Artist + Designer Carl Burton’s Lynchian, Text-Based Game, “The Conference”

Choose a path through this surreal web-based world

Many are likely to recall an experience of trudging through the bowels of a hotel for a conference as jet lag begins to take its toll on reality, reaction time and judgment. The Conference, explained by its maker—acclaimed artist and game designer Carl Burton—as “a performance in a hotel at night,” dips deeper into this experience. Burton’s free, text-based game (which can be played in …

Technology + Ethics Behind Turning Trees into Power Generators

In its earliest stages, and developed by graduate students from Keio University in Tokyo, the “biological microgrid” Raiki will aim to harvest electricity from trees by drawing from the “triboelectric” effect in foliage. This is a phenomenon of movement, much like static electricity, generated when positively charged leaves come into contact with negatively charged materials (like a tree trunk). Industrial designer Catalina Lotero explained this …

Filmmaker Daniel Askill’s Futuristic Film, “Electric Wave,” Starring Three Extraordinary Women Surfers

From filmmaker Daniel Askill (best known for groundbreaking music videos for Sia and Lady Gaga), the short film Electric Wave depicts futuristic surfing scenes in richly stylized, and sometimes allegorical, moments. Seven-time World Surf League Champion, Steph Gilmore, as well as legendary free surfer, Leah Dawson and emerging talent Coco Ho star in the exquisite cinematic experience, which was shot overnight at Kelly Slater’s Surf …