Wendy Richmond’s Surreptitious Cellphone
At the International Association of Privacy Professionals meeting last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Wendy Richmond.
Richmond is intrigued with the ways in which we share our public space. Some of us create invisible buffer zones for quiet reverie; others enhance or negate reverie through portable technology like iPods, cell phones and laptops. These zones become the subject of her videos and stills. Satisfying in both form and content, they are psychologically riveting, intentionally beautiful, and surprisingly witty portraits of our private lives lived publicly.” (From “Public Privacy” site. [link to http://www.wrichmond.com/index.htm no longer works] )
I think it’s tremendously cool to add an artist and their art to a business conference. Too often, we find ourselves focused entirely on questions such as cost of compliance, or forthcoming regulation. Bringing in new and different perspectives may be uncomfortable or challenging, but it’s important to remember the people for whom we’re doing this work.
I’d encourage anyone running a conference to consider bringing in artists whose work touches, even tangentially, on the subject at hand.
Who knows, you might have some chaos in an otherwise too-well-oiled machine.
Photo: Wendy Richmond, photo with Adam’s cell phone and permission.