We planned a trip to Manchester's Future Everything festival which shows a series of technology inspired artists who looks at topics from social media to mass online sharing. It was a really inspiring trip, and originally our trip may have ended in disaster when we arrived and were told the exhibition was not ready for viewing public, but in return we were allowed to join their artists tour of the work, and the launch that evening. It proved even better to get a first hand account from the artists themselves to explain their concepts and the ideas behind their work.
There was a great interactive element in most of the works, that involved the viewer as part of the technology sharing experience. From pieces aiming to create ant ballet from pheromones, and live twitter feeds relating to life and death, there was a real diversity and playful ethic of the works involved, and its setting in the Manchester Museum of Technology. This is certainly not just an exhibition for those interested in art, its avenues relate to anyone and everyone in the modern age and our obsession with technological advances. There is an almost humorous undertone through some of the work that questions how far it is we go within these modern necessities we have now become so accustomed to. A lift filled with hundreds of Facebook profile pictures makes us smile and cringe in equal parts, as we see either parts of ourselves or people we know in those images. The public and private distortion between sharing personal information has become so blurred as uses of social media such as Facebook grows in popularity. We must ask ourselves whether these everyday online staples have become so out of context that we forget we are offering our private thoughts and information to the internet, and this is accessible by anyone. This is proved very much so in the interactive parts of the exhibition where viewers can tap into live feeds from twitter, ramblings and statements from real people offering their thoughts to the world.
The first initial interaction with the work is delightful, but its the sheer complexity of the technology used behind each piece of work that allots real credit to the artists and their impressive innovation. Some of the artists' explanations of their processes is rather mind blowing and challenging for the average viewer, which makes the work even more intriguing. Similarly to its setting in a museum, where new knowledge and understanding offer curiosity and intrigue, we were certainly fascinated by what was on display at Future Everything. Clearly the boundaries between technology and art are becoming less concrete as we know it. Just as our lives and technology continue to intertwine.
