Location

MIT Media Lab, E14-633

Description

Head of the Opera of the Future group Tod Machover has been a co-curator of “Generation Elsewhere: Art in the Age of Distraction," a national series of events investigating the impact of 21st-century technologies on artists, arts institutions, and arts audiences. The final event in the series will be a debate about art and technology, co-hosted by Tod at the Media Lab with Michael Kaiser’s DeVos Institute for Arts Management and the University of Maryland. Tod will provide an opening statement, and then moderate a conversation between Sputniko!, head of the Lab's Design Fiction group; Kevin Slavin, head of the Playful Systems group; and Hasan Elahi, a media artist/activist and a professor at the University of Maryland.
What new stories can be told—and new experiences created—that are maximally synergistic and complementary with evolving tools and techniques? Can artistic practice somehow evade—or perhaps benefit from—the changes affecting audiences in virtually every other aspect of their lives? How can technology enhance and extend—rather than inhibit or replace—human potential for expression, connection, and collaboration? How can technology help artists to open minds, influence public debate, and change civic policy?