aalab + about


	Arts Alliance Laboratory conducts experiments in digital media. We do this because it's fun and it gets us out of bed in the morning; we also do this to assist our parent company, Arts Alliance, in understanding the various directions which the on-line experience may take as we move into a widely-networked world. exploring digital media We feel that as the technology continues to advance the key factor in creating successful products will be the nature of the user's experience of that product. By focusing our work at the intersection of art and technology, we hope to create both unexpectedly compelling and unexpectedly useful pieces that help illuminate the future of user experience. catalyzing creativity We keep abreast of new technologies being developed in academic, corporate and independent labs and design/art studios. Innovation occurs in all of these places, and provides inspiration for our work. By looking forward in this manner, we will not only enrich the lab's work but be able to help Arts Alliance's portfolio of companies develop their products to take advantage of both expressive and technological advances in digital media. contributing to community As a good creative and intellectual citizen of the artistic, commercial and academic communities experimenting with digital media, Arts Alliance Laboratory will collaborate with others to evolve the state-of-the-art. people jason e. lewis co-founder and director of research (lewis@artsalliance.com) Jason brings ten years' experience in a wide variety of research environments to bear on the question of how to enrich and extend the user's experience of digital media. He is a practicing artist, designer and technology developer, and seeks to address this question in both his own work and by consulting with portfolio companies on the creative aspect of their business. He has worked at Interval Research Corporation, the Institute for Research on Learning, Fitch, and USWest Advanced Technologies. He holds a BS and BA degree from Stanford, and an M.Phil. from the Royal College of Art, London. alex weyers computational and conceptual engineer (weyers@artsalliance.com) The enigma known as Alex Weyers first emerged from the Alexandria, Virginia music scene as a founding member of the experimental, electronic collective BuS PeOpLe (known primarily for their groundbreaking debut album "PhazertronicButterscotchCandyExploration"). He was also the lone member of the ambient project Shakyamuni Emerging. Alex then devoted himself to pursuing Bachelor's degrees in both Computer Science and Art. At present, Alex is working with the Arts Alliance Laboratory in San Francisco while devoting his free time to establishing a cult in his name. thomas hoegh co-founder and managing director of arts allianace Thomas focuses on the user experience from a creative, strategic and economic point of view. His background as an artist and a businessman forms the core aspect of Arts Alliance Advisors' competitive edge. Thomas worked for four months as Content Programming Manager at Firefly between years at Harvard Business School. During this period the site grew from 50,000 members to 450,000 members and was one of the first large online communities. The Firefly music site was later sold to Launch. As an artist Thomas has directed over 20 major theatre, television and multimedia performance pieces in his native Norway. He served as Assistant Artistic Director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. He also produced Shalom/Salaam, an international televised artistic celebration of the Oslo treaty between the Israelis and Palestinians with Shimon Peres and President Yassir Arafat present. Thomas is a member of the Stage Directors Guild. Thomas holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from Northwestern University.