Futuresonic 2009 and the Social Technologies Summit will take place 13-16 May 2009, featuring world premieres of astonishing artworks, an explosive city-wide music programme, and visionary thinkers from around the world. Futuresonic Urban Festival of Art, Music and Ideas has four strands, Art, Music, Ideas and EVNTS, and occupies the orbits of art, performance, music, design and digital culture transforming the city into a space of experimentation, making it come alive.
Futuresonic is presented in partnership with ImaginationLancaster (http://imagination.lancaster.ac.uk), a major new research lab at Lancaster University.Now in its 14th year, Futuresonic is the UK’s leading festival for digital culture, and this year was nominated for the prestigious Lever Arts Prize. An urban festival experience, it is anticipated that over 50,000 festival visitors will engage with 300 artists and 100 events across 30 venues.
The Social Technologies Summit is a leading international conference that brings together 500 opinion formers, futurologists, artists, researchers and technologists to explore the latest upgrade affecting today’s digital culture. Pioneering ideas will be presented, transforming the way you and your organisation operate, innovate and interact. It is the place where the technology and digital sectors connect with the creative vision of the international digital arts community. Over four days and nights participants can share, collaborate and network whilst also immersing themselves in exciting and innovative art and music events within the wider festival.
Help generate the sparks that grow into new ways of seeing the world and critically explore the trends and innovations that are affecting the digital sphere. Combining keynotes, critical debates, demonstrations and experiences with open space and participatory sessions, it is an engaging, critical and essential event to attend.
Confirmed speakers: Stowe Boyd, Adam Greenfield, Jamais Cascio, Tom Ilube, Dr Tristan Thielmann, Roland Harwood, Ewan McIntosh, Alfie Dennon, Helen Aspell, Christian Licoppe, Dr Stefan Agamanolis, Selene Kolman, Lee Bryant, Aaron Koblin, Usman Haque, Christian Nold, Yuri Suzuki.
Digital Futures
How can we embrace a digital future? Peer-to-peer interaction, individual contributions and online communities are changing the nature of society. Who are the new specialists, where are the new forms of value exchange, and how do we achieve the goal of universal access?
Environment 2.0
Futuresonic’s ongoing theme is ever more prescient today. Environment 2.0 decodes the relationship between people, nature and technology, and explores how online technologists create interfaces between our digital presence and environmental footprint.
Identity and Trust
Trust is the glue that stops the online world collapsing into anarchy. In the online world we can create unique digital personas. How do we trust those we meet and how do we know that online social spaces are secure?
Mobile
Constantly on, always active, the mobile phone is coming of age, and is now the world’s most pervasive technology. Coupled with their ever expanding feature set (cameras, GPS, NFC, compass, acceleromaters, etc), they offer the possibility of new and exciting forms of interactivity.
Semantic Web: Cultural Algorithms
Web applications are evolving and learning. Search engines learn habits from the torrent of marketable information produced. The Semantic Web offers an even more accurate map of our preferences. But is this map based on the presumption of common language and experience?