[Nettime-nl] Next Nature in L.A. - May 17th 2008

[Mieke Gerritzen <mieke {AT} all-media.info>]

Sorry voor het engels, bestemd voor nederlanders en vrienden van  
nederlanders in Los Angeles.

----

On May 17th 2008, 8-10 PM the Biggest Visual Power Show takes place  
in downtown Los Angeles. Over twenty creative minds will present  
their visions on Next Nature. We send you this special edition of our  
newsletter dedicated to the event.

BVPS Next Nature 2008 website: http://www.nextnature.net/powershow2008

==================================================

CONTENTS
- Program Highlights
- Location, Tickets, Parking & Hotel
- The format: Visual Power

==================================================

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Technology: the Seventh Kingdom of Life
Kevin Kelly, senior maverick at Wired magazine, gives an opening  
keynote on the nature of technology. "Our entire system of technology  
is now so complex that it forms a tangled ecology of ideas and  
devices which support each other. Human mind, so essential for its  
birth, play a decreasing role."

Extreme Green Guerrillas
With the worst climate disaster about to happen, our current green  
solutions aren't sufficient. They are only making tiny steps forward.  
Michiko Nitta proposes the ultimate green lifestyle. Animal rights  
artist Tinkebell presents a sustainable designers bag made from her  
own cat. Judith de Leeuw traces back her shoes to their place of birth.

The People vs The Beauty Industry
Nowadays plastic surgeons sculpt flesh after photoshopped magazines.  
Documentary maker Sunny Bergman offers an intimate peek in a Los  
Angeles 'rejuvenation institute'. What is the price tag of a hot,  
sexy, hypernatural body?

Corporations want to Survive!
They want to live and grow, not for the benefit of people but for the  
benefit of themselves and if necessary at the costs of people.  
Recognition is their most successful product: Nowadays children know  
more corporate logo's and brands than bird or three species.  
Brandalizer Hendrik-Jan Grievink analyzes the strategies. Fashion  
designer Karl Grandin goes out hunting for corporate animals.

Visualizing Complexity
Artist David Kremers helps scientists at the California Institute of  
Technology to use artistic painting techniques in order to visualize  
the incredible complexity of their scientific data. What can we learn  
from Van Gogh?

Social Software gone Wild
Casey Alt, young billionaire CEO of Valilogic Software, shares his  
views on the emerging phenomenon of social software networks like  
Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, etc. and their relation with the older  
social software embedded in human nature.

Sex & Death: Disney or Playboy?
Walt Disney and Hugh Hefner, who seem miles apart, are in fact sides  
of the same coin, flipping to decide what the next nature of sex and  
death will be. Media philosopher Peter Lunenfeld explains the how & why.

Magical interaction
How to control the wild ecology of electronic devices in your house?  
Designer Joris van Gelder proposes 'magic' as a way to interact with  
our technological environment. He will demonstrate his magical lamp  
and remote control.

User Generated Architecture
My own blog, my own homevideo, my own house. Digital software allows  
people to easily copy-paste their own buildings. What are the  
consequences of 'user generated architecture'? Will it cause  
architects to build tools, rather than buildings? Will we grow more  
suburban McMansions or track down & improve the self-organizing  
networks in the slums of Sao Paulo, Caracas & Johannesburg?

And there is more...
Gaming Zombies. Autonomous implants. Genetic Surprises. Special live  
interventions: You control the camera if you can catch it. Immersive  
next nature soundscapes. The state of the stars. Analog vs Digital.  
The car is not the limit.

Full list of participants: http://www.nextnature.net/powershow2008/ 
people.php

==================================================

TICKETS

Ticket are $15. Online ordering is cheaper than at the door, if you  
order two or more tickets. Tickets are delivered to any address  
within the US. We thank our sponsors for keeping our ticket prices so  
very low.

http://www.nextnature.net/powershow2008/tickets.php

LOCATION & PARKING

BVPS Next Nature 2008 takes place at the recently renovated Million  
Dollar Theater, one the pearls of the historical LA broadway  
district. It was one of the first movie palaces in the US, built in  
1918 at a then astonishing cost of one million dollar. Among the  
stars attending the opening night were Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin  
and Lillian Gish, as well as hundreds of eager fans who lined up for  
two blocks.

At the time of its construction, movies were still 'new media' and  
the theater was designed as a multi-purpose 'crossmedia' temple. The  
(again) modern affordance for different presentation formats,  
combined with its vintage grandeur, makes the Million Dollar Theater  
a perfect fit to the Visual Power format.

The Million Dollar Theater is located on 307 S Broadway in downtown  
Los Angeles, CA 90013, right across the legendary Bradbury building  
(known from Blade Runner). Public $5 flat rate parking available next  
door.

http://www.nextnature.net/powershow2008/location.php

BVPS HOTEL: THE STANDARD DOWNTOWN

 From out of town? We recommend The Standard Downtown LA. Situated at  
walking distance (try that for a change) from the event location, the  
place has everything to satisfy your visual power sensibilities: 24  
Hour restaurant, roof-top pool, dance floor. A place where second  
life is first life.

http://www.nextnature.net/powershow2008/hotel.php

==================================================

THE FORMAT: VISUAL POWER

Images occupy an increasingly important place in our communication  
and transmission of information. More and more often, it is an image  
that is the deciding factor in important questions. Of old, images  
are associated with the basic instincts of the sinful body, while  
text was associated with the sublimity of the mind. With the Visual  
Power format we aim to liberate the image as a mature medium of  
intellectual communication.

At the Biggest Visual Power Show, over twenty artists, scientist,  
writers, film directors, architects, designers, presents their  
radical ideas, visionary statements and powerful imagery using all  
possible means of communication. The event mixes movies and live  
performance, morphs physical experiences into virtual imagination. A  
conference, a movie, a concert, all in two hours time.

==================================================

BVPS Next Nature 2008 is a concept by Koert van Mensvoort & Mieke  
Gerritzen (www.all-media.eu).

This low-tech, low-volume newsletter is connected to the website  
www.nextnature.net which aims to explore the nature caused by human  
culture.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and friends of  
friends. In case you feel you've received this newsletter in error  
and don't want to receive our emails anymore, surf to http:// 
www.nextnature.net/unsubscribe or simply write an email to  
newsletter {AT} nextnature.net with the subject 'unsubscribe'.
______________________________________________________
* Verspreid via nettime-nl. Commercieel gebruik niet
* toegestaan zonder toestemming. <nettime-nl> is een
* open en ongemodereerde mailinglist over net-kritiek.
* Meer info, archief & anderstalige edities:
* http://www.nettime.org/.
* Contact: Menno Grootveld (rabotnik {AT} xs4all.nl).