Curtis Wong’s Mystery Art/Tech Project

Curtis Wong
Here’s an example of something I can do on a blog that’s too irresponsible to do in a mainstream media piece—-plug a project that I know absolutely nothing about. Arguably, I shouldn’t do that on a blog either, but the pedigree of this venture, whatever it is, has rendered me reckless.
Curtis Wong (above), who manages the Next Media Research group at Microsoft, is my Tech Hero. I’ve been following his creative uses of computer technology in service of art and art history ever since he masterminded the pioneering “A Passion for Art,” an early CD-ROM about the Barnes Foundation’s collection.
So when I caught up with him recently at the Seattle Art Museum (where he had devised a state-of-the-art digital presentation of one of the museum’s great treasures, a 17th-century Japanese scroll), I was interested to learn what his next art-related exploration would be. It was, he said, a secret project.
Now the secret is almost out. Here‘s what one commentator, who saw it but (sort of) observed a news embargo, had to say about it…which doesn’t reveal much, except that it’s powerful.
Here’s what Curtis wrote me:
The question is—Is it art? What is the definition of art? Something that evokes emotion and inspires? It remains to be seen. Regardless of whether it is art or not, It is another important piece of work in my career, which I hope will inform, inspire and change how people feel and think.
Or is it false pride and empty hype? As Wong says, “It remains to be seen”…hopefully soon.