Donate

Recent Posts

Arts Programs

Are you a teacher? Check out our arts education resources.

Just Great Blogs

KQED Arts Bloggers

KQED e-Newsletters

Newsletters

Get regular updates on great programs and events

Please leave this field empty

More from KQED

Event

BAASICS.2: Artists and Scientists Speculate on the Future

By Sarah Hotchkiss | Jun 17, 2012

Large Image

With titles like "I For One Welcome Our New Overlords," "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night," and "Robots from Water, Music from Light," BAASICS.2 The Future promises to be a night of slightly off-kilter takes on what the future holds. This, the second Bay Area Art & Science Interdisciplinary Collaborative Session, will take place Monday, June 18 at the ODC Theater. Organized by Selene Foster and Christopher Reiger, the event features eight short presentations by artists, scientists, philosophers, and musicians all ruminating on various utopic and dystopic possibilities for the future.

Before we stretch our minds forward into the great unknown, let's take a brief step back in time. BAASICS began as A Live Animal, a night of programming in conjunction with a July 2011 art exhibition at Root Division. Bringing together a small group of scientists, artists, and a choreographer, curators Foster and Reiger provided a deceptively simple prompt: "How should we conceive of and conduct our relationships with other species, and also with one another?"

By all accounts, A Live Animal was a thought-provoking and highly entertaining merger of art, science, and the animal kingdom. With an unexpected success on their hands, Foster and Reiger decided to repeat the format as a lecture series. Aided by an Alternative Exposure grant and additional funding from a few high-tech sponsorships, BAASICS is free and open to the public, and sure to fill up fast.

Part TED Talks, part Pop-Up Magazine, part Radiolab, BAASICS provides all the excitement of a live show (rehearsed once only!) with focused attention on a hot-button theme. Between presentations, Foster and Reiger will emcee, providing comedic transitions and snippets of retro futurism. Reiger promises there will be costumes and a fog machine.

Billing for The Future boasts an intriguing cast of characters. Joe Betts-Lacroix, a "prolific inventor" among other, equally impressive descriptors, seeks to cure aging. Leila Madrone makes interactive music-playing robots. Jamais Cascio is a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Future. Did you follow that? His very job is to predict the future, sans crystal ball. And Aaron Saenz, physicist turned journalist, is apparently optimistic about the advent of the Singularity, a moment four films and one television show have all tried desperately to prevent (see: The Terminator franchise).

Foster and Reiger describe themselves as "science people who are artists," providing them with an interdisciplinary vantage point of both fields. However they decide to classify themselves, their enthusiasm and creative energy for bringing different conversations together is what makes BAASICS so special. Through this project, they strive to bridge what they perceive as a gap between the way artists and scientists address common issues. But a gap also exists between these two highly specialized fields and the general public. By making video documentation of the BAASICS events available online after the fact, they also hope to make the ideas presented in The Future accessible to those unable to attend, regardless of training and background.

An important step towards this goal is the approachability of the entire project. After the talks at ODC, the audience is invited to move next door to Root Division for a reception with the presenters. "Mingling is important," Foster emphasized. With new, potentially provocative images of the future fresh in their minds, the assembled crowd can continue their cross-disciplinary conversations into the night.

What might these conversations yield? Only the future holds that answer, but I will hazard a prediction, in the spirit of the event: participants will leave with more engaged visions of what's ahead, along with the urge to actively shape their own futures. Sound good? Only by attending can you prove me wrong (or, as I hope) right.

BAASICS.2 The Future will take place on June 18, 7:30pm-9:30pm at ODC Theater in San Francisco. For more information visit baasics.com.

More on Multimedia

The Latest on KQED Arts

Noise Pop | May 24, 2013

Indie Songs to Set the Mood

Listen to the newest Noise Pop picks for you and your partner's listening pleasure, featuring Liars, Future Islands, Beach House, Jessie Ware, and The Weeknd. Note: this episode contains adult language and situations.   

NPR Film | May 24, 2013

Greta Gerwig, Blithely Spirited As 'Frances Ha'

The indie darling returns in a winning collaboration with Noah Baumbach that tracks her developmentally arrested dancer heroine through the transition from protracted adolescence to reluctant adulthood. (Recommended) By Ella Taylor  

NPR Film | May 24, 2013

'Fast 6': Silly, Speedy, And Certain To Cash In

Fast 6 pits Dominic's crew against a wily terrorist in a high-tech battle royale -- but it has a devil of a time explaining why everyone should hop into their cars. By Scott Tobias  

The Do List | May 23, 2013

The One About Dear Elizabeth And Radiation City

Suzie Racho and David Wiegand scout the Bay Area for things to do this coming weekend and turn up Puerto Rican flavor, a pair of poets, and much more!   

Art Review | May 23, 2013

After the After-Party: California College of the Arts 2013 MFA Show

CCA's 2013 MFA show brings 75 artists together in a massive show of works spanning the range from delicate gestures to post-apocalyptic installations. By Mark Taylor  

Digital Life
  • Tackling New Tech In The Golden Years

    Smartphones, tablets and computers could help seniors stay connected to their communities and families. But a hefty price tag, steep learning curves, and designs meant for younger eyes and hands could keep some older adults from logging on. Guests discuss the best ways for seniors to tackle new technology, and how devices can be adapted to accommodate older users.

  • Viewers To Decide If Amazon's Sample Shows Make The Cut

    Amazon is piloting 14 possible shows for its streaming video service. The audience will vote on which shows it likes best. TV critic Eric Deggans says the process and the shows would like to be breaking ground for a new media — but they aren't.

  • Can This Man Bring Silicon Valley To Yangon?

    A Stanford MBA who used to work for Google returned to Myanmar to be an Internet entrepreneur. But it's tough to start an Internet company in a country where the power goes out every day.

  • GIF Talk: Do You Say It With A G Or A J?

    The file format's creator says you should use a soft "J," like "Jif." He gets annoyed when he hears a hard "G" like "gift." For some reason, this subject seems to have created a hot debate.

Also on KQED.org this week ...

The Earth
We Need You!

Volunteer during our current on-air radio fundraising drive. It's a great way to support KQED Radio with your time. You can really make a difference!

ImageMakers - 88:88 (You Should Be Paranoid, 2013)
Enter the New "ImageMakers" Screening Room

Enjoy films from present and past seasons of KQED's short independent film series, divided into Animation, Comedy, Drama, and Suspense.