Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Presented live at FITC Toronto 2024 at the Great Hall
See full details at fitc.ca/presentation/art-in-dusty-places
Overview
Every year a city of 75,000 people is built in the middle of a dry lake bed which is in the middle of the Black Rock Desert which is in the middle of nowhere in Northern Nevada in the USA. Black Rock City exists ephemerally on a substrate of an ancient lake bed that is an unhealthy and caustic mix of alkaline salts and fine minerals laid out perfectly flat for miles in all directions. The smallest movement of air raises the dust, a breeze necessitates eye protection, a wind creates a whiteout so complete you can experience vertigo. The dust coats everything & everyone.
It is an environment naturally devoid of the influences of contour, contrast, color, liquid water, animal or plant life. In this setting humans arrive for a month of building and 10 days of existing. Then in effigy it is all burned to the ground. With no other natural influences the emergent culture is unique and decidedly humanistic. Life can become so amplified that the world outside is referred to as analog. Any day at This Thing in The Desert is a practice between survival and self-actualization and like no other day lived. And it comes with two constants: Dust & Art.
Objective
Why even? Dust, Logistics, Thirst, Weather in Extremes, Even More Dust…. Always Dust!
Five Things Audience Members Will Learn
Drink Water
Safety Third
MOOP
The Destructive Capability of Expansion Contraction Cycles
Participation vs Interaction
Target Audience
Seekers, Artists, Dust Curious & Dust Cynics
Jared Ficklin
Chief Creative Technologist, argodesign Austin, USA
Jared is a futurist, creative technologist and a partner at argodesign. He has been designing with technology for over a decade, focusing on innovative or unique interaction models, especially those involving interesting inputs like touch, multi-touch, voice or gesture.
His philosophy is “think by making” and has designed products for clients like HP, Microsoft, AT&T, LG, SanDisk, Motorola and more.
For many years, Jared directed the SXSW Interactive opening party – also known as the frog party – which served as an outlet for both interactive installations and a collective social experiment. He currently directs the Think By Making party for MakerFaire Austin every May for the same purpose.
He is also the co-director of the Austin Public Skatepark Action Committee and an evangelist for the cable car based mass transport vision known as The Wire. His passion for sound visualization has led to him being the first person to bring live fire onto the TED stage in his talk “Eyes Can Hear”.
Check out all our events at fitc.ca
Presented live at FITC Toronto 2024 at the Great Hall
See full details at fitc.ca/presentation/art-in-dusty-places
Overview
Every year a city of 75,000 people is built in the middle of a dry lake bed which is in the middle of the Black Rock Desert which is in the middle of nowhere in Northern Nevada in the USA. Black Rock City exists ephemerally on a substrate of an ancient lake bed that is an unhealthy and caustic mix of alkaline salts and fine minerals laid out perfectly flat for miles in all directions. The smallest movement of air raises the dust, a breeze necessitates eye protection, a wind creates a whiteout so complete you can experience vertigo. The dust coats everything & everyone.
It is an environment naturally devoid of the influences of contour, contrast, color, liquid water, animal or plant life. In this setting humans arrive for a month of building and 10 days of existing. Then in effigy it is all burned to the ground. With no other natural influences the emergent culture is unique and decidedly humanistic. Life can become so amplified that the world outside is referred to as analog. Any day at This Thing in The Desert is a practice between survival and self-actualization and like no other day lived. And it comes with two constants: Dust & Art.
Objective
Why even? Dust, Logistics, Thirst, Weather in Extremes, Even More Dust…. Always Dust!
Five Things Audience Members Will Learn
Drink Water
Safety Third
MOOP
The Destructive Capability of Expansion Contraction Cycles
Participation vs Interaction
Target Audience
Seekers, Artists, Dust Curious & Dust Cynics
Jared Ficklin
Chief Creative Technologist, argodesign Austin, USA
Jared is a futurist, creative technologist and a partner at argodesign. He has been designing with technology for over a decade, focusing on innovative or unique interaction models, especially those involving interesting inputs like touch, multi-touch, voice or gesture.
His philosophy is “think by making” and has designed products for clients like HP, Microsoft, AT&T, LG, SanDisk, Motorola and more.
For many years, Jared directed the SXSW Interactive opening party – also known as the frog party – which served as an outlet for both interactive installations and a collective social experiment. He currently directs the Think By Making party for MakerFaire Austin every May for the same purpose.
He is also the co-director of the Austin Public Skatepark Action Committee and an evangelist for the cable car based mass transport vision known as The Wire. His passion for sound visualization has led to him being the first person to bring live fire onto the TED stage in his talk “Eyes Can Hear”.
Check out all our events at fitc.ca
