Past week I attended the inauguration of the Creative Computing Institute at UAL in Peckham. I was invited by a friend of a friend who slightly knows I work with technology and I like everything with a mix of art and tech, because actually I was an Art Historian once. This is something that a lot of people don't know or expect about me.
Before my life in construction, and before my life in BIM and before my life in a software company I actually spend 5 years studying art history. By the end of my studies I knew I didn't want to be a curator or an academic. I remembered I got propose to go into a PhD but sadly at the time (this is still the case) it was unsustainable for someone from a working class family to be able to spend years without any type of salary from the university, so that together with my new passion for buildings took me into architecture and sequentially construction.
But let's go back to CCI. I am fascinated about the future, not only in regards to construction or cities but on everything, and yesterday evening showed how the future is definitely digital. The CCI focuses on creativity and machine learning, human computer interaction, big data... the list goes on. What really strikes me and I really like is their social mission and the fact that in their key areas of work they mention: Digital Inclusion and Diversity in Technology.
Now, my favourite project was Assembly by Sheldon Brown where I got to interact with a wearable device called Muse, Muse is a BCI (brain control interface) which measures gamma weaves. Following the instructions of one of the students after setting up the BCI device, which took a bit of time, I was asked to concentrate. Once I was able to do that, which was difficult considering the environment and a glass of white wine in, the geometry show in the big screen started to transform in multiple cubes. Ultimately this project it's described as a emergent behaviour platform.
What I took from this evening was not only that boundaries are getting blurred through technology. This is creating exciting and multidisciplinary programmes in academia but also in business. But how a lot of this experimental wearable devices will potentially change the industry that I work in today and it's cool to imagine a crane control or a 3D model controlled by a BCI device!
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