Futurefarmers

Amy Franceschini

Communiculture: Design for Jet Lag

Date 9/27/00

Affiliation Artist, San Francisco

Abstract

Currently Amy is researching eco-architectural environments and sustainable agriculture. Her recent visit to Biosphere II and Arcosanti have sparked a renewed interest in developing a networked, artists community/farm. "I was particularly drawn to Paolo Soleri's vision of Archeology: concept of cities which embody the fusion of architecture with ecology. Soleri's vision parallels a question that arises in much of my research: How do we lead development activities in a direction that will take into account the contradiction between habitat protection and sustainable economic growth?"


Bio

Amy Franceschini was born to a farming family and grew up amid the fields and orchards of California's San Joaquin Valley. In 1992 she received a BFA from San Francisco State University where she studied photography and sculpture.

In 1995, she co-founded Atlas (www.atlasmagazine.com), an online magazine. Atlas was selected as the first website to be included in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The site has won two Webby awards (the equivalent of an online Oscar) for Art and Design, and has been internationally recognized for its unorthodox approach to online publishing.

In 1995, Amy also started Futurefarmers, an online showcase of new work and experimental collaborations with programmers and artists. Futurefarmers hosts an artist in residence program and develops new media projects for many corporate clients.

Recently, Amy completed an internet-based, data-driven, kinetic sculpture for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Bay Area Now 2 exhibition. This piece addressed environmental problems suffered by wetlands and migratory birds in the Bay Area as a result of population growth and economic expansion.

-- As of 9/27/00