(small) creative initiatives that challenge (big) traditional ideas
• ( egoistic ) • activistic • architectural • audible • cinematic • conceptual • graphic • strategic • surface • urban • wireless
My interview with Marko Ahtisaari is now online at the Danish Design Center's web portal.
Ahtisaari is the Director of Design Strategy at Nokia and I talked to him just before his presentation at the Ars Electronica conference in September.
Besides talking about hot industry concepts such as 'simplicity', Ahtisaari offers some insight on the relation between user-centered design and Nokia's innovation strategies.
• www.ddc.dk (switch to english in the top menu)
Edit: It is not longer online at DDC but it is cached here
Finally! I have worked on this concept for 2-3 stressful weeks and now, we are able to launch the MMS xmas calendar (MMS julekalenderen) - probably the first service of its kind:
A new day = a new artist = a new artwork for you and your mobile phone.
Each day, between December 1-24, subscribers of the xmas calender will receive an MMS-artwork made of text, image or sound. The artworks are created by 24 different international artists, specifically for MMS enabled phones.
The MMS xmas calender is realized in collaboration between the design agency 1508 and the art foundation Artnode - the price of the wireless calendar is 100 kr (14 Euro) and the profit goes directly to the Danish Red Cross.
• www.1508.dk • www.artnode.org
GAYmobile is the name of a new mobile-network operator that is targeting homosexual subscribers in Denmark.
GAYmobile is offering services that are gay all the way and 25% of the profit will be channeled back to the gay community via a special fund called GAYtrust, according to the CEO Thomas Bilgram who is also the head of Copenhagen Pride.
GAYmobile's service line - called HOMOBILE - might soon be offering a wireless dating service as well as subtle ringtones that indicate the users sexual preferences. Until then, GAYmobile suggests that subsribers use songs like "I am what I am" or anything by ABBA as ringtone.
Just like other Danish MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), GAYmobile is internet-based and the prices are thus among the country's most affordable.
"You're kidding me?!" is a wireless voice-based service that helps users simulate a mobile phone conversation. The automatic service is designed to assist people at conferences, gallery openings and other places where being socially disconnected is no fun.
After dialing the service number, users can choose between two types of conversations: a 'casual' or an 'important' conversation. The user is subsequently guided through a series of words and sentences that - when being repeated - makes it look and sound like a real conversation is taking place!
"You're kidding me!?" is designed for the INDEX:2005 conference in Copenhagen. The service is provided by 1508 A/S - the design consultancy that I am currently working for. It is based on a conceptual artwork called dialogue that I created some time ago.
Posted by Sebastian on Aug 22, 2005
An SMS service which warns high speeding drivers of police speed checks is getting extremely popular in Denmark.
The service is provided by a company called Razzia.dk and for an annual fee of 40 euros, subscribers receive an SMS whenever there's a speed check in their area.
Razzia.dk gets the information from its own subscribers who are encouraged to send an SMS if they spot a speed check or camera site.
Although Razzia.dk has been heavily criticized for providing such a service, the police is in fact quite possitive about it since it helps reduce the speed on the roads as well as reduce the time officers would otherwise spend writing tickets (apparently, they forgot that SMSing while driving is pretty dangerous and against the law).
The service is about to launch in England and Germany.
Posted by Sebastian on Aug 14, 2005
"MATISSE &" is the title and framework of an experimental exhibition currently running at the Danish National Gallery (Statens Museum for Kunst) in Copenhagen.
Works by three contemporary artists - Malene Landgreen, Jesper Just and Aino Kannisto - are practically and conceptually intervowen with the work of Matisse and visitors can access a sub layer of information via their mobile phones.
More precisely, by sending an SMS to a phonenumber situated next to the individual artworks, visitors recieve a text message - a thought or a statement - formulated by Landgreen, Just or Kannisto. Furthemore, visitors can also submit their own thoughts as well as recieve messages submitted by previous visitors, thus enabling them to interconnect via their feedback.
Flickr Peep Show is an interactive SMS installation based on photos from the photosharing website Flickr.com.
Users are encouraged to submit a keyword via SMS, after which photos from the Flickr database that are tagged with the particular keyword are projected onto a surface that is visible through a number of peepholes.
Flickr Peep Show is exhibited at Mediamatic/POST CS in Amsterdam during May and June 2005.
Furthermore, in the course of week 19, the installation Playing FLICKR (similar to the Flickr Peep Show) will be running at the Club/Restaurant 11, allowing dinner guests and club goers to interact with surrounding Flickr projections, also via SMS.
Back in October 2004 more than 250.000 people assembled at the Museum Square in Amsterdam to protest against the cut plans of the Dutch (right wing) government.
The turn-out was much bigger than expected, although many protesters could not make it to Amsterdam as the trains were overcrowded. Nevertheless, even those with no plan or possibility of showing up at the demonstration still had a chance of getting their voice heard.
An initiative called 'Demonstrate from your lazy chair!' made it possible for people to protest via a telephone number and a mobile phone connected to a megaphone at the demonstration venue. During the demo, 85 long-distance protesters dialed the number and shared their thoughts and opinions (including one person who apparently dialed the wrong number).
The demonstration format was organized by Sander Veenhof and Arjan van Amsterdam.
'Whispering Pillow', by Dutch product designer Endry van Zwam, is a pillow with wireless integrated speakers.
A sender connected to a TV or sound-system transmits the sound in a radius of 80 meters. The volume control is integrated in the pillow, that needs to be recharged every 8 hours.
Besides extending the functionality of ordinary sound speakers, the pillow is especially suitable for those with a hearing disability, according to van Zwam.
The SMS Guerilla Projector is a device, hacked together by the London based art&design collective Troika.
The wireless device enables the user to project text based SMS messages onto surfaces in public spaces. It is made of a mobile phone, camera lens and slide projector, and is supposedly fully functional.
Contact: Sebastian Campion