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Aspen design conference explores the digital age

Stewart Oksenhorn

While the design world once existed in a physical and technical landscape, much of that world has been transformed by the digital revolution.

That changed and changing world will be analyzed thoroughly at the International Design Conference in Aspen, which opens today. The 49th edition of the IDCA, titled design.digital, runs through Saturday at the Aspen Institute, the Bayer-Benedict Music Tent, Harris Hall and the Wheeler Opera House.

“After a century of living in a world shaped and radically transformed by mechanical technology, we find ourselves adrift in a more ephemeral landscape,” said Aaron Betsky, chairman and organizer of the 1999 IDCA.



Betsky is the curator of architecture, design and digital projects for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Assisting Betsky in creating this year’s conference are: Paola Antonelli, associate curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; Ed Bastian, president of Aspen Interactive Media; and S. Joy Mountford of Interval Research Corp. in Palo Alto, Calif. Director of the IDCA is Aspen architect Harry Teague.

This year’s conference is the second in a three-part series corresponding to the three components of the “Aspen Idea”: mind, body and spirit. Last year’s conference, “It’s Not About Sports, It’s About Design,” focused on the body; next year’s conference, The Spirit of Design, is centered around the spirit element.




Speakers for the design.digital conference include: Bill Joy, who will speak on Object Design for the Digital Landscape; Razorfish President Craig Kanarick; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art director David Ross.

The IDCA film program features such movies as “The Matrix,” “The Net,” “Strange Days,” “Total Recall” and “Desk Set.”

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