The Next Hope 2010 in New York City

The Next HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) 2010 took place as usual in the Penn Hotel July 16-18th this year. It was my first time, and I was impressed! Talks from 9am to midnight in 3 simultaneous rooms plus an 'overflow' room - nonstop, covering everything from digital privacy, social engineering, cryptology to EMPs, geotagging, robots and e-waste.

It is one of the largest hacker event in the world, and I was showing my piece Talk to Me in the Art Space on the mezzanine floor.

Photo #1 courtesy of jabella@flickr.

Technarte Conference on Art & Technology in Bilbao, Spain, 2010

I took part in Technarte V, International Conference on Art and Technology earlier this year - it was great! Situated in the north of Spain, Bilbao was an amazing city and both the artists and organizers did a great job to keep up on our toes.

The conference was pretty wide open in terms of subject matter, but had an emphasis on public art and installations in public places. A few groups such as ElectroLand and United Visual Artists had some nice work to show in this respect.

My own presentation focused on social media and digital privacy. I showed my work iamclean.org during the presentation, but tried to open the door a bit wider by highlighting the large gaps existing between technology and the different spheres it is attached to. Some simple examples of this would include the law having trouble keeping up with piracy issues, or the education system failing to keep computer-obsessed students concentrated in class. I spent a lot of time talking about digital privacy, arguing that social media service providers have a clear agenda, which in my opinion seriously undermines the legitimacy of certain features and advances found on their platforms. I also spoke a lot on culture and the importance of realizing the permeability of the attitudes we have towards privacy and how this affects other spheres of our lives.

Exposed 09' : The Social Body in Montreal, CA 2009

"Exposed’09: The Social Body explores the possibilities in which new artistic trends in digital media technology have transformed our conception of humans as social entities. The exhibition expands on the consequences of being social in a time where interconnected networks odulate our lifestyles. Exhibited works cross the range of computer-based medias, including interactive installations, responsive environments, wearable systems, sculpture and screen-based interactive projects."