I just updated this website, archived the LIFT08 homepage and put information on our next event: LIFT Asia!

The venue will be confirmed in about three weeks, and registrations will promptly open after that decision is made.

Quick interruption of our regular programs: we just settled for September 4 and 5 for LIFT Asia in Korea. After hesitating between early June and late August, our choice was set on these dates which allow us to avoid the conference high season of June, and the Chinese Olympics of August...

Korean bloggers are posting their thoughts on LIFT evening. Here is a post, I hope it is positive ;)

LIFT는 사회 안에서 기술의 도전과 기회에 대한 콘퍼런스입니다. 스위스 제네바에서 LIFT 06과 LIFT 07 행사가 열린적이 있죠.1 더 자세한 사항을 알고 싶으시다면 LIFT conference 공식 홈페이지를 방문하세요.

2007년 9월 12일에 열렸던 LIFT evening Seoul은 2008년 6월에 예정된 LIFT Asia의 예비 행사라고 생각하면 될 듯 합니다. 물론 스위스 제네바에서 열리던 LIFT 08 행사는 2008년 2월에 열립니다. 예비 행사라서 그런지 발표자 분들이 원래 이렇게 짧은시간에 맞춘 내용이 아니라서(원래는 LIFT 07에서 더 충분한 시간으로 발표되었던 내용으로 보입니다.) 그런지 발표하실 때 압축해서 발표를 하신다는 느낌이 들었습니다.

압구정역에서 내려서 유림아트홀을 찾는데 길이 복잡해서 헤매다가, 어떤 여성 분이 유림아트홀을 찾아 내셔서 시작하기 전에 무사히 들어갈 수 있었습니다. 이미 자리 앞에는 많은 분들이 오셔서 이야기를 하고 계셨는데, 외국 분들이 많이 보이셔서 분위기가 익숙하지 않았습니다.

The note of Legendre

From the post-its: your question:

Answer from Yoo received by email (she is in Frankfurt and says hi ;):
The imagination for the new community and communication space in both online and offline circumstance alternately.
This research is looking for the different design method of space and the space system with the boundary, the way of use, and the way of connection.

Update: pictures are showing up all around Flickr

We had a blast with four great speakers and 180 participants showing up yesterday at the Yurim Art Hall then at the Asahi Orien to participate to our first Asian event. The logistics went well thanks to our friends at Mecenat Korea, then the room started to fill and the show was on, Adam opening the ceremony with a great talk about how cities are now becoming read/write environments rather than desocialized zones with everybody isolated in a tech bubble (iPod, mobile phone). Then Bruce took the stage and showed his vision of a spime-based economy, where objects don't have any value (they can be build on demand and in seconds by 3D printing machines) but the history of relations between producers and consumers becomes the key.

Then Jake Song - a very famous yet humble and open Korean programmer - shared his long experience of building online worlds, first in 2D (Lineage, Ultima Online) then in 3D (Lineage 2, World of Warcraft). His talk resembled a how-to build the perfect virtual world, and my favorite slide was the one that said "try to build a weird enough world so users feel like they are somewhere else, but simple enough that people can still use common sense".

Yoo Suk Yeon closed the organized part of the day by showing what she was doing as both an architect and a researcher, trying to build physical spaces for a population that is getting more and more connected and virtual everyday. She had the most beautiful and intriguing slides I have seen in a while (we will try to post all the slides as soon as possible) and I will take a closer look at all that as soon as I get my hands on the powerpoint file.

We then decided to cancel the formal questions, and proposed all the participants to start the discussion around a beer rather than at the hall. We had swiss cheese, dry meat and cold beer waiting for us at the Asahi Orien where the chatters started in almost every corner. Close to 150 persons were still with us at that time, among the diverse crowd you could see DJ Spooky (who had a performance in Seoul and was around) have a drink with Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic, some people finally getting a chance to chat with the guy who made the game they played for years, people exchanging business cards, bloggers meeting they fellow writers they never had a chance to see in real life. Overall people seemed to be happy about the event and we were too.

It was an amazing night where we all met a countless number of people, got tons of ideas and suggestions, learned how to run an event in Korea, and finally got to meet the community of Asian movers and shakers living in Seoul. Thanks to all those who made the event possible, the LIFT team, Jaewoong, the folks at Daum and Mecenat Korea, our friends at Bread and Butter and all those who came with to participate and engage in a conversation about technology's impact on our society.

Sometimes reality surpasses fiction. Really. Yesterday for example. We were sitting in the Bread and butter office, working with Cris on the LIFT material we will bring with us to Seoul. The door rings. An Asian girls shows up at the door, tells us (in english) that she is selling gifts from her country to support her studies. She comes from South Korea.

Earlier that day, Channy had sent me a translated in Korean version of our press release.

What are the odds of having a Korean speaking person knock on your door in Lausanne, Switzerland, the exact same day you get the first ever document in this language in your inbox? This is too good to be true!

Anyway, before she could say much Lan Kyoung Hong was dressed in a LIFT tshirt and reading the press release in front of a camera.

Thanks to her! I think I really need Korean courses now, I barely understood "Geneva" but that's all.

The Yurim Art Hall offers 240 seats. With close to 70 persons already registered, we only have 170 seats available. With the announcement of Jake Song joining our panel we certainly won't have enough spots for everybody so sign up before it is too late!

The September 12 LIFT evening has moved! Please check the new (and more convenient) location: Yurim Art Hall

From the beginning we wanted to organize the LIFT evening closer to Gangnam and our friends at Mecenat Korea - who are helping us with the organization - found a solution yesterday: the amazing Yurim Art Hall. This room - cozy, intimate, welcoming and warm - is much closer to the spirit of LIFT events.

The address is on the Art Hall website, and until I find somebody kind enough to translate it for me in english you will have to visit yurimart.co.kr to find it!

Yurim Art Hall
tel. 514-9600

Our free event about Spaces: From Real to Digital and featuring Adam Greenfield, Bruce Sterling and Korean architect Yoo Suk Yeon is now open to registrations.

Point your browser to the register page and follow the instructions on the page.

If you are already a member of the LIFT community, registration takes a click. If not, we ask you to open a LIFT account and then proceed to registration. See you in Seoul!

Update 20.08.07: the event will be translated in Korean.
Update 19.08.07: registrations are now open!

Join us for a night in Seoul with Adam Greenfield, Bruce Sterling and Korean architect Yoo Suk Yeon to discuss real and digital spaces.

Topic: Spaces: From Real to Digital. How technological developments in both the physical worlds and virtual environments are reshaping our buildings, our games, and soon our web browsers.

When: 12 September 2007 in Seoul, South Korea. The precise location will be announced later.

Speakers:
• Adam Greenfield will show us the opportunities and problems of living in a world where technologies pervaded the physical space.
• The upcoming hybridizations of the digital and the physical will be tackled by Bruce Sterling, who will also present what he, as a science-fiction writer and technology journalist expects.
• Korean architect Yoo Suk Yeon will then talk about the latest trends in architecture and how this hybridization is of importance.
• Virtual spaces and usage of massive multi-player platforms would also be addressed by a fourth speaker coming from the video gaming industry.

Registration: the event will be free but registration is required. To register, head to liftconference.com.