On Saturday the Gotham Gal and I attended Seven On Seven, a Rhizome project sponsored by AOL and held at The New Museum. Seven On Seven pairs seven notable artists with seven notable technologists. The seven two person artist/technologist teams are given 24 hours to develop and present a project. We attended the presentations on Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday, our son joined us and we attended the ITP spring show where NYU ITP students show off their senior projects. I’ve been attending the ITP spring show for quite a while now and it is one of my favorite technology demonstration events of the year.
Both events were showcasing what happens when art and technology come together. And both events provided glimpses into the future of technology and society. These projects could turn into startups, a number of the ITP projects have. But most of what we saw this weekend was art in the sense that it is intended to inspire and push boundaries more than have a commercial purpose.
It is not easy to try to stay out ahead of the curve in web innovation. And that is something I try very hard to do. I have found that these artistic exhibits are quite helpful for me in that pursuit. I would encourage everyone who is working in and around web startups, either as an investor or as an entrepreneur, to spend time attending events like these. There are no crystal balls in this business but art is as close a proxy as I’ve found.
