abradbur – Looking Outwards – 08

Zach Lieberman at Eyeo 2011

Zach Lieberman actually holds a degree in the fine arts, and says that it was mostly by accident that he fell into working with technology. He’s become somewhat of a giant in the art and coding industry, as he was one of the co-creators of openFrameworks and open source C++. As an interactive new media artist, he describes his three muses as drawing, movement, and magic.

I chose to watch Zach’s first Eyeo presentation firstly because I remembered watching clips of his earlier presentation in lecture, and I recalled really enjoying his presentation style. However after watching this first presentation I’ve come to truly admire him for the creativity combined with the innovation of his works. A throughline comparing his projects would demonstrate that a common theme in his work is the relationship with and the effect it has on people. He stresses the humanity behind his work, and creates these sort of exhibits where people can come together. This is also evident in his Open Source materials and his Poetic School for computation.

I enjoyed Zach’s presentation because you felt how sincerely he cared about his work. He wasn’t professional and cold on stage, performing with gimmicks and flashy graphics like some might. He let his work and the reactions people had to it speak for itself. He conversed with the audience in his speech, rather than talking down at them, and he let his humor show through. That’s why his talk was able to pull me in for an entire 50 minutes, rather than bore me to death in the first 15.

Night Lights 2009