COLLABORATION and experimentation are two things we don't hear about too much anymore in the increasingly serious Internet business. But they were on display, quite literally, on Feb. 18 at the White Columns gallery on Christopher Street at a party celebrating the latest ada'web project launch. The project is called Blind Spot, and it was written by Darcy Steinke.
Cherise Fong, who designed the project with Vivian Selbo and Ainatte Inbal, was helping guests navigate the site from a computer in a small side room. Darcy, who had not written for the web before, was approached by ada'web, shown around the net, went away to write something, and began to learn all about the exciting collaborative process of building a web-based project. Video monitors showed off another ada'web project. Creativity was in the air.
Matteo Ames looked sharp in his suit and bow-tie. He told me about some exciting inventions (not all digital) he's working on and about poetry online. Other arty types were in attendance at this strictly red wine (and Rolling Rock) affair. The women were fashionably sporting bright tops with colorful silk cigarette pants, or short skirts of varied materials. The guys were straight out of a Details Mag. Ted Werth (Digital Club Network) was positively beaming after just returning from Milia. His first time to Cannes, he reported that the southern city was a beautiful backdrop for the conference held during the week of Valentine's Day. He and Andrew Raisej (Digital Club Network) stayed across the street from the conference and put on a fabu cocktail party one night. There were about 30-40 Silicon Alley-ers in town and many were forming "gangs" and squeezing into the restaurants.
(Appeared originally in @The Scene in the @NY newsletter)