Writing my first line of code was amazing. Here I was, talking to my computer and actually getting a response. From this point onwards I’ve been consumed with the workings of media: I wanted to know how it all worked ‘under the hood’. How could I create web-pages and edit videos? How do I go about designing an app? It was clear to me: I wanted to study Communication & Multimedia Design (CMD) at MAMDT.

During the course of my studies I developed an increased interest to research, talk and write about the enormous disruption that technology induces in society but also how it changes our collective psyche. I noticed that changes to our technological environment kept happening in an increasing pace but people often tend to see technology as a simple fact of life that doesn't involve or touch them in any other way if they don't directly work in this sector. We need to start talking about technology as a force that can be either good or bad. And in order to unlock the new possibilities we so desperately need, we need to start talking and thinking about this new and digitised world that we have created. After the optimistic 90's, technological development has become a double-etched sword that can make us into digital slaves if we are not careful.

Art and technology have the ability to place the broader developments into perspective and put our minds at ease with them. Contemporary electronic music, as well as modern art, stimulates us to think about our changing environment. And it is changing dramatically. The natural world is now in crisis. I believe that we have the capacity to solve this crisis, and technology can be part of the solution, but the time of waiting is definitely over. We are now at a point in time where we have make a conscious decision about the type of world that we want to create. If we don’t grab the wheel, advanced artificial intelligence might make that decision for us, if the climate emergency hasn't wiped us away already beforehand. It's change or die, to put it in more bleak terms. Electronic music has been the kickstarter of this re-invention process for me.

Electronic music has the ability to transcend the cultural and social borders that divide us and in that process, form new connections. This inspires everything that I do. Electronic music will effectively help us build the new world, and it needs to be an active effort. I see the electronic music community as the embodiment of Marshall McLuhan’s global village. As a media designer I want to contribute to this 'village', I believe it to be a game-changer and I believe that there’s a lot more collectivity to be found and crafted.

I'm actively looking for a thesis project that puts me in the position to introduce new solutions that bring us closer towards a new, sustainable world that can carry our beautiful civilisation into the future. I would like to focus on problems in food production, food-waste and/or sustainable alternatives to the use of fossil fuels. Are you the person/organisation who's going to do that with me? Then please do contact me under koen@transitory.nl.