#FEED: Exploring the Physical World Through Online Instruments

Curated by Justin Bolognino and his dynamic online endeavours Learned Evolution and The Meta Agency, #FEED is a concept powered by Twitter that uses the digital environment to celebrate the physical world. It worked as both an event and a tool that narrated the 5-day story of the SXSW 2013 festival. As an event, #FEED organized a variety of interactive experiences to capture the spirit of SXSW: from music to social media art to wellness and night-life adventures, the innovative platform successfully used the online world to create a new view of the physical world.

The videos document #FEED’s creative approach to ‘generating synchronicity’ and ‘facilitate hidden connections’. Social media art may seem like a foreign notion that inspires skepticism, but #FEED has made social media art a community experience through physical installations that use online features. One piece saw #FEED use the SXSW Twitter hashtag to pick Instagram photos from the Twitter stream and create an inventive Instagram wall featuring hundreds of SXSW revelers and artists. Other media art allowed people to move photos with their bodies, and tweet into installations to change their narrative. Musically #FEED used apps like ‘Pulse’ – which senses people’s emotions through their pulse rate and chooses tunes to match these emotions – to show people how digital designs can affect their physical experiences. Wellness saw #FEED helping people to care for their bodies through rooftop yoga sessions, cycling and bootcamp in an effort to emphasise fun, healthy and social living.

In each of these experiences #FEED used social media to help people collaborate and build communities in the physical world. #FEED was a feature that brought SXSW to life, and if the concept successfully becomes global, it will help bridge the gap between online and physical dimensions to form new relationships and encounters.