At SUPERNOVA Forum themed “Human at the Crossroads of Technology and Art”, more than 10 pioneers focusing on interdisciplinary technology and art from around the globe shared their thoughts on the future picture of Shenzhen in a number of areas, including media reform, collective intelligence, network media, ecosystem, social innovation, cultural economy and city life.
Speech by Daan Roosegaarde, Founder of Studio Roosegaarde
Wu Juehui, Art Director of the new media art exhibition “REMIX GARDEN”, teacher at School of Intermedia Art, CAA, and founder of UFO Media Lab, made an opening remark for the forum through video. Daan Roosegaarde, founder of Studio Roosegaarde from the Netherlands, delivered the theme speech of Landscapes of the Future. He is dedicated to exploring the relationship between human, technology and space in his works, and puts forward solutions and thoughts on social topics through those works.
“In my opinion, landscapes of the future are not necessarily about having more Ferraris, more skyscrapers or more top-floor buildings. A future city should combine the nature of lush mountains and lucid water and technology & art, so as to make itself more suitable for living and working.” He made a presentation by using one of his artworks named The Van Gogh-Rooosegaarde Bike Path as example. The bike path is charged at daytime to store electric energy and turns into a sparkling path at nighttime, creating a fantastic city scene while providing illumination. “Creativity is very important in the future. We may draw lessons from history and give play to our creativity through new ideas. Shenzhen may continue to learn and grow amid constant innovation.”
Speech by Charles Lindsay, SETI Institute AIR Program Director
Charles Lindsay, SETI Institute AIR Program Director (Sponsored by NASA, SETI is a nonprofit institution dedicating to exploration, research and education), attended the forum and shared his voice. His works involve ecosystems and aerospace technology, including immersive environments, sound installations and aerodynamic experiments. He is also the innovator behind OSA EARS: a project designed to deliver high-resolution real-time sound and data from the rain forests in Costa Rica for research and creation. He made a speech themed Time Cycle and Super Intelligence at the forum. “We explore into the sound of tropical rain forests and into the cloud and wind in the air. As time goes by, our design on future life will change accordingly.” according to Charles Lindsay.
Speech by Lin Xinjie, Visiting Associate Professor at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and Co-founder and Art Director of the new media team Dimension Plus
Lin Xinjie, Visiting Associate Professor at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and Co-founder and Art Director of the new media team Dimension Plus, made a speech themed “Interdisciplinary Conversion: Super Coding in Tangible and Intangible Fields”. His works were exhibited and won awards in many international art festivals, such as the Theme Exhibition of Shenzhen Design Week and Shenzhen New Media Art Festival. Lin Xinjie presented a number of works, performed interdisciplinary conversion based on creative media and took the audience on a journey of discovering the nature of things through “synaesthesia”.
Speech by Ivan Nefedkin, Founder of Radugadesign
Ivan Nefedkin from Russia made a speech titled When Brand Meets Art: More Liberal Expression. Radugadesign, a media art design firm founded by him, has integrated the three elements of “space, technology and design” in all its projects. It once cooperated with Google, Porsche and Zhang Yimou’s team. “It is getting increasingly difficult to touch people with external elements. What we need is to integrate history and culture into a brand, leaving a totally new impression on consumers, which is exactly the effect of art on human emotions.” Ivan Nefedkin also mentioned the new reforms and new inspirations produced by art in the macro environment of rapidly developing science and technology.
Speech by Nimrod Weis, Co-founder and Creative Director of ENESS
Speech by Nimrod Weis, Co-founder and Creative Director of the Australian media art design institution ENESS, delivered a speech titled Art and Technology Converge Here. ENESS has pioneered the art of 3D projection mapping and interactive real-time motion tracking in theatre and extreme sports. It dedicates to delivering unique works through the interaction of art and technology. Lastly, Deng Weijian, founder and architect of QUAD Studio, demonstrated the perfect combination of natural elements and urban design in his works.
Roundtable Discussion Guests
The forum also included a roundtable discussion session. In-depth discussions on the topics of technology, art and creativity of future cities were shared by a group of guests, including Daan Roosegaarde, Charles Lindsay, Ivan Nefedkin, Lin Xinjie, Lv Hua, Nimrod Weis, Qin Xiu, Zhang Yuxing, Deng Weijian, Teng Fei, Yao Ling and Ma Li’an.
