Well, This is Uncommon | Benjamina Bollag Talks of Cultivated Meat
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Neil Koenig Senior TV Series Producer and ideaXme interviewer, in conversation with Benjamina Bollag, founder and CEO of Uncommon. Neil comments: As concerns about the sustainability of food production grow, could so-called “cellular agriculture” be part of the answer? A new Cambridge-based startup called Uncommon is one of a host of new players that are trying to find out. Instead of raising pigs on a farm, Uncommon is aiming to produce pork by “growing” it in a lab or factory. So how does the process work? On its website, the company explains that it obtains ”sample cells —...
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Where to Buy your Next Mobile or Laptop?
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Neil Koenig, ideaXme Senior TV Series Producer and interviewer talks with Kilian Kaminski, Co-founder of refurbed. 🪛⚙️🔨 👩💻📲 Neil comments: Does your home have a drawer with an old smartphone in it? If so, you’re not the only one. According to one study there are some 200 million unused phones in homes in Germany alone: that’s more than two per person. 📱💻 “This is a tragedy” says Kilian Kaminski, because there are “resources in these devices, which are really valuable - gold, silver, copper, and they are just lying around without any usage”. Kilian, along...
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Esther Wojcicki | World Renowned Educationist |Talks of Unleashing Creativity To Raise Successful People
ideaXme
Neil Koenig, Senior TV Series Producer and ideaXme interviewer in conversation with Esther Wojcicki, Chief Education Advisor at Knack and Chief Academic Advisor at Pressto.ai. Neil Koenig comments: What’s the most difficult job in the world? President, astronaut, neurosurgeon? No - according to the educator, journalist and author Esther Wojcicki, “it’s being a parent”. As she explains, “most young people don't realise it, but when you become a parent you're signing up for a lifetime of worry…you’re going to want to help your child forever”. But, she adds, the rewards of...
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Art Moves Forward | ART on THE MART | MEGA Chicago Initiative Attracts Global Audiences and Artists
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Neil Koenig, Senior TV Series Producer and ideaXme board advisor interviews Cynthia Noble, Executive Director, Vornado Arts and ART on THE MART. 🎨 🌍 📣 "Please note that the Poetry Foundation is no longer going ahead this Fall. “The Poetry Foundation collaboration is now going ahead in 2025, however the collaborating artists will be announced next year.” ART on THE MART. Neil comments: Think of public art, and sculptures or statues might first come to mind. But how about something bigger than two American football fields? That’s the size of ART on THE MART, one of the largest...
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Anthony McCall Artist | Exploring SOLID-LIGHT
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Neil Koenig, ideaXme Board Advisor and former Senior BBC Series Producer interviews Artist, Anthony McCall. Neil comments: In the face of today’s flood of information from the internet and social media, it can sometimes take courage to retain belief in the strength of self-generated ideas. But for some, it can pay off. As the British artist Anthony McCall explains, “there's a certain moment in any artist’s life where your own ideas become more vivid than anyone else’s, for yourself”. Anthony McCall is certainly no stranger to vivid ideas. His ground-breaking piece from 1973, “Line...
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Recycling Plastics | People Planet Profit
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Neil Koenig ideaXme board advisor and former BBC Producer interviews Christina Keller, CEO Cascade Engineering. Neil comments: As worries about the health of our environment continue to grow, a big concern is the harm caused by plastic waste. Whilst intense efforts to find suitable alternatives continue, the need to recycle existing plastics is becoming ever more urgent. One business that makes extensive use of recycled materials is Cascade Engineering, a family-owned plastics manufacturer based in Michigan, which makes products for a wide range of sectors, including the automotive and...
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Tanso | Power of Data to Reduce World's Carbon Footprint
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Neil Koenig, ideaXme board advisor and former BBC Series Producer interviews Gyri Reiersen, Co-founder and CPO, Tanso. Neil comments: Despite countless warnings from scientists about the dangers that greenhouse gas emissions pose to our environment, it seems that many businesses have still to wake up to the gravity of the situation. “It always surprises me how little companies know about their emissions” says Gyri Reiersen. An activist, entrepreneur, and self-confessed “nerd”, she is also co-founder of Tanso, a start-up based in Munich that offers software to help industrial companies...
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Bineta Diop | How to Protect the Connected World
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Loredana Sinardo, BBA student at University of St. Gallen interviews Mme Bineta Diop, Founder and President of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), an international NGO that seeks to foster, strengthen and promote the leadership role of women in conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa. This interview took place when ideaXme recently visited the St. Gallen Symposium. Biography of Mme Bineta Diop: Studied International Relations and Diplomacy. More than 35 years of experience in women human rights issues, led peace building initiatives, conducted teams to observe elections and...
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SANOGE Challenges the Fashion Industry | Less Waste | More Luxury
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Neil Koenig, former BBC Series Producer, now ideaXme board advisor interviews Sarah Maria Nordt, founder and CEO, SANOGE. Neil comments: The fashion industry might be glamorous, but its allure comes at a cost, since it is widely regarded as being one of the world’s biggest sources of pollution. One entrepreneur who is trying to do something to improve the situation is Sarah Maria Nordt. She’s the co-founder of SANOGE, a fashion tech start-up based in Germany that aims to produce clothing in a more sustainable manner. It eschews mass production in favour of making clothes on demand....
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Challenges and Opportunities of Quantum Computing | Dr Jan Goetz, Co-founder IQM
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Neil Koenig, former BBC Series Producer, now ideaXme board advisor and interviewer, in conversation with Dr Jan Goetz, Co-founder IQM at The St Gallen Symposium. Proponents of quantum computing claim that the technology has much to offer, saying that it promises to revolutionise many aspects of our lives such as scientific research, finance, healthcare and much more. So far, the field has been dominated by US-based giants like IBM, but now a new wave of start-ups is emerging in Europe. One of these is IQM Quantum Computers, based in Finland. At the recent Symposium at the University of St...
info_outlineNeil Koenig, former Senior BBC producer and current ideaXme board advisor and guest interviewer, interviews Daniel Birnbaum, artistic director Acute Art. Chapter headings: 00:00We're here to idea everyone! To fire up your curiosity and connect you with the people and ideas that shape our world.
00:20 Welcome to ideaXme. I'm Neil Koenig.
00:25 For more than 50 years the Serpentine Gallery has shown work by some of the world's most famous contemporary artists.
00:38 This creature is a product of augmented reality.
01:04
A parallel digital version of the show has been launched in Fortnite, a hugely popular video game developed by Epic Games.
01:15 The artistic director of Acute Art and curator of the New Fiction show is Daniel Birnbaum.
38:04 At the centre of the game is a replica of the Serpentine Gallery.
38:57 I think it will be the best attended exhibition ever produced.
39:42 What kind of work is on show in both worlds?
39:52 KAWS, many people know his work. 41:15 On the Acute Art App and you can place those paintings in your living room.
41:26 It is an exhibition that lives in 3 worlds.
51:33 Maybe that hybrid world will be the future of art.
52:45 There will be entirely new kinds of platforms I think.
The pandemic has had an impact on most aspects of our lives, and the art world is no exception. With many galleries and museums closed, there’s an urgent need for new ways to experience art. Technology might provide some answers, and one enterprise at the forefront of developments is Acute Art, which collaborates with artists on projects involving virtual and augmented reality. Acute Art has already worked with many high-profile artists, including Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Olafur Eliasson, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Bjarne Melgaard, Jeff Koons and many more. The most recent project that Acute Art has been involved in is NEW FICTION, the first major solo exhibition in London by KAWS (Brian Donnelly b.1974). The show, which opened in January 2022 at the Serpentine gallery in London’s Hyde Park, includes new and recent works in physical and augmented reality. A parallel digital version of the exhibition launched simultaneously in Fortnite, the hugely popular video game developed by Epic Games. In addition, an app developed by Acute Art will “offer a bridge between the virtual and the physical worlds”.
All the paintings and sculptures in the exhibition, as well as a miniature version of the entire show, will exist as AR works on the app, which can be viewed at home by audiences around the world, and shared on social media.
In this interview, producer, journalist and ideaXme board adviser Neil Koenig talks to Acute Art’s artistic director, Daniel Birnbaum, about his career in the art world, the creative challenge of curating the NEW FICTION show, and what part technologies such as augmented and virtual reality might play in the future development of art. Before joining Acute Art in January 2019, Daniel Birnbaum was Director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Previously, he curated the 1st Moscow Biennale (2005), “Airs de Paris” (with Christine Macel) at the Centre Pompidou (2007), the 2nd Yokohama Triennial (2008), and “Zero” (with Tijs Visser) at Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin (2015). In 2009 he was director of the 53rd Venice Biennale. Daniel Birnbaum co-authored ‘Spacing Philosophy: Lyotard and the Idea of the Exhibition’ with Swedish philosopher and professor Sven-Olov Wallenstein published by Sternberg Press in September 2019. Video footage of Fortnite game courtesy of Epic Games © Epic Games.
Video stills shot by Neil Koenig.
Video and stills from Acute Art App. Links: David Birnbaum:
https://acuteart.com/tag/daniel-birnb...
Acute Art: https://acuteart.com https://www.serpentinegalleries.org https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en...
Neil Koenig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkoenig/ https://twitter.com/neilkoenig?lang=en
ideaXme links: ideaXme https://radioideaxme.com
ideaXme is a global network - podcast on 12 platforms, 40 countries, mentor programme and creator series. Mission: To share knowledge of the future. Our passion: Rich Connectedness™!