I’m leaving soon for Amsterdam to give a talk at PicNic. The programme of the conference is amazing. There will be super stars like Dan Gillmor and Craig Newmark, but the presentations i am really looking forward to hear are by Philip Rosedale, Founder of Linden Lab/Second Life, Sampo Karjalainen from Habbo Hotel, blogjector Julian Bleecker, Soh-Yeong Roh, Director of the Art Center Nabi in South Korea, John Thackara from Doors of Perception and Michael Naimark. I suspect i ended up in this Almanach de Gotha by mistake but i’m not going to complain. So thanks a lot to Monique van Dusseldorp for the invitation. There are also tons of satellite events and an evening with Peter Greenaway as a VJ but, please, stay away from that performance cuz I’d rather be alone in the room to worship my favourite film director.

Right after that, i’ll be in Paris to hook up with Jean-Baptiste and check the festival Emergences which focuses on game culture this year. It’s at La Vilette on Sept. 29 till Oct. 1.

Then back home for a couple of days and on the road again to attend and imagine the 2026 World Fair at Ci’Num – The Digital Civilizations Forum on October 5-7. It’s in Margaux, near Bordeaux, so i guess i’ll spend most of the time horrifying the French by informing them that i don’t like wine, i can’t eat cheese and i’d rather not be in the same room as a piece of cooked meat.