Hasta La Ideas

Core77’s Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club is very pleased to have Mike Merrill of the KmikeyM.com!

Tonight’s talk starts at 6pm at the Hand-Eye Supply store in Portland, OR. Come early and check out our space or check in with us online for the live broadcast!

Kenneth Michael Merrill
KmikeyM.com: “Community Through Capitalism”
Hand-Eye Supply
23 NW 4th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
Tuesday, July 9th, 6pm PST

Mike Merrill is the world’s only publicly traded person. He sells shares in himself and then asks his shareholders to guide his life decisions. They choose who he dates, where he works, and what political party to join. So far it’s working out rather well.

Mike Merrill spent a year being single. He was not sure what he wanted in a romantic partner. And then he remembered, as a publicly traded person, it didn’t matter what he wanted. This was a shareholder decision!

Kenneth Michael Merrill (also known as Mr. Mike Merrill, Mikey, or KmikeyM) is a publicly traded person and businessman in Portland, Ore. He is a co-owner of Manila Mac, and the owner of K5 Media LLC. He manages Urban Honking, where he has a blog, is the Editor-In-Chief of Portland Sportsman, and is a highly esteemed member of The YACHT Trust. He runs a co-operative Research Lab, co-hosts the Bright Future of Tobacco podcast, produces TV with Team Video, is a founding member of Whiskey Friends, and is currently working on some exciting new developments.

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Wunderkammer of Ideas event Domus Academy NABA campus. Image courtesy of the Domus Academy

Reporting by Marcia Caines

Almost everything starts with an idea. The idea of finding solutions to the crisis in education inside a cabinet of curiosities may seem far-fetched, but it’s ‘ideas’ that count: the light bulb moment, the spark. The Wunderkammer of Ideas Seminar, which took place on May 30 2013, was conceived by Gianluigi Ricuperati, newly appointed dean of the Domus Academy, and Petter Neby, founder of the Swiss consumer electronics firm Punkt., which is art-directed by Jasper Morrison. The public seminar was staged with the aim of guiding and improving knowledge creation processes in the contemporary period. In the context of the Wired Next Fest, Punkt. teamed up with Domus Academy and NABA for an inspiring day on the campus, reflecting on the future of design education from different perspectives. Note: This article is not a direct conference report but a reflection on the revelations of the various speakers and the debate that followed. The content of this article does not reflect the views, opinions or positions of Punkt. Tronics AG, the official supporter of the initiative.

The seminar was structured around one-to-one interactions between specialist guest speakers and students, where the students challenged the experts with questions on chosen topics. There were 12 sessions which covered topics ranging from science to writing, art to business, technology to design.

The featured specialists were: Giovanni Amelino-Camelia, physicist, Ph.D. from MIT and researcher at the University of Rome La Sapienza; Amnon Dekel, programmer, computer scientist, computer artist and psychologist; Clemens Weisshaar, German designer, co-founder of the Kram/Weisshaar studio in Munich and Stockholm; Giorgio De Mitri, Creative Director of Sartoria Comunicazione, a successful Modena-based creative agency; Dan Hill, managing director of Fabrica, author of the popular blog City of Sound; Slovakian designer Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny, who founded a studio in Rotterdam focused on exploring strategies in object design and construction; Renato Montagner, architect, who founded the multidisciplinary studio Change Design in 2002; Nikolaus Hirsch, architect, curator and director of Städelschule and Portikus Kunsthalle in Frankfurt; Roberto Paci Dalò, visual artist and composer; Matteo Pericoli, architect, illustrator and teacher who recently completed a Literary Architecture course at the Columbia University School of the Arts; Elisa Poli, architectural historian, who teaches at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Ferrara and on the Master in Interior Design promoted by NABA, and Kuno Prey, the designer and lecturer who founded the new Faculty of Design and Art at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. The introductory speakers were Alberto Bonisoli, Marc Ledermann, Petter Neby and Gianluigi Ricuperati.

Petter Neby, founder and father of Punkt. Tronics AG. Image courtesy of Domus Academy.

Why Education?

Schools and universities have always been important hubs for the production of knowledge but the technological revolution of the past 20 years, and the democratization of information through the Internet have facilitated other learning paths, such as networks, gossip, memories and experience, which contribute to forming the learning environment and are now redesigning the role of educators. As unemployment levels soar, it is important to tap into these knowledge sources, which are by nature less visible, and therefore more difficult to account for and measure, forcing schools to question their role in the future of education. In his introduction, Petter Neby of Punkt. stated that the current education model, built for the benefit of industry and corporates a century ago, does not necessarily meet the needs of contemporary society or students. According to Neby, a teacher’s responsibility is to guide students towards their purpose in life, without forcing them to fit into a rigid, outdated model.

Meanwhile, Alberto Bonisoli, director of Domus Academy, started the day by questioning if teachers will really be needed in the future at all.

Quote by Giovanni Amelino-Camelia, Wunderkammer of Ideas. Image courtesy Domus Academy & NABA

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By Ron Goldin / Studio Akko

CONTEXT

This February, Studio Akko, a NYC user experience and design agency, kicked off a quarterly event series we’ve billed as “Artifacts.”

Instead of a fluorescent-bathed conference center with endless rows of chairs or a homogenous “networking mixer” at a bar with likeminded people, we sought to create an intimate happening where creative and innovative people, especially those whose work has transcended the box of traditional disciplines, can drop the pretense and posturing and connect and inspire others with short, visual bursts of inspiration, using the rich and diverse content as an excuse for libation-fueled people engage with people that “don’t do what you do.”

Slide of curator Elizabeth Lapp‘s featured artists’ work

Our practice has many names depending on who you ask—user experience design, interaction design, technology innovation. At its core, our work is about connecting with people, and taps into the social sciences, creative and technical disciplines. At the convergence of left brain and right brain, people that are great in this field have to widen the pool from where they seek inspirations.

When I went to school, I studied design, art history, the fine arts, psychology, computer science, and didn’t know there was a job that in the world that encompassed all of those things. I wanted to create an event that not only showcases work that doesn’t fit into a discipline box, but also sparks new opportunities for people who would typically never cross paths to have a conversation and maybe make an interesting creative connection.

Norwood’s sultry, quirky vibe feels both mysterious and cozy

We chose Norwood as the venue because of its distinct vibe. As a members-only arts space, it is frequented by a mixed crowd of creative types such as commercial directors, actors, designers, writers, entrepreneurs and visual artists in a restored multistory Chelsea townhouse. Norwood founder Alan Linn calls the space “a home for the curious,” noting that “we wanted it to seem that when you walk in the door, you’re somewhere else.”

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Taking a good photo of a great building is no easy task, as Flickr or Instagram can demonstrate. Meanwhile, even the most expansive Pinterest page of stunning architectural images is likely to feature the work of a relatively small group of photographers–those who have mastered the tricky art and science of capturing the utility, spirit, and beauty of the designed environment. Many of those names are followed by “Esto,” the firm built on the image collection of Ezra Stoller. Esto assignment photographer Albert Vecerka was on hand last week at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Center for the latest in the museum’s “Harlem Focus” series. “I look to tell a story about a place; a neighborhood, a building, a room,” Vecerka has said. “Looking for the right light, right day, or right time of day is a part of that narrative, and it is no different for commercial assignments than for personal projects.” Watch the event below and then mark your calendar for June 26, when architectural historian John Reddick will be joined by curators and gardeners from the Central Park Conservatory Gardens to talk “Garden Design: The Art of Color, Variety, and Form.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

By claiming public spaces for artistic enrichment, New York City’s non-profit arts organization BOFFO continues to create ambitious participatory art projects. Their mission encourages engagement with works stemming from collaborations between communities and artists, both emerging and established. And, to top if…

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