Murmuration Festival 2016

Murmuration Festival:  What a cool idea and I am so glad I attended last Saturday.  The weather was disappointing and ridiculously hot. They were clearly prepared for many more people so I encourage you to watch for this next year.

Name

“In nature, a murmuration is a flock of starlings that produces intricate patterns during flight.” So the event was designed to be “Convergence of Art, Music, Science & Tech.” Love it!

Venue

All of the stages, tents, foods and exhibits were in several blocks of the Cortex campus. Honestly, this is how I found out about the festival. I was reading about St. Louis being an innovation and technology hub and stumbled upon the event online. I’ve lived in St. Louis most of my life and I am a big fan.  I love when businesses are able to grow and help rejuvenate a lost part of the city.  This campus had great energy, green space and beautiful, new buildings. Everything was easily walkable.

Thought-Leadership Content

The first talk I attended was “The Seduction of Automation, from the CIA to Social Media, and Its Dangers” with Neal Sample, CIO of Express Scripts.  I didn’t expect a CIO to be so entertaining and interesting! Years ago he worked for the CIA before Big Data was a thing.  He spoke about how difficult it was, and is, to process the data to a point where it is clear as to when to intervene with a known terrorist.  Do you make a move and eliminate the known terrorist or do you continue to monitor and collecting data to get to a larger group or a higher leader? (Note, I read a lot of spy thrillers so I really enjoyed this segment)

Murmuration Festival 2016He talked about the algorithmic take-over of everything!  This was a bit mind-blowing.  Something to consider as you choose your career path.  Robots are more efficient and don't make mistakes; they are better, faster and cheaper.  They are better at welding than humans. Think about self-check-out at the store.  How many jobs are going to go away from the middle-class.

He had a whole segment on self-driving cars. How we may need fewer cars in the future, for example; while you are at work, the self-driving car could drive someone else around during the day and come back for you in the evening. (Note, with a major company like Enterprise in town, I would have enjoyed their opinion on this topic.)

The second talk I attended was “Multi-Disciplinary Performance in a Multi-Media World.” Members from the band Sky Pony led this session. This was more of a free-style chat and Q & A,not quite what the title implied but also really interesting.

Music

I should confess that my musical taste is pretty pedestrian and Top 40 with my Broadway Soundtracks mixed in.  I was worried about no knowing any of the acts and of feeling like Nana Grandma in the audience. I saw Sky Pony and Flying Lotus.

Sky Pony’s lead singer is a Tony Award nominated singer and their musical style is indie pop.  Obviously with the Broadway connection I really enjoyed this band.  They dressed as a flock of starlings, had fun costumes and interesting videos on the giant video display at the back of the stage. They played from 4:00 – 5:00 in the blazing sun.  They put on a great show and I would have loved to see them at night with their light show.

The headline act on Saturday night was Flying Lotus. I would describe as a multi-media DJ and rapper and yes I felt really old and nerdy at this show. The show felt like a complicated production with him on stage with his giant DJ table of equipment, a screen in front of him and covering the entire back of the stage along with a crazy light show.  The video took you on a crazy, fun, creepy, carnival journey of illustration and video.

So, again, watch out for this even next year.  Not a typical marketing conference or concert: a fun mix of content to challenge your imagination, routine and thinking.  Thank you Brian Cohen for your creativity.