PowerPoint, the bane of many an office wonk's existence ("I can animate this slide with builds and sound effects - just give me an hour") gets reinterpreted by David Byrne in his new book and DVD, David Byrne: E.E.E.I. (Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information). Unlike office wonks, David Byrne gets to look at PP with new eyes and use it in funny, "artistic" ways, like using an outline of Dan Rather's head (unless you work in network TV news) or photos of Dolly the sheep and create a book and DVD with similar far-out slides. His enthusiasm for PP can be read in his essay for Wired's September issue: "Although I began by making fun of the medium, I soon realized I could actually create things that were beautiful. I could bend the program to my own whim and use it as an artistic agent. The pieces became like short films: Some were sweet, some were scary, and some were mysterioso." Byrne's essay is followed by one from Edward Tufte that calls PowerPoint evil. Well, of course, it is - it's from Microsoft.
Peter Rojas invited Gothamist to last night's Wired party for Byrne. He was not wearing a very big suit - just a white one with iridescent shoulder panels. Byrne's new album, Lead Us Not Into Temptation, is also the soundtrack for the upcoming movie Ewan McGregor film, Young Adam. Gothamist will be seeing it at the New York Film Festival on October 9. See the trailer here.
Reader MC reminds Gothamist that David Byrne's PowerPoint presentation can be seen in the lobby of the Conde Nast building at West 42nd Street and Broadway, in the area before security, so those of you wanting some tips to add a little something to your staid presentations, head on over. MC also suggests heading over the Rockfeller Center and sitting on the toadstools of Takashi Murakami's Rockfeller Center installation afterward, a little midtown art walking tour. Plus DB is speaking at the 92nd Street Y this Monday. Now Gothamist wonders how much Bill Gates has promised in exchanging for pimping PP.
