Institute for the Future

This "button tree" was a collaborative effort between Clamber and Reese Bowes for University of Oregon's What is Technology? Conference on April 9-11th. The exhibition consists of two headphone sets and nine interactive buttons. Participants are invited to wear headphones and press the buttons. Each button is connected to a different sound, allowing users to collaboratively play an experimental piece with each other. The piece was composed by Clamber clamber.org using a sound collage method of altering found sounds in the environment. The concept was programmed by Reese Bowes, formerly of PNCA's Make + Think + Code Lab and Intel Labs. The exhibit was curated by Jeremy Swartz and Dean Walton.

What is Technology? (2019) examined interactions and transactions among practical arts and tools, techniques and processes, moral knowledge and imagination, to navigate our ever-changing world. In a broad sense, technology can be understood as methods of intelligent inquiry and problem-solving into all domains of life. The conference-experience enacted a collaborative network of transdisciplinary research by cultivating information and communication as the heart of science, technology, engineering, art, medicine, and environments (STEAM+).

2019 marked the ten-year anniversary and ninth annual What is…?, bringing together natural and social scientists, scholars, government officials, industry professionals, artists and designers, as well as alumni, students, community organizations, and the public.