New York
September 16, 1996:

1996 LONG LAKE DESIGN CAMP LIFTS THE LID ON CONTEMPORARY DESIGN CULTURE

*What significance do JACK KERVORKIAN's SUICIDE MACHINE, The MAC
WAREHOUSE catalog, and ENGLISH BULLDOG PROCREATION techniques have for
design in the 90s?

*How can we inject "GRANDMOTHERLINESS," or the quality of a GIFT, into
the design of OBJECTS for mass consumption?

*What sorts of environments make for SPONTANEITY and WARMTH in
LONG-DISTANCE communications?

*What's the relationship between 1980s New York SUBWAY GRAFFITI and
1990s CD-ROM design?

*Can interactive designers get beyond the PACKAGED ASSUMPTIONS of
commercial software, to create TOOLS that are TOYS for developing truly
innovative new media?

*Why can't COMPUTERS be designed so they JUST MELT into the landscape,
LIKE water poured on SUGAR?

*How do you capture the experience of sitting around a CAMPFIRE, and
could that ATMOSPHERE ever be equalled in a magazine or ONLINE CHAT
session?

These were just some of the topics that emerged during the first annual
Long Lake Design Camp, an intense four-day meeting of the minds held in
the Adirondacks over Labor Day weekend, 1996.

The event was spearheaded by designer Donald Carr and design critic
Janet Abrams, and took place at Don's boathouse on the shore of
beautiful Long Lake, with fifteen leading designers and design writers
from the around the US and England.

Invited participants included representatives of the design,
architecture and interactive telecommunications programs at Yale
University, New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program,
Syracuse University, Cranbrook Academy of Art, School of Visual Arts,
New York, Washington State University and the Royal College of Art,
London.

With PowerBooks plugged in for presentations around an upturned
sailboat, breaks for barbecuing under the trees, and a final outdoor
session refining the art of roasting marshmallows around a campfire at
the water's edge, Long Lake Design Camp brought technology back to
nature, and provided an opportunity to ponder what's missing from
contemporary design culture.

Participants included:

JANET ABRAMS, Leading Questions NY/Critic in Design, Yale University
DONALD CARR, Studio North/Syracuse University, Industrial Design
MICHAEL CULPEPPER, Architect/Department of Design, Washington State
Univ.
TONY DUNNE, Research Fellow, Royal College of Art/Dunne & Raby, London
PETER GIRARDI, Voyager Co/School of Visual Arts, New York
LIZA LAMB, textile designer, Syracuse, NY
JULIE LASKY, Managing Editor, Print magazine, New York
SIGI MOESLINGER, New York University Interval Research Fellow
MIKE MOONEY, Information Designer, Fitch, Boston
FIONA RABY, Research Fellow, Royal College of Art/Dunne & Raby, London
SUZETTE SHERMAN, writer, Bloomfield Hills MI
PETER STATHIS, Head of Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield
Hills MI
GONG SZETO, Creative Partner, io360 Interactive Design, New York
MASAMICHI UDAGAWA, designer, IDEO product development, New York
RICK VALICENTI, Principal, Thirst graphic design, Barrington, IL

PUBLICATIONS:

The REPORT FROM LONG LAKE 1996 will be published shortly in print, and a
collaborative web site is also forthcoming.

CONTACTS:

Members of the Long Lake Design Camp can be reached collectively via the
group's listserv, established courtesy of io360, New York:

****longlake@io360.com****

For further information, contact:

Jan Abrams
lonearts@aol.com
tel 212 686 8528

Don Carr
dwcarr@vpa.syr.edu
tel 315 422 7767