Conversation à trois
Jean-Paul Thenot, Jean-Pierre Giovanelli, Franco Torriani

Si virtuel signifie une puissance d’un devenir possible (comme le définit Pierre Levy qui dit que la graine porte en elle l’arbre auquel elle donne naissance), alors je me pose la question de cette définition appliquée à l’image magnétique ou numérique. Que génère-t-elle hors tout contexte de réalité matérielle? Vaste sujet! Ne serait - ce pas une certaine mort de l’imaginaire individuel pour une naissance fascinante d’un imaginaire de masse imposé de façon cynique, sans phantasmatique aucune, aseptisé, froid, parfaitement désincarné, avec une incidence d’insensibilisation non encore mesurée sur la relation intra - collectif humain. C’est bien une stérilisation de l’image mais pas seulement cela, ce faux pouvoir donne à chacun le sentiment fallacieux d’une possibilité créatrice hors l’autre. Le temps de la contemplation est bien révolu! nous subissons l’accélération et la déréalisation de la matière qui nous entoure, sans pour autant y trouver une méditation constructive de notre moi face à l’autre.

For any reason or no reason - on virtual (extra-)territoriality
Linda Hilfling

The virtual embassy in Second Life will be a copy of a real world embassy: The House of Sweden, situated in central Washington DC next to a big park and a river. The embassy was developed as a consequence of the new politics on architecture. A competition was announced by the Swedish National Property Board (SVF) in 2002 and the winning proposal, designed by Gert Wingårdh and Thomas Hansen opened 2006. House of Sweden is a concept developed in collaboration between the Swedish National Property Board and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The house is a conglomerate that besides the actual embassy consists of corporate apartments for the business industry and an event center with conference rooms and exhibition space.

The Three Basic Forms of Remix: A Point of Entry
Eduardo Navas

For the Selective Remix the DJ takes and adds parts to the original composition, while leaving its spectacular aura intact. An example from art history in which key codes of the Selective Remix are at play is Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917); this work consists of an untouched urinal (save for a traditional artist signature) to reinforce the question, what is art? And codes of a second level remix on Duchamp can be found in Fountain (after Marcel Duchamp) by Sherrie Levine who, in 1991, questioned Duchamp as a privileged male artist and his urinal as art, leaving intact Duchamp’s aura as an artist but not the Urinal’s spectacular aura as a mass produced object. In both of these cases there is subtraction and addition (selectively–hence the term, Selective Remixes).

Can Organized Networks Make Money for Designers?
Ned Rossiter

My interest in this talk is to consider what the political concept of organized networks might mean for designers wondering how to make a buck. I know for sure that I won't be able to offer a one-size-fits all business model, so if that's what you were hoping for, then be disappointed now. Instead, I will focus on what I consider the primary conditions that attend the practice of collaboration in an era of network cultures and informational economies. My hypothesis is that without paying attention to the way networks are built and what makes them tick, you can forget about the rest, which includes whatever money-making potential you might glean from your design activities. This is a matter of structural and organizational fundamentals that underpin collaboration.

Vernacular Video
Tom Sherman

The technology of video is now as common as a pencil for the middle classes. People who never even considered working seriously in video find themselves with digital camcorders and non-linear video-editing software on their personal computers. They can set up their own “television stations” with video streaming via the Web without much trouble. The revolution in video-display technologies is creating massive, under-utilized screen space and time, as virtually all architecture and surfaces become potential screens. Video-phones will expand video’s ubiquity exponentially. These video tools are incredibly powerful and are nowhere near their zenith. If one wishes to be part of the twenty-first-century, media-saturated world and wants to communicate effectively with others or express one’s position on current affairs in considerable detail, with which technology would one chose to do so, digital video or a pencil?