[spectre] Recalling RFID :: Amsterdam | 19 & 20 Oct 2007

[richard de boer]

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RECALLING RFID
two-day public program on RFID and things to come.

19 & 20 OCTOBER 2007
DE BALIE AMSTERDAM
http://www.debalie.nl/recallingrfid
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recall
1 bring (a fact, event, or situation) back into one's mind, esp. so  
as to recount it to others; remember.
2 officially order (someone) to return to a place.


It's in travel documents, building passes, pet animals, clothing  
stores, libraries, public pools, theme parks and prisons... and yet  
only a few of us know what RFID is. RFID (radio frequency  
identification) uses radio waves to identify people, animals or  
objects carrying encoded microchips. For government and industry,  
RFID signifies economic innovation, while for the futurist it marks  
the next stage in digital connectivity. RFID's pervasiveness will  
only increase in the years to come, forcing shifts in perceptions of  
the public sphere and private domain.

Alongside the promise RFID brings, there are implications for  
security, individual privacy and beyond. If it was not already clear,  
RFID clues us in to the fact that in digital networks, there is no  
forgetting or memory loss. As such, RFID lends itself both to  
optimism and fear, forming a microcosm through which a collective,  
ambivalent relationship to technology is put on display. Recalling  
RFID centers around this 'invisible' technology with a public  
seminar, workshops and a smart opera. The program brings together  
distinctive conceptions of RFID and its uses, reconfiguring  
discourses as dialogue.


friday 19 oct | 10.00-17.30
SEMINAR – RECALLING RFID
Presentations and debates on RFID and digital connectivity scenarios  
with speakers from the industry, researchers, artists, privacy  
advocates, programmers and consultants. Speakers include Katherine  
Albrecht (CASPIAN), Bart Schermer (RFID Platform), Melanie Rieback  
(VU University Amsterdam), Stephan Engberg (Priway), and Willem  
Velthoven (Mediamatic).

saturday 20 oct | 11.00-17.00
DMI WORKSHOP – MAPPING FUTURE HISTORIES OF RFID
How are online debates surrounding RFID formatting the technology  
before it fully appears? The Digital Methods Initiative takes tools  
to the Web to capture this process, surveying 'past futures' as they  
are written. Join us in mapping the RFID debate and making useful  
histories of the present.

saturday 20 oct | 19.00, 20.30, 22.00
NABAZ'MOB – OPERA FOR 100 SMART RABBITS
A magic opera featuring one hundred Nabaztag smart rabbits in a  
musical and choreographic partition in three movements, composed by  
the French artists Antoine Schmitt and Jean-Jacques Birgé. A poetic  
metaphor for a future of pervasive digital connectivity.

TICKETS

SEMINAR: € 20 incl. lunch (students € 10)
DMI WORKSHOP: € 20 incl. lunch (students € 10)
NABAZ'MOB OPERA: € 3,50

BUY OR RESERVE TICKETS ONLINE:
www.debalie.nl/recallingrfid


Recalling RFID is a collaboration between De Balie, the Institute for  
Network Cultures, and Rob van Kranenburg.

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