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Carol Strohecker, Executive Director, Center for Design Innovation

336-727-4310

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9/20/2010

Design, Art & Technology Symposium Explores the Innovative Potentials of Food
By Michelle Ferrier

What happens when you combine two ingredients like the ideas of scale presented in the classic Eames movie “Powers of 10” with the Power of Food — the region’s seriously important and very own homegrown food movement?

You get this year’s DATS theme, FOOD FOR THOUGHT

On October 9-11, 2010 at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in downtown Winston-Salem’s newly renovated Sawtooth Building, the sixth annual Design, Art & Technology Symposium will be serving up this theme. Participants will embark on a journey that shares how food-related designs can help “scale up” a sustainable, creative culture in the Piedmont Triad.

DATS 2010 is the only regional event devoted to art, design and technology and their relationship to culture and economic development. Through talks, workshops, art, music, an expo – and especially food — this year’s symposium explores the intersections and in-betweens of these world views and how they can enhance the the sustenance we get from food.

The Center for Design Innovation in Winston-Salem is the host organization for this year’s symposium. Director Carol Strohecker, says this year’s event is for everyone who eats.

“Our goal is to heighten awareness for growing social capital and developing our region’s economy through food,” Carol says. 

“I hope participants also renew their understanding of how a single powerful idea can be translated across media, materials and modalities – such as furniture, textiles, graphics, film/video, toys, museum exhibits, and digital media – to enhance communication, education and daily life,” she adds.

Andrew Young, a Greensboro digital game designer and one of the conference collaborators, says this year’s symposium is about the power and potential of the local food movement to shape lifestyles in our region.

“Everyone’s heard the words… food security, sustainability, food
alternatives, organic, local, artisanal… What do they mean? Are these words
passing fads or do they offer ways of meeting basic needs in new and
 different ways?” he asks.

DATS 2010: Food for Thought seeks to answer these questions through interpretations via design, art and technology. Interdisciplinary teams from across the Triad are creating implements, furnishings and thought-provoking environments at DATS 2010 to promote learning about healthy food, in every aspect of our experience.

For Kimberlie Wade, an interior architecture graduate student at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, this year’s symposium connects multiple talents, passions and creativity in order to support sustainable lifestyles within our community.

“These connections are centered around the very necessity of food – and how it affects our everyday life choices and then become the ingredients for a further sustained community,” she says.

DATS 2010 will be joining an international celebration of the legacy of Charles and Ray Eames on October 10, 2010 or 10/10/10 – a nod to their classic film produced in 1968. The couple’s philosophy encouraged using different scales of experience for generating effective art and designs. Powers of 10 Day is part of the DATS’10 program and inspires many of the events and featured projects.

A few appetizers from the symposium menu:
Saturday, October 9, 2010
A Mash-Up Event: The Purple Stokes sweet potato, a local creation, is the secret ingredient that chefs will use to craft culinary art.
Beer Sampling: Taste what the area has to offer in regional brews.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Powers of 10 Keynote: Featuring two designers from the Eames Office, this address examines the ideas of scale and innovation….tickling the audience with the question – What were those people eating at the picnic in the film?

Powers of 10 Picnic: Participants form a living tableau of the start of the classic film, accompanied by 10 Powerful Musicians in the Winston-Salem Shuffle.

World Food in the Piedmont: How have new populations from all over the world changed the food landscape of the Piedmont? How have their food traditions contributed to the explosion of food diversity we now see in ethnic food stores, restaurants and farmers’ markets?

Slow News: Using the food cycle metaphor, participants explore how community news and information can be cultivated, harvested, prepared and served differently using notions of Slow Food.

“Gladis and Mabel” A Food Comedy
Powers of Light: Penny Chisholm explores how energy from light becomes food through photosynthesis. Seth Riskin dazzles participants with a video fly-through of holographic space.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Urban Agriculture Panel: Area organizations and local food organizers examine the logistics and benefits of community gardens and urban farms.

Experimental Community Design: From a children’s edible gardent to pies and conversation for dessert, communities are using food as a centerpiece for growing social capital.

Hi-Speed, Slow-Mo: Witness and learn from remarkable detail in the slow-motion of champagne corks popping, knives choping, pizza spinning, eggs splatting and more.

WHAT: Design, Art & Technology Symposium: Food for Thought

WHEN: October 9-11, 2010. Starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

WHERE: Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts | Sawtooth Building, 226 North Marshall Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101

WHY: To explore different ways of seeing using food as the lens for design, art and technology.
HOW: To register, visit the symposium website at: http://datstriad.org

Related Links
DATS 2010 Conference Website
Eames Office Celebrates 10/10/10
Powers of 10 Press Release and Film Short
DATS Student Art Project