David Darts is Global Network Associate Professor of the Arts at New York University (New York, NY). His creative and curatorial work has been presented widely and featured in over 200 national and international publications, including New Scientist, Le Monde, Ars Technica, Wired Italia, the New York Times and on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Darts is director of the Laboratory of the Future Present, an artistic research studio that uses design, interactive media, and speculative thought experiments to provoke dialog and inspire deep thinking about a range of contemporary issues.
Recent Projects:
Personal Space Suit (2024), a sensor equipped interactive garment used to monitor and safeguard personal space. The suit creates a digital security perimeter around the wearer that detects and repels personal space invaders. The project invites us to consider how we manage spacial relationships and respect personal boundaries in our daily lives.
Remote Rainstorms (in development) utilizes a pair of meshed umbrellas designed to capture and broadcast rain audio data over the network. This allows users in different physical locations to share the sensory experience of walking in the rain. By creating an experiential climatic bridge between individuals separated by geography, the project is designed to inspire thinking and spark conversations about shifting weather patterns and shared environmental experiences.
Tree AI: Arboreal Intelligence (in development) is a smart home automation platform that hands over control of the domestic living environment to trees. By using sensors to monitor trees' physiological signals, including changes in moisture levels, electrical signals, growth patterns, etc., the system reacts to this real time biodata by adjusting the lighting, temperature, audio, and more within an adjacent interior human living space. This project flips the typical narrative of human dominance over nature, placing trees in an active, decision-making role that directly shapes and alters people’s domestic living environments.
PirateBox (2011-2019) is a self-contained and mobile digital collaboration and file sharing system. Inspired by pirate radio and the free culture movement, PirateBox utilizes Free and Open Source software to create mobile wireless communication and file sharing networks where users can communicate and anonymously exchange images, video, audio, documents, and other digital content.