Core77

And just like that...it's over. Back to earth. Gravity Free 2008 wrapped up an invigorating three days with the themes of patience, perfection, and participation.

"The Cardstacker", Bryan Berg wowed the audience with feats of card-building prowess. Using repetitive geometry of grids and verticals, Berg holds the world record for the tallest house of cards. He took us through his canon of cardboard-creations, focusing on the engineering and tenacity it took to construct everything from state-fair displays to the recreation of the Chateau de Frontenac. He disclosed his leaf-blower technique for "takin-the-house-down" and humbly admitted that he starred in the Bravery's recent video, "Time Won't Let Me Go". Underneath all the skill, Berg emphasized the foundation of his work: "a simple idea... [that] does so many things."

Jake Barton followed with one of the most inspiring combinations of technology and human experience we've seen here. His firm, Local Projects, focuses on creating specific solutions for different projects and fostering place-based content. He showed examples of designing a process vs a product, explaining his work on Story Corps, a National Oral history project (fyi: it's closing today in Grand Central station. GO!) with soundbites of memories brought the audience to tears. (Note to all you lovebirds - there's nothing more heartfelt than proposing to your significant other in a time capsule!) Similarly, their Memory Map project for the Smithsonian FolkLife Festival used participatory action to tell the history of New York by New Yorkers. The event allowed visitors to share their stories of the city and build a communal vision of New York culture together.

When asked what he thought of the future of storytelling, Barton admitted that the virtual "archiving" of our lives would eventually make media obsolete.

paraphrased

I believe tools like Facebook, MySpace and Flickr will accumulate so much media that eventually we will reach a tipping point...there's just too much out there. People will seek out other ways to tell stories....maybe even going back to shaking hands and sitting down with another real person.

A perfect note to end on; for, after all, isn't that the point of all this? To meet, greet, laugh, taste and smell this big 'ol world we called "designed". Nothing could be more delicious. Or dangerous.

Till next year....