SIMPLICITY is a complex issue to which there is no single, simple answer. We live in an increasingly complex technological world in which nothing functions the way it actually should and which, at the end of the day, fills us all with longing for a certain simplicity. Nevertheless, isn’t it ironic that when we’re faced with the choice between more or less, we’re practically genetically programmed to want more. “Do you prefer the bigger cookie or the smaller one?” or “Would you rather have the computer with 10 processors or with just one?” The answer is really simple, isn’t it?
At SIMPLICITY, Ars Electronica’s theme symposium, we want to jointly reflect about the meaning of simplicity (and thus of complexity too) in politics, life, art and technology. Expect more than you’ve ever imagined, and even less.



15:00 – 15:15 Intro John Maeda
15:15 – 15:45 Jason Kottke
15:45 – 16:15 Gary Chang

16:15 – 16:30 Break

16:30 – 17:00 Olga Goriunova
17:00 – 17:30 Eric Yeatman
17:30 – 18:00 Discussion

Moderator: John Maeda

Detailed information on the symposium by the curator John Maeda

Jason Kottke (US) is a well-known American blogger and former
Web designer. He created the enormously popular Silkscreen font
that is widely used in the field of Web design. In March 1998, Kottke launched his blog that has gone on to become one of the highest-ranked personal sites in the blogging ecosystem.

Gary Chang (CN) founded his company EDGE in 1994. His commercial commissions include clubhouse, retail space, hotel, restaurant, office, yacht and aircraft interiors as well as product designs. The Suitcase House at the Commune by the Great Wall (a luxury hotel in China), the Kung-Fu Teaset for Alessi, and his own apartment in Hong Kong are his best-known design projects.

Olga Goriunova (RU) is an artist, art scholar, co-organizer of the Read_Me Festival and co-founder of the runme.org website.

Eric Yeatman (US) has been a member of the academic staff of the Imperial College in London since 1989. He is currently professor of microengineering and assistant director of the college’s research
group in that field.