Immediately following the news that Donald Trump had won the US presidential election this week, the Real Future Fair—a one-day technology and activism conference in Oakland, California organised by the news platform Fusion—announced that it would open free to the public in a bid to “process what Trump’s victory means for surveillance and privacy”, according to a newsletter. Anyone who purchased a ticket in advance will be refunded.
The event is due to open on 15 November at the Oakland Museum of California with a conversation between Kashmir Hill, Fusion’s editor, and Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, who will appear over a video link. The sit-down with Snowden and the core programming is currently being modified to address and “make sense of the new world that we’re living in”, Alexis Madrigal, the editor-at-large of Fusion, told The Art Newspaper.
“I’m sure that our attendees and speakers will bring a variety of ways to approach the news of the election, but for me it’s about trying to maintain our own vision of the future, even as Donald Trump paints an apocalyptic vision of the country’s journey”, says Madrigal. “What do we want the future to belike? How do we make sure that all kinds of people are welcome there? And, who can help us imagine and organise around that vision better than groups of artists, technologists, writers and activists?”
Events on the schedule include an anti-harassment panel titled An Internet Without A**HOLES, with the speakers Danielle Leong of GitHub, the artist Caroline Sinders and Fusion’s Kristen Brown, which will present the results from a recent “hackathon” against violence. There will also be a chat with the internet group Artists Anonymous, including the avatars LaTurbo Avedon and Zardulu, who will discuss celebrity, spectacle, anonymity and art. And will be discussion groups focussing on climate change, immigration and the state of the news media, among other topics.