Lyon

Art/Military happenings

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Today I was in Lyon, France and I saw this intriguing art happening (meant be part of the 'Biennale d'Art Contemporain', an contemporary art festival). There is this military truck with a huge missile on it wandering around through the city. I did not have my digital camera but I found a picture of it in the free newspaper '20 minutes' (photo B. Amsellem/20 minutes):

It's actually a piece of art from Wang Du, a chinese artist based in Paris described by 'the artists.org' as 'has been recognised as a master of manipulating images related to the mass media. He is an iconoclastic hero in re-appropriating and deconstructing the spectacular images of our contemporary society founded upon the logic of creation, consumption and manipulation of information, both textual and imagery...". With this kind of happening I am sure he is reach his goal. The written information on the truck are things like 'Do we have to be scared?'.

It reminds me this french artist called EastEric who painted a tank in pink during the night one or two years ago shocking military-friendly people from the village where it happened:

Lyon Calling Tour

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Three of my favorite reggae/dub/ragga/cross-over french bands (Le Peuple de l'Herbe, High Tone, Mei Tei Sho) are currently touring in Europe, and they have a weblog which gives some account about their sets. Available here (or here).

Entitled LYON CALLING TOUR, in reference to the Clash, one of the symbols of fusion in music, the aim of the High Tone, Le Peuple de l'Herbe and Mei Tei Sho Tour is simple and straight forward. Three bands, travelling across the European Babylon, visiting 28 metropolises looking for new and shared experiences, the opportunity to meet open-minded people and the chance to share an eclectic mix of musical styles.

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Rapport très intéressant sur la production d'idées à Lyon:

"Une vie intellectuelle à Lyon ? Allons donc, vous rêvez !", s'est ainsi entendu répondre Pierre-Alain Four, qui a eu l'audace d'aller interroger sur le sujet des acteurs de la cité exerçant ce qu'il est convenu d'appeler un "métier intellectuel". A première vue : néant. Les intellectuels ne manquent pas, expliquent les uns et les autres, mais de vie, point. Première et fausse impression, explique ce jeune chercheur2 , qui a poursuivi l'enquête au-delà des préjugés, pour découvrir le foisonnement qui anime en fait la cité : des cafés philo aux grandes écoles, en passant par les réseaux militants, les lieux culturels et les laboratoires de recherche, la ville bouge... mais méconnait son propre dynamisme et ne cherche pas à le valoriser.

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There is the Game Developpers Conference 2004 in San José. Gamsutra did a webpage about this event (live news coverage). I wish I could attend Amy Jo Kim's talk about Social Trends in Mobile Entertainment.

To create great mobile games for this audience, we need to understand how they use cellphones, and what role 'mobile relationships' play in their lives. In this short talk, online community expert Amy Jo Kim provides attendees an overview of the most recent ethnographic research into mobile useage patterns and emergent social phenomena, and demonstrate how fast-growing mobile services like UPOC and ImaHima are riding this wave by helping phone users maintain and grow their social networks. This session concludes with a summary of the key social trends that are important for mobile game developers to pay attention to.