylvania and the Czech Republic, readily admitting, “I don’t like beer, but I do like old architecture!” So what town birthed such a prolific character? Vegas, duh. Gubler attributes his start to performing magic at local bar mitzvahs that would land him in the throws of middle-school scuffles—always as a victim. (He’s testament that pulling tricks in Vegas can land you a modeling gig. Ba dum chh.) Still, he would gaze up at billboards painted with the faces of Wayne Newton and Siegfried & Roy. “I love the spirit of it,” he says of home. “It’s a thriving entertainment Mecca built in the inhospitable desert tundra of America.” Though Gubler acknowledges much of his career happened by accident, it seems he’s the opposite of accident-prone. Gubler breeds opportunity. He spent recent months doing an Aldo campaign, working on a children’s book, speaking at a college, editing some music videos, and working with a Japanese seamstress to create a line of creature pins… “I know it sounds creepy,” he says, “but I’m a big fan of stuffed animals.” It’s not creepy when you’re so charming and good-looking, Gub, one thinks, handing him back a pack of frozen corn he’d supplied at the interview’s commencement to cool a flushed Flaunt contributor. Maybe a little awkward… http://www.matthewgraygubler.com/ http://karyncampbell.com/RETURN-OF-THE-EDITOR http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/RETURN-OF-THE-EDITOR Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:50:20 +0000 Karyn Campbell 2081905 Return of the Editor: Why Human Filters are the Future of the Web written by Karyn Campbell Before news aggregators, content curators, and Google’s omnipotent algorithm, the world’s information was sorted by real human beings. But in the web’s next phase, the old-fashioned editor is poised for a comeback. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/2081905/return-of-the-editor.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="394" width_o="680" height_o="400" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/2081905/return-of-the-editor_o.jpg" align="left" /> If web 1.0 was about websites and 2.0 the power of network connectivity, whatever 3.0 looks like, better filters will play a big part. The web has become too big and noisy. The design community has helped guide us through some of the slush, and search technology has made leaps filtering and personalizing information for us. But while algorithms once threatened to replace gatekeepers, online media will see a move back to the future: professional, human filters (the artists formerly known as editors) will play an integral role in the next web after all. Content beats search and social Studies show that content sites drive much more traffic than search engines and social media links. Only 14 percent of readers or viewers arrive to content destinations via social networks, and search engines’ bite of the pie has diminished in the past year. Google seems to have taken note: the search giant launched its aggregate Google News feed in 2002, boasting no human intervention. Last month, as RSS moved further toward the antique attic, Google invited professional news editors to highlight content on its U.S. news page. As Google increasingly tracks our tastes via likes and clicks, serving us information and ads accordingly, it’s interesting to note the Drudge Report drives more than double the daily referral traffic to content sites than Facebook and Twitter combined. Drudge still knows his audience’s tastes better than any algorithm. And this from a site that hasn’t been upgraded since before Google even existed! Search and social become content We’re witnessing the convergence of search engines, social networks and content publishers. Facebook is hiring news editors, YouTube is signing multimillion-dollar deals with professional filmmakers, and AOL is betting its future on the editorial direction of Arianna Huffington. Once-automated networks will increasingly need to foster a voice to build loyalty. Consider Vimeo: one quarter of their staff is dedicated to community building and setting editorial mood. The strategy? Find what’s good – even if it only has two views ­– connect with filmmakers or community members, and tip them off to new cultures and trends; there’s no app for that, at least not yet. Curating the walled garden As open platforms like YouTube and Google start to look more like media companies, walled gardens like Apple’s iTunes illustrate another approach to (excuse the term) “tastemaking.” Not everyone can publish on iTunes. Call it snobbery, but it’s been a smart way to implement best-use standards. Plus, it’s not like iTunes is extremely picky. They simply require an extra step, which may weed out some sloppiness. Apple’s insistence on tightly controlling what gets into the canon risks excluding potentially great products (or in iTunes’ case, artists). But perhaps offering less of the best makes buyers trust more in the product’s quality, relieving them of the doubt that comes with an abundance of choice. Then again, Android has seen great adoption numbers using open software, allowing anyone to distribute an app. Time will tell if these two approaches meet somewhere in the middle. It comes down to trust The web has offered us incredible options for how we buy products, talk to our friends, or experience media. Remember that adage “quality over quantity”? We can take that phrase literally online – quantity won’t go away; quality will just sit atop. Sometimes we want someone to tell us, consistently, what’s true and what’s good. No wonder YouTube just relaunched its music page, enlisting writers for Vice, Spin and other major vloggers to curate its featured content. As Steve Jobs more radically put it, “It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.” It comes down to trust. Because we are all so well trained in the art of branding, arguably at the expense of crafting things worthy of distribution, it becomes hard to trust the advice of a Wild West web. Still, we’ll continue to take the word of our favourite industry insider, celebrity or uncle. Likewise, the smartest companies in this space will calibrate expertise with automation, math with emotion. Whether she’s a kid writing code or a poet in-the-making, look for the next generation Steve Jobs to carry on building, hiring, and perfecting these filters. This piece originally appeared in Sparksheet. Image by Charles Lim. http://karyncampbell.com/FOLKERT-CARGO http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/FOLKERT-CARGO Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:50:00 +0000 Karyn Campbell 1881626 Q&A WITH CARGO FOUNDER FOLKER GORTER (the abridged version) Coversation by Karyn + Folkert Folkert Gorter spends his days looking at the most beautiful things the web has to offer. He and business partners Josh Pangell and Rene Daalder run Cargo, a publishing platform that attracts the world's top design and artistic talent. (Excuse the redundancy if you're reading this on said platform). Gorter is hard at work expanding Cargo’s collaborative potential, letting members design their own networks, disassociated from any template or brand name. Meanwhile he and his team of artist-engineers nurture the enormous creative community that thrives on their publishing tools. How did you start the early web community SpaceCollective and later Cargo? When I met Rene, he was working on a project he referred to as a 'fictional documentary.' Half the budgets of Hollywood movies are spent on advertising, so Rene, always having been a tech pioneer, had this idea to create cult followings on the internet before the movie was even made. We went way overboard and created SpaceCollective, sort of a collaborative creative think tank focusing on technology, the future, the internet, 60s counter culture, space travel, and so on. At the time it was a whole new approach to creating an audience. I had come out of these creative web communities that started with link-sharing, inspiration portals, and designers discovering the web. I guess I was kind of a webdesign journalist, trying to rally people around a subject. We created a whole bunch of publishing interfaces that aimed to lower the threshold between an idea in your head and its representation on the internet. And we wanted people to be able to exchange ideas using rich multimedia instead of just written words. Cargo evolved out of these interfaces. Recently you added Cargo Comments, the ability to discuss work on the Cargo network. Why did you add this element and where does it go from here? From the beginning we wanted to build a networked situation that would support dialogue between creative people, not just using words but using the full media spectrum; images, sound, video, etc. We had to focus all our attention on the publishing tools at first because the demand for Cargo accounts kind of exploded. But we’ve always wanted to expand the platform towards these kinds of collaborative environments. We’re starting with art schools and creative institutions by providing them with tools for students to collaborate across traditional departmental barriers and share their work. So what’s next after this first social layer? How does it differentiate from other networks? If you want to start a group or community online, Facebook is really one of your only options unless you’re prepared to do some extensive web development. There’s hardly any tools to customize the design and functionality of these groups, which means that your project is branded by the platform it runs on. So what we’re trying to do is let people design communities themselves. From the beginning we’ve provided members with design tools that let them fully disassociate themselves from the Cargo platform, and we’re going to do the same with these custom communities. The recently launched Personal Network is sort of a sneak peek at that. Your own website remains your 'vessel,' traversing the infoscape. Now that you’ve introduced this aspect where users can be vocal about other peoples’ work, what tone will you have to set? It’s a bit of a challenge. If someone starts a community about web typography and people share their work or finds, the discourse can be very pointed. With spaceCollective, we framed the subject matter very carefully, and it worked. But with these Personal Networks, it’s essentially a universal system without a curriculum. The next phase of this part of the platform will provide ways to frame conversations better. What goes into the architecture to frame this sort of community and curate it? In your Vimeo interview [Blake Whitman] mentions the only way they’ve been able to maintain a sense of a curated community is that they’ve started out like that. To inject that type of thing into something that is already huge like YouTube is impossible. We’ve gone about it in a similar way, creating a destination for our existing creative community and providing curated channels with great work like But Does It Float, the Cargo Showcase, the SpaceCollective Gallery, and the Cargo Featured sites. The architecture underneath this is all based around our unofficial motto, ‘the content is the cargo,’ referring to the fact that on Cargo there's a super close relationship between interface and content, and sometimes they are even one and the same thing. How do you see the design of the internet changing? It’s a very exciting time for design on the web because it’s beginning to attract a critical mass of ‘real’ designers; not just technical people copying design styles set by Apple and those guys. The emergence of web typography for example has been very important, because it brings with it a community of super talented designers. Also, because when something new is released, everyone immediately finds out about it, so the bar keeps getting raised at breakneck speed, which is fantastic, and will be really interesting to see develop. I look at a lot of portfolios and see certain designs spreading all over the place. Right now it's trendy to take an American West aesthetic and make it really quirky. Exactly. Like Urban Outfitters. It’s mixed with a revival that may have started at Yale Design a few years ago: quirky geometric or grotesque typography, symmetrical, centered layouts, items in all corners. So hot right now. That’s what fashion is of course. But now on the web, with its self-accelerating properties, maybe it will help fashion not be so compulsive. Everyone sees it, so you can’t stick around for too long without getting stale. Do you think ideas and platforms spread and grow so fast to where there’s a breaking point and things need to slow down? I'm not sure, it’s funny; they say cities can keep growing indefinitely, unlike corporations and humans, which stop growing at a certain point (according to the same biological laws apparently). The internet is maybe more of a city. It becomes more and more efficient as it gets bigger. Systems get better and are optimized. This seems like it could be a good thing just like people moving to cities is a good thing for all sorts of reasons like efficiency and optimization of energy, resources, intelligence, culture, infrastructure, and so on. Back in the day when people would ask, ‘Are you a print designer or a web designer?’ When for a brief couple of years there was a choice, I was always completely dedicated to the internet. Let’s get as much activity into the virtual domain so we don’t need to use actual physical space and resources like highways and buildings. It’s an unstoppable thing, and this efficiency will self-perpetuate like natural system do. But maybe things will not keep on growing; no one knows, we’ve never done this before! You don’t take a purely chronological approach on Cargo when things are published. How do you make important, not just recent, content rise to the top? The problem with blogs, and your Facebook or Twitter feed are blogs in a way, is the chronological nature of the feed—when you add something it bumps something else down, implying that what’s on top is the most important. We’ve always tried to get away from this linearity, for example, on Cargo if someone adds a comment to an old post, it gets bumped to the top. It wants to be more of an ongoing conversation that is constantly being regurgitated. What excites you that you see trending on Cargo and in the art and design world? I’m always excited about generative art, where the artist's material is the input, or data. Designing algorithms and evolutionary systems, and making art of what happens. It helps people expand what they can appreciate and understand. I see it as a metaphor for designing our collaborative tools as well: taking the generative approach to processes and trying to incorporate it into how the platform grows. Some of this work is inspiring large scale data visualization research—even though data visualization now is a kind of meme on the web. As you said, it’s like the American West trend in design. How often do you really see an infographic that makes your mind expand to another level? Cargo has historically worked with academic institutions and young developers. How do you see academia becoming partially irrelevant? Universities are being disrupted in the same way the music industry, the publishing industry and a whole lot of other industries are being disrupted. For Millenials the internet is like running water; it’s a utility, there’s no novelty. They just swim in the ocean of the connected world. For me everything changed when the internet happened and I still have to make mental translations all the time; it’s not my native language. What is the most important creative talent you see right now in the marketplace? Artist-engineers. That’s the job description. Or whatever you want to call them: interaction designers, creative coders, hybrid designers. On the web we become generalists. http://karyncampbell.com/MARCEL-WANDERS http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/MARCEL-WANDERS Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:41:24 +0000 Karyn Campbell 1840925 DESIGNER'S OPERATIC INTERIORS GIVES RISE TO THE MAXIMIZATION OF SELF written by Karyn Campbell You wake up in Milan, or Miami, or the jungle of Jakarta. You turn and feel the sunlight flood in. Giant floral wall prints, intricate tiled mosaics, minimalist white globule tunnels open you to a maze of make-believe. Dutch industrial designer Marcel Wanders wants you to daydream, to challenge yourself and ask who you could be. “It’s beautiful to see that what you are today is a choice, and you could choose to [step outside of yourself] and do something really different,” he says. A little pomp and a lot of consideration makes Wanders a wonderful architect of surprise. His interiors, from the Mondrian Miami South Beach Hotel (in tribute to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle) to his hometown masterpiece Villa Amsterdam, transform normalcy to theatrics. Wanders’ recent book, Interiors (Rizzoli), compiles the textures, colors, and poetry of Wanders’ daydreaming into a retrospect of hotels and houses turned stages and symphonies. “I love that idea that you can take opera and bring it to the real world,” explains the 47-year-old designer. “They don’t have to pay an entrance fee; you can do that here, now.” Indeed, stepping inside one of Wanders’ interiors, the possibilities seduce you—your heart flutters. Renowned first for his product designs and later for his interior work, Wanders is a figure of rebellion, a spokesperson for wild ambitions, bucking all that is rigid in thought. “I think the world of design has more to offer than what we offer today,” he says. And stomping out new ideas because they’re different “is just wrong.” Wanders has always constructed his environs unabashed, from his cloud-shaped apartment building in Guadalajara to the yellow, well-endowed Mandarina Duck mannequins. “I think design is able to unite the world,” Wanders waxes. “It’s able to show love and respect to people.” And though nothing in Wanders’ timeless modernity seems common, he prefers—another surprise—a populist approach to the luxury interiors he architects. “I think it’s important that we create alternative spaces that have interesting things to say to as many people as possible,” he explains. “I don’t want to exclude anyone.” Considering his playful and passionate love of opera, from Puccini to Wagner, Wanders is comparable to the composer who satisfies both king and royal subjects. “Music is, from the ears to the heart, very short,” he proffers. Wanders daydreams about creating a mosque that would evoke this same bond. A mosque, he says, is important to people, and that is the type of space he hopes to create next. In addition to Interiors, Wanders has written a book on the history of creativity in Amsterdam, runs his business and staff, consults for the city of Amsterdam, and jetsets the world for his projects and speaking arrangements. This spring he set up in New York to promote a new product line, giving away tattoos of his creations to fans and supporters. And, perhaps surprisingly, perhaps predictably, quite a few New Yorkers now walk around with Wanders ink. Still, the man has to sleep. So what does dreamer Marcel Wanders do when he wakes up? “I look to the light,” he says. “And then I look to see if someone is next to me. You never know.” HERE AND ON STANDS http://karyncampbell.com/CHELSEA-WOLFE http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/CHELSEA-WOLFE Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:27:06 +0000 Karyn Campbell 1793394 Interview by Karyn Campbell <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/1793394/LPCOVERCROP_905.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="670" width_o="905" height_o="905" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/1793394/LPCOVERCROP_905_o.jpg" align="left" /> Crooner and crower, dark and delicate, Californian songwriter Chelsea Wolfe unleashes a sound inspiringly hard to define. While some music writers have likened her musical tone to chilly landscapes, (and indeed she’s influenced by Russian and Scandinavian artists) her grunge-inspired voice, the sad story-telling quality of her lyrics, the immediacy of her guitar squeals, conjure heat -- a raw energy, burning and dizzy. We caught up with Wolfe on the tail end of her European tour following her 2010 album, where she kicked around the thawing Parisian streets and decaying Estonian warehouses. Right after our talk, Wolfe headed back to the grime and glowof the American Southwest in preparation for her upcoming release Apocalypse. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/1793394/cw-01_905.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="866" width_o="905" height_o="1171" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/1793394/cw-01_905_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/1793394/cw-02_905.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="866" width_o="905" height_o="1171" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/1793394/cw-02_905_o.jpg" align="left" /> http://karyncampbell.com/VIMEO-BLAKE-WHITMAN http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/VIMEO-BLAKE-WHITMAN Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:22:44 +0000 Karyn Campbell 1734880 A CASE FOR STRONG COMMUNITY: VIMEO'S VP OF CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT ON FILMMAKING'S WEBOLUTION by Karyn Campbell Blake Whitman has seen Vimeo's user numbers soar into the millions since its 2004 conception. The key to keeping up quality and turning down the noise, he explains, is nurturing strong community values and editorial voice. Vimeo’s big investment to keep its network encouraged and engaged has paid off: By featuring emerging forms of filmmaking and actively connecting with creators, Vimeo’s staff has managed to become not just platform keepers, but tastemakers. As a result, filmmakers flock to a place where they can share inspiration, learn and network. And, of course, where their videos look good. You have a noncommercial policy that greatly differentiates you from YouTube. How does Vimeo’s philosophy stray away from the aggregate model? Our rule from day one was that you could only upload stuff that you create yourself. It was something that we spent a ton of time and effort maintaining. Not only do we want that content to be from the original creator, but also it helps to foster communication and conversation about it. When you comment on a film, you’re actually talking to the person who created it. We want that conversation to be two ways. Our platform is a place to share the work that you create, so if you create commercials and you’re good at it, we want Vimeo to be a place for you to share that work. We have a noncommercial policy, but it comes down to intent. If you’re a commercial director and you upload a commercial for Ford, the intent is to show the work. If you’re Ford and you’re uploading a commercial for Ford, then the intent there is to sell cars. If you’re just using Vimeo to offload your hosting costs, then we kick you off. How did you go about nurturing this active engagement? It seems like you invest in personal efforts instead of relying on automation. Our community team is made up of close to 10 people now, which is a lot considering we’re a staff of 40. It’s a big part of what we consider important to our business. It’s really impossible for a site to instill community after it’s already become huge. You can’t do it. We were lucky to have set it up that way from the beginning. How do you keep your eye on new talent and interesting filmmaking when you’ve got millions of users? I watch dozens of videos a day. That’s probably one of the best parts of my job. Overseeing the editorial side. It has a lot to do with making connections with these creators and meeting with them as much as possible. We try to find the pulse of new artistic and creative directions that have been popping up in the last two years —featuring them and exposing people to new forms of art. We have countless stories of people making their career by uploading work that we feature on Vimeo's editorial pages. Do you have a way to comb through all this? We have a few algorithms to find, not necessarily what’s popular, but what the community finds interesting. We don’t have any ‘Top 10’ lists or ‘Most Played,’ or anything like that. We’re really not about what’s popular based off of plays; we’re way more into what’s popular based on quality and likes. The biggest way is just making contacts with creators who we know and respect. We also monitor a lot of other blogs that pick up music videos and art blogs and make sure we catch the stuff outside people are paying attention to. What do you see changing in the way people approach short film as a product of the web? Within the short film genre, you’ll see more experimental work, things that are done a little bit differently than the classical short film storytelling model. Even in film festivals this is changing radically now because there is such a high access to creative inspiration. People are tending to go out on crazy limbs, which is a byproduct of what’s happening on platforms like Vimeo. We’re exposed to so many forms of creativity that people are influenced rapidly in all different directions. Essentially millions of people can watch anything at any given time. What was the content people uploaded back in the day when you guys got started as opposed to what you see now? When you look at the oldest videos, they’re just stupid videos of your everyday life, with someone with a point-and-shoot on the bus catching something funny, editing something together barebones. That was when everyone was beginning to experiment with online video. Not everyone was a ‘filmmaker’ like we are now, you know? The style and content back then was very personal. So how about this idea that ‘everyone’ is becoming a filmmaker? What’s happened? Access to tools? It’s the access to relatively cheap technology that allows you to create videos and content that was completely inaccessible even 10 years ago. When every computer has an editing program, and every phone has a camera, you have the tools to create stunning video. The second thing is the access to free education. You can go pretty much anywhere online and find free tutorials, tons of inspirational videos, and tons of interviews with amazing artists. That combined with cheap technology and the platform to share it is really all you need to become a filmmaker. And that’s a very, very new thing. That’s why were seeing such an explosion of creativity in the last three years. We see things being made by 15 year olds that someone in film school 10 years ago would be hard pressed to make. So where does it all go from here? I love this question – I’m going to answer it so vaguely. Eventually we’re going to build a more diverse set of tools for people, everyone from professionals to mothers and fathers who are shooting video of their kids. We already have those tools, but we’re going to really focus them. Also, Vimeo has always been about the platform abilities, but soon it will be about a destination for viewing. We’re going to provide a much better, more consistent platform for that. We’re sitting on such an incredible community of content and creativity. We want to bring it to light in a much more overt way than we do now. http://karyncampbell.com/YOURS-TRULY http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/YOURS-TRULY Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:17:38 +0000 Karyn Campbell 1734850 REDEFINING THE RECORD LABEL FOR THE ONLINE VIDEO GENERATION Yours Truly founders William Abramson, Nate Chan, Caleb Morairty and Babak Khoshnoud film intimate, raw sessions with their favorite musicians. While the guys have day jobs, they’re also finding that place where hobbyist creations could meet capital rewards. Their music video website, which curates original indie/hiphop films of darlings like Kurt Vile and Tyler, The Creator, has now grown into a label and filmmaking collective. The goal: to support emerging artists while working with brands who understand the culture. Community around media is becoming increasingly more important than quantifiable audience. I see this in YoursTruly - each video makes you feel included a specific moment or lifestyle. Yeah, so I think for us, we’re part of a much larger community, which is a community supporting independent music. We’re not as interested in tons of people coming to our site, like you said ‘having an audience,’ versus creating something that can go out into our community and be appreciated in a broader sense. Kurt Vile, Baby's Arms (YT+MTV) Branded content and partnerships seem like an obvious path for you guys as filmmakers with intimate access to this world. How would you see Yours Truly growing beyond the documentary side of filmmaking? We know all these really talented music video directors. I want to go out to record labels and managers and offer them bundled packages where we’ll say, ‘Look, you could spend 10 or 20,000 dollars on a music video, and you could get some electronic press kit made and some live sessions, etcetera. But why don’t you give us two days with your band? We’ll work with one of these talented music video directors to make a music video, and at the same time we’ll make a documentary EPK and knock out a few live sessions. We’ll give you five or six video assets in the whole package to market the record from start to finish. You’ll have something for every milestone or announcement along the way.’ The idea embraces the natural way things are going with the rise in demand for video content, and directors’ ability to access artists and work without as many silos... It saves time, and money. I’m getting the music video directors together and building what I’ll need to go out to a label and pitch. People know us as documentary music video creators. And that will be primarily how we make money. We’ve been really selective. I just want to feel good about who I’m partnering with. That’s why I liked your guys’ site. It felt like a natural fit for us. How to Dress Well, I Wish (Love Letters Ink) http://karyncampbell.com/VIVIAN-ROSENTHAL http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/VIVIAN-ROSENTHAL Sun, 22 May 2011 21:52:42 +0000 Karyn Campbell 1482324 CYBORGS ALREADY? DESIGNING THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL SOCIETY by Karyn Campbell Vivian Rosenthal’s provocative vision of where we’re headed as a digital society isn’t so much controversial as it is uncomfortably astute. The co-owner of Tronic Studio and founder of GoldRun, an augmented reality app, Rosenthal and her partner Jesse Seppi are at the forefront of designing our visual, virtual future. Ready to talk transhumanism, critique her industry and dare to defend big brands and their support of artist innovation, Rosenthal seems to have the brain capacity of, well, a charismatic cyborg. You and Jesse are artists. You also work with big brands. How’s that marriage going? Brands are commissioning a lot of important, worthwhile projects in arts and design that reverberate in the cultural landscape at large. Jesse and I have realized working in the field of design with clients that we actually have the opportunity to take ideas and technology that really push industries forward into new spaces and actually get to test our theories. The possibilities to create something with real world structure and ramifications is really powerful, and it shouldn’t be dismissed as ‘oh this is project you did as a client.’ And those tested theories can be applied to the creation of future industries. How will our daily lives continue to change based on our increasing integration with technology? One of the things we’re interested in is our biological constraint—where we reach those limits both physically and emotionally. Even something as mundane as filtering—how much email can we filter? When is it too much? We’re not machines. Humans can’t really sift through that amount of data. So how does this show up in your work? We just did a film that’s about half-man/half-machines that act as filters to find things worth valuing. It’s based on this whole idea of science fiction becoming just science, and what happens to our body when the tech is just moving at such a pace that we can’t really keep up with it. So what is this going to look like, this science-nonfiction reality? People are being bombarded by information on Facebook and Twitter and all these networks. But at the same time people are craving and asking for that connectivity and using it. Knowing that, I think people will probably readily embrace augmented reality in the next 10 years. You see it in films, where it still has the whole head contraption element. But I think what we’ll see is a subtle integration, like if you’re wearing eyeglasses it will be overlaid on one of the lenses. We’ll get to the point with augmented reality where there will be a stream of information we’re always seeing, so we won’t have to look down and engage with a clunky, physical device. Ok, so what about even further down the line, say 30 years, how will our daily integration with technology evolve? 30 years is a long time…probably people, not physically but in terms of information, are basically cyborgs. Not that you walk around with prosthetic limbs, but you’re just really split between the physical and digital worlds. If we consider that people are essentially spending half of their waking hours on a digital interface, to me, we’ve already gotten there. I’m specifically interested in augmented really and the city becoming a game —having this other layer that you’re interactive with. It’ll happen a lot sooner than we think, but mass adoption will happen over time. There are already virtual worlds online that people not only choose to spend time in but choose to spend money. When I hear someone buys a sweater online for her avatar, my first instinct is to scoff. But as more people interact online and create digital personalities, maybe my opinion will change? I have the same reaction you do. I would never buy a virtual sweater for an avatar. But I feel very conflicted about making an ethical judgment. Ultimately, if someone attaches some sort of value to something, whether it’s sentimental or ego-driven or status-driven, it has value. All the online games are driven by proving status. It’s important to step back and critique all these things. For instance, I read this article (points to Fast Company Magazine) about the founder of Zynga. Reading the article, the writer never raises the question, ‘is it good that all these people are wasting hundreds of hours wasting time playing these games instead of being productive at their real jobs?’ Unfortunately, those questions get let behind in the race to move forward. And this goes back to the idea of transhumanism, and our increasing integration with technology. You could be really scared by that and ask who would control all of that? Or you could just see it as evolution. It would be naïve to think it’s going to stop. It’s moving exponentially. It just goes back to Darwin, but maybe it’s survival of the fastest instead of survival of the fittest—the one with the most access. Digital information will become augmented intelligence. I think that one of the fears that a lot of people hold, and I certainly do, is that with this overload of digital information and augmented intelligence, there becomes a separation between the have and the have-nots. If you don’t have access to this technology, then you become a very inferior being. I think a lot of people would argue as technology becomes less expensive, everyone will eventually have access to it. I think it’s going to be all-pervasive. As we begin to live in these virtual worlds, what role will good design play? Well, it’s like anything else. The physical world can be ugly or beautiful just like the virtual world. We [humans] have always embraced architecture and design for a reason. It makes us feel comfortable in our surroundings and appreciate them more, and I think that it’s no different in the virtual world. But a lot of the time people using technology are not necessarily thinking about design. So how do you work toward visualizing something imaginative that doesn’t have a clear reference in the real world? I think there was a point when digital tools were just being used for representation. It was just simulations and passive viewing experiences of realities. We try to craft experiences where you feel like you’ve had some agency in that experience. We did a bunch of gesture-based installations, and for us these have been a new storytelling method. The person interacting with it is actually changing the experience. This is really just the beginning. There’s just a lot more depth to these kinds of experiences. http://karyncampbell.com/CODE-FOR-AMERICA http://karyncampbell.com/following/karyncampbell.com/CODE-FOR-AMERICA Wed, 04 May 2011 00:22:57 +0000 Karyn Campbell 1393246 GO CIVIC YOUNG DEVELOPER: AN INTERVIEW WITH CODE FOR AMERICA'S JENNIFER PAHLKA written by Karyn Campbell Millenials (aka people who belong to Generation Y, Generation Me) have, of late, been characterized as spoiled, self absorbed, and hesitant to grow up. But we do, surprisingly, have a growing support for civic participation and change, especially in the last few years. Jennifer Pahlka recognized this phenomenon, and using her networked background in tech and conferences, she founded nonprofit Code For America. The program leverages the talent of young, tech-savvy Americans to create web-based solutions for city improvement. Cities apply with project proposals while fellows undergo an experience-based evaluation. Then, teams of selected fellows are matched with chosen city managers to execute an app-based project. By marrying coding with community service, somehow Code For America makes two decidedly uncool jobs, very cool. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/1393246/cfm.jpg" border="0" width="300" height="150" width_o="300" height_o="150" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/80610/1393246/cfm_o.jpg" align="left" /> There are similar programs to yours, though nothing in the technology sphere. What are the core differences in the experience of your fellows? You hit the nail on the head. For example, Teach for America generally takes liberal arts grads and teaches them to be teachers in a summer. We take professionals who already have experience, and it’s about getting them to be change agents and diplomats and work within a system where they’re going to face a lot of obstacles. They know what their doing in terms of development, but many of them don’t know how government works, or how to work within a bureaucracy. What changes have you seen in millenials’ attitudes toward government in the past few years? Why is it appealing for young people to participate in ‘giving back to society’ so to speak? I think that something has changed significantly in the last couple years. It’s been sort of uncool to think about government as a place to do interesting exciting, important work. The perception, generally, has been you would do that if you only wanted to twiddle your thumbs behind a desk, push paper and do something safe. That has changed a lot, primarily due to the open government movement and open data. For geeks, making government data open is like inviting kids into the candy store because there is so much cool that you can do there. Like with the way these fantastic data visualization put a sexy layer on top of information. So there’s this real interest in doing something with the data. We saw this in the early apps conferences like Apps For Democracy. The new piece of it is not doing apps for other citizens, but understanding that government can work if we craft it in the image of those who know how to use technology—recraft it in the interest of the citizens that its actually supposed to serve. What other nonprofits are making this area sexy for this generation, or for anyone? Sunlight Foundation has done a lot of cool stuff and they deserve a lot of credit for making this area really sexy. By showing what could be done in the political sphere. Also, there’s a lot going on in journalism. As the media industry is disrupted and chaos is ensuing out of that, it’s forcing and kind of enabling at the same time all these hacker journalists. Media is the lifeblood of democracy, so that’s a movement going hand in hand with the Code For America mission. Speaking of hacker journalists like the ones working for WikiLeaks, how much government information should stay behind the wall? I think the reality is that it’s very hard to contain information these days. It’s so difficult as a society whether you in government, a citizen or a hacker or whatever, we have to grapple with the fact that information will get out, and live in that world. How can governments use models of certain social networks to advance municipal projects? We want to use these platforms and add glue layers. We’re doing a side project working with the Department of Labor to get veterans jobs. And we'll be using LinkedIn in that project. A traditional government approach to a challenge like this is to create something brand new. The Department of Defense has been talking about a $40 million procurement to build a new jobs database for veterans to use. Our approach is that information is already out there, and what is actually useful is a glue layer to tie together the different resources that exist, LinkedIn, or Monster, or meta searches for jobs. We very much civically need these existing public platforms in getting things done in government. This is your first year and you already have several cities coming to you with project proposals and applications to join the program. What's on the docket for 2012? In the 2012 cycle we have a greater number and quality of applications. What I mean is the quality, is that the thought that’s gone into what a good Code For America project would be has improved, the introspection about using these kind of tools. People in New Orleans are thinking about tackling the challenge of blighted properties and home destruction. They thought really hard about how that could be solved in a lightweight, agile way that our fellows could come in and help them with. It’s a sign—just having a city think about how Code for America could help them could spur the type of thinking we want to see. So why would a young creative or tech professional be interested in working with Code For America? I think its because Millenials see that the tools needed to do what government needs to do are out there, they just need to be applied to the business of governing. If they have the skills and the will to make that happen, then that’s where the energy and enthusiasm and eagerness to work in government is coming from.