Where I'd like to go again: an intersection of art, technology, and humanity. A place like EYEO.

Perhaps a shorter title for the article: going back to an intersection of art technology and humanity.

It's almost June as I write this. For a time, that's when I'd hoped I could go to a very special conference event that ran for 10 years called EYEO. I did get to go a few times and would attend EYEO as much as I could over its run and it would fill me withideas and inspiration and appreciation for people and things they create and teach about.

Depth of Learning, Experiencing a Kind of Whole Hearted Teaching

On the surface it's a gathering of inspiring people and their creations with data, art, and technology of all kinds. Often in ways that affect big groups of people. You could see one talk showing dancing informed by live coding and then another about creating generated art ranging from bots that buy stuff to generating game levels and twitter bots and then another about how technology often excludes and harms people of color, especially Black people. Then there are special personal journey talks that at one moment are about creating an indie game that got a lot of people talking about coming out as queer that go further into the feelings, challenges, and painful fight to just be who you are in a culture that doesn't accept people enough as they are. Then the next moment showing an interactive simulation they built that demonstrates how bias in systems reinforces and emerges from small choices.

EYEO wasn't the first place I discovered all these topics, but it was for some. I never knew about the modern policing situation that uses technology in similar ways to make places into unfair unkind cyber Jim Crow experiences. I did know life is tougher for folks who are among the LGBTQ+ space, it's all too recent that this intersectional group was widely legally accepted as having the right to be married. Even when I’ve had some awareness of others experiences and challenges there’s always more to learn.

EYEO was the first place I got to experience a bunch of talks where so many speakers shared their whole selves fully integrated with stories of what they make and who is affected by what they make.

EYEO felt more like it was about people, technology, and art more than political while being super political in a beautiful way. It showed how inevitably all things in our shared society are political and we understand that better when we understand one another. Especially things that are in some way less aware or even invisible to some of us. For context: I say this as a sensitive human who is also cis-gendered, white race, male, he him pronoun, grew up lower middle class status in the suburb of Cottage Grove MN. Sure I come from a background as an abuse survivor, moved out of home at 16, all kinds of ups and downs human journey but I also know every single bit of that would have been so much more difficult based on systemic harmful things like racism, sexism, classism, ableism that do not hold me back like they do others.

Sampling of sketched visual notes and doodles I drew while attending EYEO talks.

Of Course It's Political and That's Beautiful

If you're in a group that has the option to set aside politics and claim something like a gathering, a product, a service, anything we make or do can somehow not be political then what you're creating is about asserting the current dominant belief. That current belief is a mixed bag of culture and law and life in society that gets-by as acceptable even if it hurts people. When we listen to, learn from and understand more about one another we have a different better map than what is currently widely acceptable. EYEO was a space that set up so much excellent storytelling and teaching, I know it helped me improve my map of what needs to be made better.

Why update your map or even have one if you feel unaffected by harmful systems? It could be my background, mix of nature and nurture, could be learning as a lifelong core belief I carry, could be practicing human centered design enough to see how some folks want to build harmful stuff because they're allowed and encouraged to and that feels wrong to me. I don't find others threatening, I want to learn and understand. The more I understand about others the more I understand about myself. Instead of panic I feel deep curiosity. Seeing comfortable incuriosity, I wonder if that's what creates space for the fire of infinite moral panics. Feeling complacent creates a space that shields others from learning where they can continue fueling anger, fear, and lashing out. A mix of ways to fully avoid learning about others.

Listening to others stories I found both immediate discovery and also a big boost to a sort of background constant learning by seeing things a little differently for a lot longer.

Near Constant Inspiration

In gathering links for this article I reviewed clips and portions of talks I saw years ago now, themes, memories, moments, and feelings come up.

• Taking time to sit with ideas from folks doing work I find fascinating while also so much of it is so different from stuff I do while also seeming like stuff I want to try.
• Seeing creative technology people exist outside the bubble venture capital culture and large corporate culture.
• The theaters and spaces of the Walker felt encouraging for your own curiosity and to be there with so many other interesting people that often embrace being more than one thing, artist, coder, writer, and so many other things.
• The feeling of listening to people who’ve gone to and through interesting places in their worlds, projects, and personal journeys.
• I love listening and watching folks share talks and stories of things they made and why they matter.
• The whole catalog of talks is an amazing work in itself. I imagine and wonder how the folks behind the event must have gone through very purposeful and great lengths to make it all happen.

There Must Be More, Somewhere

EYEO was a kind of space where we got to get-into the fun of how yes we are all different with layers of difference and similarities to appreciate.

I didn't go to EYEO every year or even its predecessor Flash Belt. So I'm used to the feeling of missing it, but knowing it's not coming back makes it sting more.

What else is going on where people are caring, building, learning, and telling stories about humane-helpful, fun-playful, and inspiring curious things they're making?

That kind of place. A place where those kinds of stories are being shared. That is where I'd like to go again. I'm not done learning about others and the cool things they're making. Do you know of such a place and mind if I tag along?

Options I See So Far

SXSW, XOXO (unclear future), INST-INST (retired with EYEO), Hackaday Superconference, TED, all seem interesting but also fairly different compared to EYEO. Closest ones on the list to EYEO are probably XOXO and maybe Hackaday Superconference. I’ve not yet been to XOXO. Have attended a Hackaday in 2018 and can say the community, teaching, learning, whole feel had parts of EYEO for sure.

The other idea I’ll share as I wrap up, maybe a few like minded folks would like to do a book club with me, watching and sharing your thoughts on past EYEO talks while also looking for what might be the next EYEO?