Fierce on the Palm Pilot: A Conversation with Kamal Sinclair

Sydney Skybetter and producer Kamal Sinclair chat about the intersection of the cultural sector, emerging technologies, and the vintage hardware that shaped their childhoods. Are we all complicit in these complex cultural systems? Oh, and also, can we please bring back the Filofax?

About Kamal:

Kamal Sinclair supports artists, institutions, and communities working at the convergence of art, media, culture, and technology. Currently, she serves as the Senior Director of Digital Innovation at The Music Center in Los Angeles, which is home to TMC Arts, Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera, and LA Phil. Additionally, she serves as an advisor or board member to  Peabody Awards interactive Board, For Freedoms, NEW INC.’s  ONX Studio, Civic Signals, For Freedoms, MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality, Starfish Accelerator, Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation, and Eyebeam. Previously, she was the Director of Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Labs Program, External Advisor to Ford Foundation’s JustFilms and MacArthur Foundation's Journalism & Media Program, Adjunct Professor at USC’s Media Arts + Practice program, and Executive Director of the Guild of Future Architects. She is the co-author of Making a New Reality. Sinclair got her start in emerging media as an artist and producer on Question Bridge: Black Males, where she and her collaborators launched a project with an interactive website and curriculum; published a book; exhibited in over sixty museums/festivals.

Read the transcript, and find more resources in our archive:

https://www.are.na/choreographicinterfaces/dwr-ep-4-fierce-on-the-palm-pilot-a-conversation-with-kamal-sinclair

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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dances-with-robots/id1715669152 

What We Discuss with Kamal (Timestamps):
0:00:00: Introduction to Kamal Sinclair
0:01:32: Discussion on the influence of Minority Report on technology and body interfaces.
0:04:56: Personal experiences with early mobile devices and anticipation of smartphones.
0:07:10: Exploring the cyclical nature of technology and imagining the future.
0:08:10: The role of a curator in identifying and bridging new forms of art and technology.
0:09:18: The importance of following the artist and supporting their vision.
0:10:38: Balancing the promise and ethics of technology in art.
0:12:29: Exciting emerging art in storytelling, aesthetics, and movement.
0:15:18: The power of imagination and action in shaping the future.
0:17:43: The relationship between bodies and technologies.
0:18:53: The influence of disability and otherly abled experiences on technology.
0:19:41: Dance historical perspectives on the bodies of the future.
0:21:26: The need to consider nature and relationships in future designs.
0:23:25: The negative impact of militarized surveillance technologies on marginalized groups
0:25:39: Discussion on the immersive VR experience of Birdly
0:27:02: Healing and altered states through immersive experiences
0:28:30: Managing complicity and the future of work for artists
0:30:41: Closing with the acknowledgement of not knowing
0:31:19: Show credits & thanks

The Dances with Robots Team
Host: Sydney Skybetter
Co-Host & Executive Producer: Ariane Michaud
Archivist and Web Designer: Kate Gow
Podcasting Consultant: Megan Hall
Accessibility Consultant: Laurel Lawson
Music: Kamala Sankara