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David Byrne Subverts PowerPoint

Posted by timothy on from the office-cowboy dept.

NoData writes "The AP is reporting that David Byrne, visionary musician and frontman for 80s New Wave art band 'Talking Heads,' has turned Powerpoint into a visual art medium in a (satiric) DVD/Book combo. Says Byrne in the article: 'The genius of it is that it was designed for any idiot to use.'" Shades of Edward Tufte ("PowerPoint Makes You Dumb"), as the article points out. The book is published by high-end German publisher Steidl.

4 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A cheap publicity stunt by NoData · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I doubt it. Byrne's pretty much an icon in art music, he just doesn't need cheap publicity. I think he's just wacky and quirky.

    And if there's anyone who's a "nerd" in music, it's Byrne. The new wave art rockers of the 80s were the nerds of music. Of his contemporaries, he's third in nerdiness only to maybe Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo or Thomas Dolby (She Binded Me With Science), who went on to form an interactive music software company in the 90s.

  2. Re:Why not Coka Cola, Daimler Benz and Microsoft? by NoData · · Score: 3, Interesting


    Three words:

    Warhol..Campbell's Soup.

    It's called "pop art." It's commentary. Not my favorite, but there it is.

  3. old news by SteelRat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    see the wired article from about two months ago.

    http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt1.ht ml

  4. I've seen his PowerPoint presentations by smitty45 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    and they are hilarious, well done, and much different from what anyone would think of as a PowerPoint presentation.

    For those people who have only read the article, his "presentations" (if you can call them that) are cooler than I doubt any Microsoft or Apple could put together.

    Smarten up, folks...forget the medium, it's his content that is genius.