Alpha-ville

Running concurrently with London Design Festival and Digital Design Weekend at the V&A, this weekend Alpha-ville International Festival of Post Digital Culture will be hosted across multiple London venues.

‘Post-digital’ –  a term more and more commonly used – is, it turns out, a very rational and heartening trend, rather then just a grandiose descriptor.

Digital Fabrication by Marius Watz 2011
Digital Fabrication by Marius Watz 2011

The term is broadly recognised as the humanising of digital technology – social and cultural applications of digital technology –  particularly in art.

This year, the festival explores the transition from digital to post-digital culture and what it calls ‘the intersection between art, technology and society.’

Cell concept by James Alliban and Keiichi Matsuda 2011
Cell concept by James Alliban and Keiichi Matsuda 2011

One of the stand-out commissions is James Alliban and Keiichi Matsuda’s Cell design, an installation which is inspired by the idea that personal identities are becoming ‘broadcasted commodities’, and as such it maps the digital personal identities ‘which define us’ they say.

Influencia by David McLellan
Influencia by David McLellan

Pooling information from a visitor’s internet profile as they walk through the space, the installation physically projects onto them, their digital self.

Pitched as the exploration of ‘human-machine interaction and the social implications of a world shared with sentient technologies’ Influencia by David McLellan pits you the visitor against colour coded autonomous robots which need to be rounded up into colour groups.

Influencia by David McLellan
Influencia by David McLellan

Using sensors and programmed ‘behaviours’, the robots can sense human presence and respond accordingly.  A beautiful co-opt between man and machine, maybe.

The most exciting opportunity – this one will have particular appeal to narcissists and egomaniacs – is to have a 3D model of yourself made at Be Your Own Souvenir.

Invited to become a human statue, visitors can strike a pose and be captured by a structured light scanner, before some rapid prototyping produces a 3D takeaway souvenir of the image – an immortal thermoplastic mini-you. 

Bitquid by Jeroen Holthuis Photo by Ansis Starks
Bitquid by Jeroen Holthuis Photo by Ansis Starks

Alpha-ville runs from 22-25 September at various London locations.

 For more information go to http://www.alpha-ville.co.uk/

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