The retail sector will continue to face headwinds in 2020. The National Retail Federation (NRF), with the help of its members and researchers from Bain Capital, TrendWatching, Code Commerce and New York University, recently outlined several predictions for retailers in 2020.

NRF expects ambiguity over the next 12 months as the 2020 presidential election will dominate the airways and could put a damper on consumer sentiment. Consumers are the lifeblood for the economy, and by standard metrics, the state of the consumer is solid heading into 2020, according to Wells Fargo chief economist Jay Bryson. But, he said, there are some outlying risks to the growth.

Not only would another increase in tariffs weigh further on investment spending, but higher prices for consumer goods would erode growth in real income that could exert headwinds on growth in consumer spending, Bryson said.

Retail experts also expect greater attention focused on continued growth in the sharing economy and its disruption to traditional models. They expect heightened speculation about a recession, raised eyebrows about the likelihood of more autonomous-driving cars, and more context about 5G cellular technology.

RISING RESALE Consumers continue to have a big appetite for resale and recommence, which NRF said will be voracious in 2020. The rising resale market is the new disruptor in the sector, and its poised to double in size over the next five years. In 2019, the secondhand apparel market was worth an estimated $24 billion, according to retail analysts firm Global Data. They expect the resale market could reach $41 billion by 2022. The used-fashion industry could climb to $64 billion in the U.S. by 2028, which is a major disruption to an already beleaguered retail segment.

The trade group said frugal consumers, led by value-conscious Millennials, will continue to fuel the resale segment. Younger and older generations are also getting into the resale mindset with the ease of selling items on eBay, Etsy or Facebook Marketplace and popular apps like Poshmark, ThredUp and Mercari.

Consumer attitudes toward ownership have evolved from stockpiling fashion to a more circular motion, with the desire for greater sustainability at the forefront. We look for more retailers to dabble in rentals, targeting a piece of Rent the Runways sweet success to win favor with shoppers who will forever be seduced by whats new and now, but are refusing to compromise their environmental ethos, NRF noted in the report.

EXPERIENCE MATTERS The trade group said retailer success in 2020 is grounded in offering an incredible retail experience. That entails how retailers tell a story, how shoppers experience it and the emotional connection left behind. That will allow vigilant businesses to raise the bar.

The retail industry has been talking about experiences for decades remember The Experience Economy, written by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore in 1999, the report stated. Today its imperative, regardless of whether a company is selling apparel, personal care products or tires. Customers can buy just about anything online, so its important to snag their attention with storytelling and hands-on interaction and your audience will remember the experience, the report stated.

NRF said the concept of experiential retailing is speeding toward a mainstream business practice. The newest crop of retail businesses were early adopters.

Now, shopping malls are embracing the idea, infusing entertainment options into the mix and beckoning mall-goers with the promise of environments that will transform periodically not just at the holidays, the report said.

Experts predict there will be some challenges with experiential retail, noting the importance of regularly refreshing the experiences.

While experience matters to consumers, the trade group said retailers who refuse to change will be the most vulnerable. The experts said the key to success is to create an experience that makes shoppers want to return again and again. They say while leveraging technology is wise, it is not a substitute for human capital, which is vital to experiential retail.

BLURRED LINES The lines between channels, products, technology companies and social media entities are no longer clearly delineated. Retailers have been branching far beyond familiar channels. Theyre continuing to try their hand at hospitality, health services and rentals.

Over the past six months, Walmart, Kroger, Macys and e.l.f. Cosmetics launched campaigns on social media platform TikTok, garnering impressive levels of consumer engagement along with millions of views, according to NRF.

Under the heading of strange bedfellows, the report states: Le Tote, a relative newcomer in subscriptions, inked a deal to acquire legacy department store Lord & Taylor in August. Sams Club recently acquired the technology assets and some of the advertising team from Triad who work on their accounts, opting to bring the segment under Sams Club management. And Target Corp. announced in October it was teaming up with the owner of the Toys R Us brand to relaunch the companys e-commerce site.

Dont even try to keep score. Its futile. Its also brilliant. Driving this blurring of lines is retailers realization that the newest evolution of retail is about providing a holistic experience for consumers. Always looking for ways to create a competitive advantage, retailers are opening their minds to innovative ways of servicing and supporting the customer journey, the report said.

PERSONALIZATION IMPROVEMENT Personalization has been a buzzword in retail for the past few years, but few companies have achieved the level that consumers have come to expect.

NRF said Netflix, YouTube and Spotify have been leaders in personalization by developing artificial intelligence recommendation engines to suggest new content to people based on what theyre already listening to or watching and what people with similar interests are enjoying.

Most retailers are still struggling to get there, the trade group said. Researchers applaud Stitch Fix and Rent the Runway for their personalization prowess. Nordstrom leads the personalization push from a customer service platform, and Sephora topped Sailthrus Retail Personalization Index for the third year in a row. Sephoras score of 79 out of a possible 100 comes in part because the beauty retailers mobile app, in-app messaging and links to its loyalty program are top-notch.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning should be making it much easier for retailers to personalize their efforts in ways that go beyond email. Still, every indication suggests that most companies are still swimming in so much data that figuring out how to tap this repository in a way that engages shoppers, not enrages them, remains a challenge, NRF researchers said in the report.

Editors note:The Supply Side sectionof Talk Business & Politics focuses on the companies, organizations, issues and individuals engaged in providing products and services to retailers. The Supply Side is managed by Talk Business & Politics and sponsored byPropak Logistics.

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The Supply Side: Resale, personalization, experience will dominate retail in 2020 - talkbusiness.net

It's easy to shock with technology and innovation, says Michael Anastassiades, but the real challenge for designers is creating objects that stay relevant over time.

Anastassiades who is Designer of the Year at the Maison&Objet furniture fair in Paris this week has built his business around producing lighting designs he believes will become timeless.

Speaking to Dezeen at his studio in north London, he explained that, despite being a designer, he is against consumerism. He believes new objects should only be made if they are going to last a long time.

"What is the need for constant change, as if we don't have enough?" he said.

"Nothing in this world is new"

"Being a designer and being against consumerism in that way, it's a bit of a paradox," he continued."Our culture tries to encourage this change,this ephemerality, this newness, whatever."

"But it's all fake, it's all artificial."

Anastassiades believes that no new design can be truly unique, that all ideas are recycled from somewhere.

"Nothing in this world is new, not even ideas; everything has been done before historically," he told Dezeen.

"We have evolved as human beings, but the notion of creativity hasn't really evolved over thousands of years. It's a moment to really accept what your contribution to the world of design can be."

"I didn't fit in a mould"

Anastassiades, aged 53, is today one of the world's most highly respected lighting designers, thanks to products like his Mobile Chandelier series.But his route intothe industry was a long and unconventional one.

Born inCyprus, he always aspired to be an artist but, to satisfy his parents, he chose to study civil engineering at Imperial College London.

After realising that he wasn't suited to engineering, he took up a masters in industrial design and engineering at the Royal College of Art, but even after that he struggled to find a career path that suited him.

"I didn't fit in a mould of anybody; there were no designers that I could relate to," he explained.

"Flos gave me the freedom I needed"

After over a decade of soul-searching, which saw him produce experimental designs while also working as a design tutor and a yoga teacher, Anastassiades finally decided to set up his own lighting design business.

A breakthrough came in 2011. Presenting his designs for the first time at the Salone del Mobile in Milan,he caught the attention of Piero Gandini, then-CEO of prolific Italian lighting brand Flos.

This was the start of a collaboration that has endured for nearly a decade, and produced many iconic designs, including the String Lights, Copycat and the popular IC Lights.

Anastassiades explained that Flos gave him an opportunity to test ideas at a scale he would never have been able to with his business.

"Many people ask me what I give to Flos and what I keep for myself," said Anastassiades. "In a way, I gave Flos a little bit of my image and Flos gave me the freedom that I needed."

"I don't feel the need to say yes"

The designer believes the success of his career and his collaborations, including recent partnerships with companies like Herman Miller and Bang & Olufsen, come down to his maturity.

"I think that arriving at this stage of your career at a mature stage in your life is much more rewarding," he added. "You know when to say no, when to take something on or not take something on."

"I don't feel the need to say yes," he added."Had it happened to me 20 years ago, I wouldn't be the same."

Anastassiades is presenting an exhibition of his Mobile Chandeliers at the entrance to Hall 7 at Maison&Objet, which opens today and continues until Tuesday 21 January.

Read on for the full transcript of the interview:

Amy Frearson: How did you start your career in design?

Michael Anastassiades:It was never straightforward. Design was not a clear direction from the beginning. As a child growing up, I always wanted to do something creative. I wanted to be an artist, but that was also all I knew existed at that time. I grew up in a very small place, Cyprus, where I didn't have exposure to all the creative disciplines that you could study. You could either become an artist or you had to do something else entirely. And unfortunately it was not an option for me to become an artist because my parents wanted me to get a job. They always associated the idea of being or doing anything creative as a kind of failure.

Amy Frearson:What did your parents do for a living?

Michael Anastassiades:My mother didn't really work, she was mainly at home looking after us. My dad was a self-made businessman, of course retired now, but he never went abroad to study. That's why he wanted both me and my brother to pursue further education and have that structure in our lives that he didn't have. Somehow the idea of doing something creative was not structured enough.

Amy Frearson: What did you do instead?

Michael Anastassiades: I decided that engineering would be a good thing for me to study.I was very good at maths and physics, so I thought I could get into a good engineering school. So I came here, to London, and I went to Imperial College to study civil engineering.

Engineering seemed like a good compromise, because I thought it would allow me a little bit of creativity. Although I have to say that there was not much of that. That was the reality. I figured out pretty quickly that I didn't want to be a civil engineer, then halfway through my degree I discovered the Royal College of Art. I figured out that, because it's a masters college, it could enable someone with an engineering degree to do a masters in design.And the Royal College is a very reputable institution, so my parents could not say no, now I had the degree they wanted me to get.

That changed everything, in terms of exposing me to a creative environment with other creative people. The course itself was not ideal, it was industrial design and engineering. I felt I wanted to run away from engineering, but I had to be constantly reminded of it. There are designers that are more towards the James Dyson end but I felt that I was completely at the opposite end. That part of design was not really my preference.

So after the Royal College, I spent many years trying to really figure out what I wanted to do, or at least what I wanted design to be. Two years of design education hadn't given me any defined direction. I didn't fit in a mould of anybody; there were no designers that I could relate to.

For many years I ended up using design as research. I did a lot of experimental design, some quite interesting projects that were shown in various institutions around the world, like MoMA. They were interactive pieces designed to raise questions, rather than to become real products.

Amy Frearson:Can you give some examples?

Michael Anastassiades:My graduation project was the Message Cup, a cup for people that share the same household to record messages. Another was the Anti Social Light, a light that glows only when there's absolute silence. These projects were really questioning the role of electronic products, particularly within the domestic environment. I was very much intrigued with the psychological dependency that existed between objects and users.

Amy Frearson: How did you move from these experimental projects to lighting?

Michael Anastassiades: Design as research remained from the early 1990s up until the early 2000s, and I did a bit of teaching to support myself. Design was not a job for me at that time, it was very much research.At the same time, I figured out that I had a big passion for objects. I had a passion for everyday things and I had an opinion on what was going on in the world of design at that time, although I had never really tried myself in that area.

It was an interesting period because it coincided with me buying my first house. I decided to settle in the UK, and bought a small terraced property in south London and started doing it up. I figured out what objects I needed, particularly lighting, but I couldn't find what I wanted. I couldn't afford the pieces that could possibly fit my brief and so I thought I might as well make the pieces myself.

I had also met and become very close friends with Bijoy Jain from Studio Mumbai. He was shortly based here in the early '90s and we worked on a project together, an interior. After that he asked me to help him in a lot of his projects, not only in terms of interiors and furnishings, but also in terms of the bigger concept.

I think the conscious point when I said 'okay this is what I'd like to do' was in 2007. After the encouragement and response I got from all these objects, the next step was to create my own brand.

Amy Frearson: So you launched your own brand before even creating products for other brands?

Michael Anastassiades:Yes, 100 per cent. For most designers, their work is developed before. The first pieces I made were not pieces that could convince any brand to invest in me. They were great ideas, but I don't think they would be ideas that could attract a manufacturer.

Amy Frearson:How did you get your business off the ground? What were the first designs you produced?

Michael Anastassiades: I decided to focus on lighting because it was much more manageable for me, rather than opening up to the whole spectrum of furniture. I was encouraged in lighting because a lot of architects and friends were telling me they liked my ideas in lighting. So I thought, it had to be a lighting brand.

The first few years of the brand were a lot of hard work but the main breakthrough came in 2011 when I decided to I present my brand at the Salone del Mobile in Euroluce. It was quite amazing that they gave me a stand in such a competitive setting. That changed things because it was where I met Flos, where I met [former Flos CEO] Piero Gandini, and we embarked on this long journey together.

Amy Frearson: What was is like working with Flos and what impact did it have onyour own business?

Michael Anastassiades:It was an interesting match, an interesting moment. I was suddenly given this platform to approach design with a completely different level of freedom, in a sense. I wasn't 20 any more, I was already mature and I had some experience in lighting, so things were very different. I already knew what worked and what didn't work, so everything started in a very focused way, and it was enabling me to do all the things that I couldn't actually do with my own brand, because of the scale of it. Suddenly working on a much larger scale, I could use complex processes, interesting technology and more extreme ideas.

Amy Frearson: So with Flos you were able to test the kinds of ideas you weren't able to with your own brand?

Michael Anastassiades: Yes. Sothat allowed both companies to exist and support each other. Many people ask me what I give to Flos and what I keep for myself, and how these companies can work together.In a way, I gave Flos a little bit of my image and Flos gave me the freedom that I needed.

Amy Frearson: Will your relationship with Flos continue now that Piero Gandini has left the company?

Michael Anastassiades:It's different but it certainly will continue, there's no doubt about it. It's different people, different management, but the same history. I'm very hopeful that we'll find a way to figure it out.

Flos has been an amazing platform for a lot of people, butespecially for me. If you look at the experience that other designers have had within Flos, the span often goes over 15 or 20 years.In my case, it's all been so accelerated.That acceleration is also now happening for me in the furniture world. I had to catch up for all those years, but I don't feel I'm rushed into anything. It feels right.

I really feel lucky that I've been given all these opportunities to try my ideas in different fields with amazing companies. I couldn't think of myself in a better place.If I was to repeat my career, I wouldn't do it in any other way. I think that arriving at this stage of your career at a mature stage in your life is much more rewarding. You know when to say no, when to take something on or not take something on. I think that is absolutely fundamental. I don't feel the need to say yes, if I don't think something is right I will often say.Had it happened to me 20 years ago, I wouldn't be the same.

Amy Frearson: Would you advise other young designers to do the same as you, to take time finding the right path?

Michael Anastassiades:Not necessarily no. It felt right for me at that time, the type of character that I am, but some people need a more clearly defined career path. I took a very long way. It's been a long journey, but a great journey. I've tried different things and that's good because it's given me a different perspective about what I think design should be. I created this distance so that I could step away and see design in a much more clear way.

For many years, when I was struggling financially, I used to teach yoga to support myself, because I wanted to distance myself from the need to use my profession to make money and survive. I wanted to be true to my ideas so I'd rather keep my ideas independent of the idea of survival. Yes I taught a little bit and earned some money from that, but I never wanted to be a teacher in design. I preferred to be a teacher in yoga it paid the bills so I could keep my design research going.

It's funny that today very few people remember the other type of design that I used to do. It doesn't bother me of course, because it's a different audience.Identity, at the end of the day, doesn't have to be one or the other. It is what it is and that's great for me. What I've realised through my career is that I've always felt the urge to be boxed inand I never wanted to be in any of these boxes.

Amy Frearson: What otherchallenges did you face in the early days of your brand?

Michael Anastassiades:I had to learn to be an entrepreneur, which was not a skill that I had, or at least I felt that I didn't have it.I never had a finance person behind me and I never had money behind me either. I took my first loan out of the bank to subsidise the production of my first lights. It was a scary moment, but that was the only way I could do it. I had to try it.

You learn through all your mistakes and hopefully you don't make that many. The problem for a lot of people is that they start something and they feel that they hit the wall. That's human nature. We're presented with obstacles that we need to overtake and if we are not able to build up a resistance then it is easy to give up. If you do not know exactly what you're looking for, it's very difficult. You can stop many times and you can give up many times. I surprised myself sometimes when I kept going, because I really figured out what I wanted to do through a process of elimination, by actually doing the things that I didn't want to do. The sense and the logic of the sequence has only really come in the last 10 years.

Amy Frearson:What is the ethos behind the designs that you produce?

Michael Anastassiades:Nothing in this world is new, not even ideas; everything has been done before historically. The problem is lack of education and information; people are not really aware how many ideas have been recycled over so many years. Creativity dates back to human creation and it's amazing that the evolution of creativity has not been that great. We have evolved as human beings, but the notion of creativity hasn't really evolved over thousands of years. It's a moment to really accept what your contribution to the world of design can be.I relate to this kind of aesthetic that things are there and they can still be relevant over an extended history so I try to find the qualities that make timeless design.

I started going to the Salone del Mobile pretty much as soon as I graduated, trying to really understand the world of design. What I was doing at the time was nothing to do with that, but I was still fascinated with it and very attracted to it. It wasinteresting to see how all these big historic brands had this fascinating way of revamping themselves through the old classics. I wondered, what is it that makes these pieces timeless? Why do people buy the same things over and over again? Can you possibly create something new with those values in mind? I think we can.

Amy Frearson: How do you go about making an object timeless?

Michael Anastassiades:I'm not saying that everything I produce will be timeless but at least I'm conscious of it. I'm not thinking that I'm going to change the world. What is important to understand and acknowledge it that it's a much bigger challenge, to work on that level of subtlety and make a difference, rather than trying to shock with technology, new materials, innovation. I'm not saying that those things are not great, of course they are important. But it's easy to shock somebody with something new, because you attract attention. The question is, are they able to sustain that? Probably not, because if the innovation becomes an everyday thing. In less than a year that shock is not there anymore. After that, there's nothing that pulls you in.

As a designer, I believe that we need to create things that last for a long period of time. This for me is fundamental, I don't think an object should be ephemeral. I don't deal with technological products, I'm not in that kind of world, at least not yet. In lighting there is a little bit of technology, but I still don't see why things shouldn't be relevant after long periods of time. What is the need for constant change, as if we don't have enough? I think we have enough things.

Being a designer and being against consumerism in that way, it's a bit of a paradox. Our culture tries to encourage this change,this ephemerality, this newness, whatever. But it's all fake, it's all artificial.

Amy Frearson:How do you rationalise the paradox of beinga designer and being against consumerism?

Michael Anastassiades:At the end of the day, I think this iswhy people come to me andwhat attracts companies. This is my approach to design.

I don't use design as a profession, I use design to express my ideas. I think that's important. You could argue that I have a successful business, I have a successful studio, so I'm not really saying anything different. But it is different. Many times I've figured out that, if I really wanted to succeed in a certain type of design, I would be doing completely different things.For me, the idea of launching my brand was to keep full control over my ideas.

Amy Frearson: How do you develop ideas in your studio?

Michael Anastassiades:It varies. Sometimes a very abstract concept leads me to a more defined idea. I'll have a vague picture of something that actually doesn't exist, but deals with certain concepts. It's only through the process of thinking over and over again that the idea starts getting a little bit more defined and then eventually becomes something, so that when you see the end product you think it couldn't have been anything else. It's so straightforward, but it's not so simple.

Other times it's an image and you know that, by replicating that image, you can arrive at something in a different sort of process.

I enjoy the bigger concepts much more and I'm able to do that in some designs. A few of my projects for Flos are like that. String Lights, for example, were quite a new way of lighting and that started as an abstract thought.

Amy Frearson:So you never really work to briefs?

Michael Anastassiades:No never. Usually with brands it gets defined in terms of the type of object, butfrom then on it's up to me to come up with an idea that satisfies that. I think it works in that way.

I've never worked on a single brief for Flos.I've always presented concepts that I have worked on for long period of times and they have never been turned down. That's the biggest satisfaction. I believe in this level of communication that exists between manufacturer and designer. I think great things happen when that relationship is mastered.

Amy Frearson: A more recent definingmoment of your career was your retrospective exhibition at NiMAC in Cyprus. What made you decide to hold an exhibition in your home country rather than somewhere more mainstream?

Michael Anastassiades:I had various informal proposals for a big show from different institutions and in different parts of the world, but it felt right for me to do it in Cyprus. That's where I grew up. I'd never had a show of that scale before, so it made sense for it to be there.It didn't really matter whether commercially it made any sense, because it didn't, such a small place and small audience, but hopefully with the book it did travel.

Amy Frearson: What did you show in the exhibition?

Michael Anastassiades:We showed one complete body of work, which was the Mobile Chandeliers. We showed 13 mobiles in that show.You can argue that these are mobiles because they move, but they are not really mobiles; they're not structures in perfect equilibrium.But balance has always been an important concept in my work.

Amy Frearson: What elsehave you got coming up this year?

Michael Anastassiades:I have lot of new projects and new collaborations for Salone. We're extending some collaborations that we started with some brands last year, there are some new things with companies that we work with, and there are new things and new companies that have been added to the list. Last year we were given so many opportunities; it was amazing to be able to realise projects beyond the world of furniture and lighting, like the Bang & Olufsen speaker and the water fountain project. It makes me very happy to receive these invitations from completely different parts of the design world.

Amy Frearson: Is it a challenge to ensure that your brand doesn't become secondary to these new opportunities?

Michael Anastassiades:Absolutely, but my brand still remains the ultimate platform for me to express my ideas and my real passion for lighting. I need to keep that alive.

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"We need to create things that last" says Michael Anastassiades - Dezeen

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Landfill Compactor Market Exceeded Industry Evolution in Coming Year's - Fusion Science Academy

Disco was overthrown in a rock supremacist coup in Chicago in 1979. The White Soxs stadium was packed with mostly white folks bearing records by mainly black artists. An angry radio DJ named Steve Dahl led the chant of Disco sucks! before literally detonating a crate of the offensive product in centre field.

The politics of the game-changing stunt went largely unremarked at the time. But looking back from a world where every kind of music goes, cohabiting and cross-marrying in a fabulous multi-coloured and genre-fluid dance party, its hard not to be disturbed by the act of cultural fascism.

In that light, the sudden disco embrace of Moon Duos latest album is a timely gesture. Known these past 10 years for their darkly simmering psychedelic rock, the San Francisco-based duo of Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada have set the mirror ball spinning over Stars Are the Lightwith conscious intent.

Sanae Yamada and Ripley Johnson, aka Moon Duo.Credit:Brett Johnson

I wouldnt say that we made a disco record necessarily, keyboard player Yamada says, but starting some kind of creative conversation with the ideas around disco definitely led us to a different place.

While she was too young to observe the '70s club revolution first-hand, she believes that the concept of the space of the disco is something that holds a lot of relevance today.

It was a space of fluid identity and self-expression for people who maybe felt marginalised by mainstream culture. In a disco youd have amazing fashion and amazing dancing in this very expressive space where people could go and do whatever they had in mind to do and be whoever they had in mind to be. I think that type of inclusion and that type of liberation is something that holds a lot of appeal.

That might be part of what we still feel whenever a Chic or Donna Summer record throws a party into hyperdrive: freedom hardwired to the groove by the dark art of the disco beat. Whats certain is that compared with the density of Moon Duos previous two albums Occult Architecture Vol. 1 and 2 this new one is a decidedly feel-good affair.

Yamada says she was wanting really effervescent textures: sonic glitter, kind of.

Our music has always been a kind of conversation between guitar and electronic music; synthesiser and drum machine and stuff like that, so we wanted to bring the machine-type elements more on top on this record. When we finished the Occult Architecture pair of records, we had the sense that we had completed a cycle of our musical project. We had sort of found this sound as a band and cultivated it over a series of records and both Ripley and I had this sense that we needed to change our tack a bit; that to keep going with that sound, we would just end up repeating ourselves.

Its a slightly ironic turn for a band that has valued repetition, at least as a compositionalelement, for so long. While they never actively pursued the psychedelic label, fundamental elements of reiteration, drone, obscure lyrics and impressionistic sound layers have always applied.

As a member of San Francisco drone-rock experimentalistsWooden Shjips, Ripley Johnsons psychedelic allegiances are well known. Yamada met him through mutual friends when she moved there in 2004. They promptly went to a Bob Dylan concert in Berkeley (it was a great one, actually; he was playing piano most of the night), but it was in a shared love of the Velvet Underground that they found their essential aesthetic.

In that respect, Moon Duo is far from a lone voyager. Lou Reed and John Cales marriage of rock and avant-garde birthed a movement that echoes seemingly eternal, wherever walls of electric sound collide.

Yamada expresses reservations about the guitar-worshipping limitations of the so-called neo-psych movement but concedes that the ideas of transcendence and the psychedelic are in the DNA of what we are doing.

To me, the idea of psychedelia is an idea of endless expansion; an idea of revealing things in a different light; turning the mundane inside out to show its extraordinary essence somehow. Ive always loved that as a concept. I think thats a really expansive concept and it applies to a massive range of artistic expressions so Im perfectly happy to fit in with that concept of psychedelia.

Visually, Moon Duos emphasis on stage projections and trippy lighting design also draws clear lines from the mid '60s experiments of the Velvets and Pink Floyd. But inevitably, the new-found disco undertow has brought a new shimmer to this ingredient too.

Trippy lighting design accompanies Moon Duo on stage. Credit:Benny van der Plank

Last April in Manchester, in collaboration with local projection artist Emmanuel Baird, the band unveiled a show called Stardust Highway: Experiments in Stoner Disco. The intention to explore ideas of time and ritual, as well as the human desire to transcend material reality has since evolved into their current stage show.

The good news, 40 years since the night of the White Sox smackdown, is that this disco insurgence has largely escaped the wrath of the rock police. Sure there was the odd music press sulk about duff synth and tinny drum machine, but for such a brave evolution, critical response to Stars Are the Light has been overwhelmingly positive.

Thats transcendence for you.

One of the big things is just the need for connection on a really human level, Yamada says of the Duos renewed intention. The lyrics are less esoteric, less occult, as it were, than they may have been in the past. Theyre more about just the struggles of humanity. Love and loss, feeling lost and seeking out other humans. Thats kind of where this is coming from.

Moon Duo perform at Melbourne Recital Centre, Feb 11; The Zoo, Brisbane, Feb 12; and Sydneys Oxford Art Factory Feb 13.

Michael Dwyer is an arts and music writer

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Mirror ball spins anew as Moon Duo take a shine to disco - Sydney Morning Herald

After moving to the area to attend East Tennessee State University, Williams decided to stay in the region after graduating in 2005, working as a freelance artist and screen printer before taking a job at Nelson Fine Art and Frames, a position she loved until she left 10 years later.

Now, Williams has turned her full attention toward being a solo artist, working to get her screen printing business, Asterosperma, up and running while continuing to complete her own artwork in a sustainable, eco-friendly way.

Williams briefly:

Favorite local restaurant: Main St Pizza

Favorite color: Green, but also orange

Dogs or cats: Cats rule! Dogs drool!

Favorite movie: If I have to pick, Dr. Strangelove, but also Little Shop of Horrors.

Favorite music/musician: Its probably a tie between Talking Heads and Devo.

How did you first get into screen printing and illustrating?

Ive been drawing for as long as I can remember, and even as a kid, my drawings were illustrative in nature. There was always some narrative I was working with, either a story I had heard or one I invented myself. I was introduced to screen printing in art school, and I took to it like a fish to water. It not only perfectly suited my style at the time, but it has also affected the evolution of my work over the decades. Plus, it really appeals to my penchant for methodical processes.

What's your favorite part of being an artist, and whendid you realize being an artist was the career you wanted?

Thats a really hard question to answer. Its just what I do. I like being creative and making (and breaking) my own rules. Its very satisfying.It was never a conscious decision on my part. Its just something Ive always done. Its the only thing thats ever strongly appealed to me, career-wise.

What advice do you have for young/new artists?

Just finish the work, even if you mess up or hate the direction a piece seems to be going. Everything does not have to be a masterpiece, but you can still learn and take something away every time. Everything I have ever made Ive hated at some point during the process. You just have to see it through to the end.

What's your favorite thing you've made, what was the process like and why is it your favorite?

A few years ago, I completed a series of 10 prints illustrating the ancient Greek poem The Battle of the Frogs and Mice, which I was also translating from Greek at the time (a favorite hobby of mine). The process was fast paced because I was on a firm deadline. I didnt have time to get stuck on small details or overthink things. It was more like a stream of consciousness approach to image making, which isnt how I typically work.

It gave me a chance to tell a complete story from beginning to end through imagery, carefully selecting the most important scenes. It also combined two of my passions, drawing and translating ancient Greek. The work was very well received, as well, and people still bring it up to me, how much they love the story and the images years later, something that really means a lot to me as an artist.

Also, one of the images from the series was recently used on the cover of a beautiful translation of the poem, translated by Matthew Hosty and published by the Oxford University Press. I received my copy a few days ago on New Years Eve, and I can honestly say, it was this Greek language nerds happiest moment and a really great ending to a very eventful year!

Whats next for your career, aside from working on your business?

Its a very fulfilling life, but one thing that has been missing after leaving the gallery was my role in connecting artists with the community. To fill this need, Ive recently had the pleasure of joining the Johnson City Public Arts Committee, where I hope to offer my skills and knowledge to help continue the great work theyve been doing for the community.

You can find Stacie Williams work on her website, http://www.asterosperma.com, or on Instagram and Facebook, @asterosperma.

See original here:
Featured Artist: Stacie Williams cut her teeth locally before branching out on her own - Johnson City Press (subscription)

Asia is the most expensive region with five of the most expensive cities globally. Furthermore, the three most expensive cities are all in Asia.

This is according to Julius Baers inaugural Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report. It looked premium good and services at 28 cities across the world. Strangely, the cheapest to live in, Mumbai, was also in Asia.

he worlds most expensive city is Hong Kong, which ranks above the 90th percentile for property, beauty services, fine dining, business class flights, and lawyer fees.

European cities were noted for offering the best value. The best for luxurious living were Barcelona and Frankfurt. London is the priciest city in the continent with Zurich a close second.

Rajesh Manwani, head markets and wealth management solutions Asia Pacific of Julius Baer, said: The inaugural edition of Julius Baers Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report showcases the trends in high-end consumption around the world, which are of relevance to our clients. The methodology was pioneered in Julius Baers Wealth Report Asia, which has been issued since 2011. For the first time it has now been expanded to include 28 cities globally. We hope these findings will shed insight on global lifestyle trends in 2020.

The report also focused on conscious consumption or a shift to less is more.

Findings included:

Nicolas de Skowronski, head wealth management solutions and member of the Executive Board of Bank Julius Baer, added: Our analysis reveals the growing desire among consumers to balance their buying decisions with their social, environmental and political convictions. This began with the millennials, but the baton has definitely been passed down the generations now. Even Generation Alpha is getting involved, as I know from personal experience. The conscious consumer is here to stay, and we see a fast evolution of existing offerings and major investments into innovations across industries as a response to this growing demand.

Originally posted here:
Asia host to five of the ten most expensive cities globally - Verdict

The yachting and cruise industry contributes significantly to the pollution of the seas and oceans, even if it can be difficult to forget about it as you chill on board a private superyacht or an all-inclusive cruise. Exhaust emissions, noise, wastewater and solid waste are just some of the ways in which this means of travel contributes to an already severe problem: the degradation of the Earths waters.

The superyacht industry has already started taking notice of it and is working towards greener, more efficient vessels that ditch traditional means of propulsion and incorporate means to dispose of garbage and waste through recycling or reuse. The SY200 fits right in.

SY200 is just a concept for the time being, but given the boom in interest in greener means of travel, whether on water or on land, being commissioned to be built is probably a matter of time. Its name is derived from its impressive size: its 200 feet long and is meant to be the little sister of the SY300, Briands first in the family of self-sufficient performance yachts.

The SY200 is a stunner, as newly released renders reveal. More impressively, it comes with the performance of a racing yacht and no impact on the environment, because its powered entirely by wind.

Guest areas are available on both decks, and theres a huge skylight that covers 80 percent of the length of the vessel, providing shelter from the elements and natural light, along with a view of the carbon fiber mast above. The owners aft steering station is designed as a place for guests to socialize, but theres also a table seating 16 in the cockpit, protected by a hardtop.

Unlike many of todays superyachts, the SY200 doesnt feature a pool or expansive entertainment areas. But it more than makes up for that by being completely emissions-free: it sails by the power of wind thanks to the sloop sailing rig, which works in combination with the slightly inverted bow to deliver top hydrodynamic efficiency.

Underwater turbines can charge the batteries on board: Briand says the vessel will be fitted with a 20-metric ton battery bank, more than enough to power the entire ship.

When docked, the SY200 would power silently, using the energy generated while sailing and stored in the battery bank.

I believe we need to embrace lateral thinking when it comes to the future of sailing yacht design, Briand says of the new concept, as cited by Superyacht Times.

We want to work alongside owners to create the perfect renewable energy machine, using only wind, water and solar energy to run the yacht and provide an exceptional experience of peace on board and exploration of the sea, he adds.

Briand is convinced the SY200 would appeal to the eco-conscious seafarer, but he or she would have to be willing to sacrifice some of the luxuries of modern sailing in the process. While this concept superyacht stands out for its sleek and elegant design, the focus on its reduced carbon footprint and efficiency translate into fewer amenities than todays millionaire might expect on board such a vessel.

See more here:
Phillippe Briand SY200: The Performance of a Racing Yacht With Zero Emissions - autoevolution

For the fashion-savvy bride who's buying multiple looks, Macon says the bridal stylist is also a trend that's here to stay. "With the shift in focus from just the dress to the wedding wardrobe, the role of the bridal stylist is becoming a big deal. Which is why we decided to start offering this service at Over The Moonto help brides put together a wedding weekend wardrobe that feels curated and cohesive, but also organic, and never overly styled. That extends to the bridal party, too: Matchy-matchy bridesmaids dresses are gone for good, she adds. Perhaps this is a result of the rise in bridal styling, but the old school youll wear it again, one-silhouette-fits-all bridesmaids dress seems to be [disappearing].

Last year, Rosemary Hattenbach offered a solution: Stick with a complementary palette, and let members of your bridal party wear different patterns, styles, hues, and designers that express their individual points of view. Even better, your friends will have a lot more fun if they feel good about what they're wearing, not resenting the polyesterdress you chose for them.

Like ball gowns and excessively-fancy meals, over-the-top flowers and table settings feel like relics of the past. My favorite part of the last decade was moving on from typical bridal decor to more architectural designs, wedding planner Stefanie Cove says. We also saw a shift toward longer, family-style tables, which then led to looser garland florals [instead of classic arrangements]. Im thankful that brides began to steer clear of tight centerpieces and mercury glass candles!

Planner Marcy Blum echoed Coves sentiments about florals that snake down a table and hang over the edges, which look relaxed and dont obscure your guests vision. Lynn Easton of Easton Events added that, in general, brides are more willing to experiment with color, pattern, and customization: Whether its on the plate, napkin, tablecloth, glass or all mixed together, its all about pattern play right now.

Of course, color and pattern look great in photos, too. The shift away from white-and-beige-everything may just be a result of our magpie tendencies: We need bright, eye-catching things to pique our interestotherwise we keep on scrolling. If some of Vogues recent wedding slideshows are any indication, from a Burning Man-inspired weekend in Lake Como to this fashion-forward ceremony at the new TWA terminal, weddings will be even bolder (and more fun!) in the 2020s. And maybe more dazzling, too: How many brides and grooms will toast the 20s with a Great Gatsby-style bash? If and when that becomes the next trend, youll know where to read about it.

Originally posted here:
How Weddings Changed Over the Last DecadeAnd What's Next for 2020 - Vogue

Posted on Friday, January 10th, 2020 by Fred Topel

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clements vampire comedy What We Do In the Shadows became a hit FX series last year. Its back for a second season and FX presented a panel for the Television Critics Association to preview it. Cast members Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillen and Mark Proksch were on the panel with Clement and executive producer/writer Stefani Robinson.

They revealed whats coming up for each of the characters, including big guest stars like Mark Hamill and season 1 characters who could no longer appear. What We Do In the Shadows returns April 15 on FX.

What We Do in the Shadows threw down the gauntlet for celebrity guest stars in an episode where the main characters met the vampire council. Clement and Waititi reprised their roles from the movie, and Tilda Swinton, Evan Rachel Wood and Wesley Snipes cameoed.

We have some really good guest stars, and we have one particularly huge one, Clement said. I dont know whether to say. Mark Hamill.

Thats all Clement would say about his role, including whether hes a vampire or a human. No more, Clement said. Its a secret.

The vampire council is still coming after the house vampires too.

In a pretty major way, I would say them escaping the council has consequences throughout the entirety of the season, Proksch said.

Matt Berry plays Laszlo, and Berry revealed he gets kicked out of the house in season two.

I have to leave the house at one point, Berry said. I have to leave the house and I have to change my name because Ive done something despicable. So Im not outwardly a vampire for an episode.

Berry meets another famous character who is also a vampire.

Then theres Elvis, Berry says. He he pops up. He was made into a vampire in the 70s, just before he died, 77. Hes in the basement. That was a lot of fun being with him.

The season finale of What We Do In the Shadows had Nadia (Demetriou) rekindle her eternal affair with her reincarnated human lover (Jake McDorman), who Laszlo always kills throughout the centuries. Seeing Laszlo step in again rekindled their marriage, and that continues in season two.

Nadja and Laszlo are in a very good place, Demetriou said. Theyre very, very in love and so a little more sexually active than ever.

Theyre also making music to celebrate their love.

We have a music room which was a lot of fun where you will hear us performing songs that weve written over the last three, four hundred years, Berry said. And theyre in different sorts of styles. Theres a disco number. Theres a baroque style thing. Singer/songwriter, acoustic.

Demetriou added, Electronic, Ragtime. Scatting, I did some scatting. Theyve done it all. And they wrote a lot of hits, big hits.

Although Clement comes from the musical background of Flight of the Conchords, Berry said he wrote Laszlos songs.

The season finale also revealed that Guillermo (Guillan), the human whos been waiting a decade to become a vampire, is actually related to famed vampire hunter Van Helsing. Season two will explore his conflict.

Guillermo finding out that hes a natural vampire killer, yet he wants to be a vampire is a big part of the season, Clement said. A lot of the episodes are standalone stories as well.

The vampires already pretty much ignored Guillermo, so having a Van Helsing in their midst doesnt really phase them.

A lot of it they dont notice, but then, eventually, yes, Clement said. That all becomes conscious.

Its a juicy evolution of the role for Guillan at least.

Guillermo gets to do a lot of action stuff, Guillen said. And its a conflict for Guillermo to want something and be good at something else. So its a nice crossroad.

In season one, Beanie Feldstein played Jenna, a girl Nadja turned. Since Booksmart, Feldstein became unavailable for season two.

Unfortunately, shes just been too busy, Clement said. Its a little disappointing for me because she was planned to be a big character, but we found other really fun stories and other people to bring on.

Taika Waititi directed some season one episodes, but he is too busy to direct season two. And while Colin got a girlfriend in season 1, the emotional vampire Evie (Vanessa Bayer), but Colin will be single again.

Evie wont be back this season, but I find love interests in other places very comfortably, Proksch said. So Colin gets into some sexcapades. As America wants, America gets.

Read more here:
'What We Do in the Shadows' Season 2 Will Guest Star Mark Hamill [TCA 2020] - /FILM

The renowned Chinese science-fiction writer Cixin Liu is best known as the author of the bestselling, Obama-beloved, Hugo-winning, and truly mind-bending trilogy The Three Body Problem. In 2018, the Brandeis Novel Symposium organized a one-day conference about that work, so we jumped at the chance to speak with Liu when he visited Brandeis. In the booth, John asked the questions (which we had written together) while Pu did simultaneous translation.

John Plotz: Mr. Liu, hello. Let me begin by asking which writers had an influence on you. And were there poets or painters or filmmakers who also had the kind of impact that Jules Verne or H. G. Wells had on you?

Cixin Liu: I would like to divide the influential writers into two categories: mainstream, canonical writers and science-fiction writers. When it comes to the first category, of canonical serious literature, the biggest influence on me was Golden Age Russian literatureespecially Tolstoy.

I once had a misunderstanding about, or misperception of, my fascination with Russian literature. I attributed this fascination to historical conditions, because back in my formative years Russian literature was quite dominant on the Chinese cultural front. And I once believed that my love for the Russian Revolution, for Russian literature, was only a part of this cultural situation.

But, when I think again and look back again, the most intensive literature reading of my life started to take place during my middle-school and high-school years. That was already the beginning of Chinas age of reforms and opening up. A lot of Western literary works were introduced into China at this time, translated into Chinese, including a lot of Western European and North American works, in addition to Russian works. If we take this into consideration, then probably my love for Russian literatureespecially Tolstoys huge influence on meis simply thanks to my personality.

That is so fascinating. Im rereading War and Peace right now. His world-building capacity is astonishing: the war spaces and the peace spaces seem to be disconnectedyet suddenly readers realize the deep connection underneath. Can you talk more about how you compare your own work to Tolstoys?

My favorite Tolstoy is also War and Peace. Thats the biggest influence on me.

There are two reasons why I love War and Peace so much. The first one, of course, is the panoramic totality of the historical world that Tolstoy created. That kind of grand narrative is simply powerful for me. But another reason is also the Russianness of this work, so deeply rooted in its Russian spirit.

There is a sense of profundity that overwhelms me. In my more recent work, there are always echoes and shadows of Tolstoys War and Peace. But, for me, these are simply very, very low-level imitations, which cannot even begin to match Tolstoys profundity.

And are there artists who werent writers who affected you like that?

Yes. Kubrick, for one, is my favorite filmmaker. Of course, 2001 is a classic I love. But all of his works have a lot of influence on me.

This year is the 51st anniversary of the making of 2001. For a fan of science fiction like me, this film has the status of the Bible. Last month in Beijing, together with many other science-fiction writers and critics, I saw the digitally repaired version of 2001. And all of us were pilgrims, not just moviegoers. There are many poets and painters that I admire, but, in terms of influence, they cannot compare to what I have just mentioned.

* * *

When you began to be a writer, what sort of things did you write? And when did you begin to write science fiction?

My experience of writing, actually, was quite simple. I only wrote science fiction. I started with science fiction and I ended up being a science-fiction writer. I started as a big fan of science fiction. And in that sense, I might be part of the first generation of Chinese writers who engaged with science fiction self-consciously, which means, we wanted to become science-fiction writers, as such.

Here, I want to further clarify the differences between the fans of science fiction and the writers of science fiction. I was a big fan of science fiction, and that was a new subculture in China. I was part of the first generation of self-conscious fans of science fiction, but science-fiction writers of course existed way before I started my work. But, I think, in terms of a subculture of science fiction, we were the first generation that generated that kind of self-consciousness.

Can you talk about how that subculture existed? Was it connected by magazines, or was there an online cultureor was it books that you read in translation or books by other Chinese writers? What was the material connection that made you a fandom?

I started my fascination with science fiction while I was a primary-school student. That was still in the final years of the Cultural Revolution. There was no cultural landscape of media as we know it today. There was not even the concept of science fiction yet in China. Back then, what I read was translated science fiction from the 50s, the period of early Peoples Republic. The early socialist period was a relatively open era, culturally. At that time, a lot of Western science-fiction works were translated into Chinese.

During the Cultural Revolution, those books were no longer considered politically orthodox enough. My father just put them underneath the bed.

Those first science-fiction books I read belonged to my father. During the Cultural Revolution, those books were no longer considered politically orthodox enough. My father just put them underneath the bed. So, as a young boy, I sneaked under the bed and started to read those words. Among those authors were H. G. Wells and Soviet science-fiction writers.

And who were the other fans of science fiction?

This reading experience of mine was very private, very intimate. Back then, I didnt even want to let others know I was reading this kind of book. Were there any other young boys, young girls doing the same thing? I dont know. Because this kind of reading just made me like an isolated island.

* * *

When it comes to philosophy and spirituality, are there writers or thinkers that have influenced you?

In terms of religion, Im an atheist. So, I dont think any religion has a political bearing on me.

Let me focus on my philosophical influences. Philosophy has a profound impact on me. Thats because, in my view, if we compare science and philosophy, which one is closer to science fiction? Actually, philosophy is closer.

Im with you.

If we take science as a worldview, according to this worldview, theres only one single image of the world. But philosophy is entirely different.

Every philosopher has his or her own worldview. And every worldview is so different from the others. If an alien came from outside this universe, they would be totally puzzled by the debates between our philosophers. This alien would be puzzled because it doesnt seem like the philosophers are talking about the same world.

In this regard, philosophy is closest to science fiction, because different writers of science fiction are striving to create different world images of social formation, of history, of the universe. Of course, the way I am influenced by philosophers might be different from other peoples pursuit of philosophical insight.

For others, they might want to find the truth in a philosophical discourse. But for me, every philosophical discourse will be judged by one standardwhich is, whether its interesting, whether theres a story to tell.

One really curious outcome: some radically opposing philosophical schools have equal influence on me. For example, idealism is, of course, so vastly different from materialism. But, for me, theyre both sources of inspiration.

* * *

There is a Chinese term, ke huan, which is an acronym that means science and fantasy. Science can be a concept or a discourse. It can refer to a discipline of natural sciences, but also a method shared by disciplines. It also means a worldview, a way of thinking and reasoning and of modern enlightenment.

Butand this is important for science fictionscience is sometimes confused with technology, which creates its own kind of world picture. As an engineeras a science-fiction writer living in this post-Einstein technological worldwhat is your definition of science?

This is indeed a very complicated issue, especially when it comes to sciences relationship with technology.

First off, technology precedes science. Way before the rise of modern science, there were so many technologies, so many technological innovations. But today technology is deeply embedded in the development of science. Basically, in our contemporary world, science sets a glass ceiling for technology. The degree of technological development is predetermined by the advances of science.

But there is also a paradoxical interdependence between the two. What is remarkably interesting is how technology becomes so interconnected with science. In the ancient Greek world, science develops out of logic and reason. There is no reliance on technology. The big game changer is Galileos method of doing experiments in order to prove a theory and then putting theory back into experimentation. After Galileo, science had to rely on technology. This kind of reliance becomes stronger and stronger up until our own time.

Today, the frontiers of physics are totally conditioned on the developments of technology. This is unprecedented. Back in China, there has been a huge debate about whether we need to build a new particle accelerator, because the investment for its construction could be as high as 100 billion.

And yet, what information you can obtain from todays technological accelerator is still far, far away from what you need for experiments in the most advanced physics. The difference is 11 zeros. There is a poetic nickname for this difference between technologys capacity and the requirements of the scientific question: a desert of physics.

I know we have so much to talk about, but it would be really interesting to think about mathematics in this respect, too. Do you think of mathematics as among the sciences or in a perpendicular relationship to them, because mathematics doesnt need that kind of empiricism?

Its curious to see which side we want them to be on, because some people will say mathematics does not belong to science. But even if we say mathematics is part of science, mathematics is an exceptional case, because it does not rely on technology.

Following up on the sciences reliance on technology, I would like to point to a very paradoxical phenomenon. Right now, we can see technology is based on the advances of science. Meanwhile, science has to rely on technology for verification. If there has ever been a time when this circularity was goodwhen science and technology supported each others developmentthen I would like to say that would have been the early 20th century, the golden age of modern physics.

But what we have today might be, instead, a vicious circle. That is, science and technology are mutually limited by each other.

If we compare science to a fruit tree, those fruits that are within our reach are already picked. The most important, the most pioneering branches, are totally beyond our reach.

What can we do? We turn to the fields of information and communication. Beyond information and communication, however, it seems to me that theres no breakthrough in our near future.

Is there a way to think from the outside about that vicious circle of technology and science? Could science fiction itself have a role to play in changing that locked relationshipperhaps just by offering a different way of thinking about the two?

Youve assigned a mission to science fiction that is too sublime. I continue to see science fiction as simply part of popular culture. If it can help the readers open up their horizon and inspire them to explore even more, that would be a huge success already.

* * *

Lets talk about the second element of the term ke huan, that is, fantasy. The question is about the relationship between fantasy and realism, which is obviously a key part of modern fiction.

Does realism have a role in your literary formation? Do you think of science fiction as a form of realism?

My personal view is that there should not be just one single paradigm for science fiction. There should be various kinds of science fiction.

Of course, some writers will use science fiction, or elements of fantasy, to allegorize realityto be critical of reality and to represent and reflect upon reality. This kind of science fiction gained a particular name in Chinese. Chinese critics like to label it science-fantasy realism.

But, as for me, Im not interested in this approach, tradition, or tendency. Im not interested in allegorizing, criticizing, and representing reality. For me, the most valuablethe most preciouspart of science fiction is that we can build a world entirely based on imagination.

Everything is purely up in the air. That kind of fantastic imagination is the reason why I love science fiction. I remember one historian said that the difference between humans and other species is that we have the ability to use our imaginations to build something. Actually, given the role that imagination has played in our evolution as a species, this creation of the non-actual might be the only ability in which we can surpass artificial intelligence.

And yet, you love Tolstoy. And the realism in Tolstoy is that hes committed to the facts that we already know happened. And then the imagination is inside that factual structure; Tolstoy builds inside the Napoleonic Wars. So, do you see what youre doing as a writer as similar to Tolstoy?

For me, realism is the platform, the takeoff ground for my imagination. But if I have started with realism, then my goal is always to reach the pure realm of the imaginary.

We should not drag science fiction from the level of fantasy down to the level of realism. Rather, I would like to have science fiction up in the air, creating something that is totally non-actual.

Chinese readers like to start with a representation of reality. This is vastly different from the tradition of Western science fiction. Western science fiction sometimes lifts the reader off the ground by the hair and then throws everyone into thin air. But for Chinese readers you need to have a slow build-up of this fantasy. For that, you still need realism.

To further explain the role of realism in my work, we can use the metaphor of a kite. My imagination can be high in the air, but I still have a thin line linking it back to reality. That seems to be a stabilizing force in my work.

So, that would be a distinction from fantasy, is that right?

Yes, I do feel thats what distinguishes my work from fantasy. In Chinese, science fiction can mean science fantasy. From my perspective, science fiction is surreal but never supernatural.

This leads me to my interpretation of mythology. We have a misunderstanding of mythology today. We believe that mythology is fiction. But think of our ancient ancestors who were the recipients of mythologyfor them, mythology was reality.

In our contemporary culture, I think science fiction is the only literary genre that can replace the role of mythology. Because in science fiction, even though its pure fantasy, there is a sense of truthfulness. Whereas the genre of fantasy will never be able to provide that sense of truthfulness.

To switch gears a bit: do you think of yourself as having a message or messages for your audiences?

Ninety percent of my efforts are about telling a creative, compelling story. The focus is always on my striving, as a writer, toward compelling storytelling. If theres some message in my work, its either something I see in hindsight, once the work is finished, or the interpretation of my beloved critics.

Is there a thematic allegorical drive? Is there an allegorical message I want to convey? I dont think so. Im always fascinated and surprised by how rich the interpretation of my work has become. So many rich implications of my work are never in my mind, but they have been produced by the interpreters.

* * *

Can we ask you a question about translation? Your masterpieces are read and interpreted all over the world. Non-Chinese speakers like me come to this work through translation.

How do you feel about being translated? Are you worried about aspects being lost in translation? Or are you excited about translation as a second life, as something gained?

Conventionally speaking, we believe there has to be a certain loss when we do translingual translation. The more the writers roots work deeply into their national cultures, the more loss they face in translation. An example of this is Mo Yan, who received a Nobel Prize less than a decade ago. To translate Mo Yan means, I believe, that you will necessarily lose something that is truly Chinese.

But in this regard, science fiction is a happy exception. Because in China, science fiction is 100 percent a foreign import. Many concepts we use in Chinese science fiction, for example, are originally Western concepts, Western words, Western terms. Therefore, its a little bit easier for our translators to bring them back into Western languages.

More important is the nature of science fiction as a form of fictional storytelling. In the history of science fiction, humanity always appears in its totality rather than in different nations. In light of this, we can say that science fiction poses the questions that are shared by the whole human community.

Science fiction does not simply pose questions that are unique to a single ethnic group, a single community, or a single nation-state. Since science fiction responds to the crises confronting humanity as a whole, science fiction becomes a genre that is particularly suitable for transnational, transcultural communication.

When it comes to my own work, Im particularly lucky. In fact, Im luckier than most science-fiction writers. I have two really wonderful translators. When my work is in their hands, I can assure you that my work is not lost in translation. My work gains a lot in translation. Its no exaggeration on my part to say that the literary quality of my English translation is better than my original.

I dont believe that.

If you can read in English, then please, just buy the English translation of my work.

* * *

I have a question about virtual reality. The first volume of your wonderful Three Body Problem trilogy begins both with real history, and, of course, with the idea of virtual reality: the online game The Three Body Problem. The setting of this VR game is a narrative strategy, which enables a representation of something that is by nature unrepresentable.

How do you think about virtual reality and the new frontier of the virtual universe, which is created both in the inward-looking individual and in the community by all kinds of innovative new mediasocial media, videogames, online communication?

A simpler form of the question: are you a big fan of videogames or virtual-reality devices or apps or social media platforms? Have you been really interested in and immersed in that kind of subculture?

Im totally open to the media immersion, the age of media-related innovations, although I have to admit that my screen time has become limited. Its now reserved, generally, for work-related matters. Im actually quite interested in spending more time in this way but cant, because Im just too busy.

For a short period of time, I was really passionate about videogames. But that was the videogame before the internet. That was the time when Windows was not yet out there. How did that fascination disappear? Looking back, I would say that its because I got super busy with my work, with my family. The love for videogames started to take a back seat.

For me, I think we need to pay attention to one important trend in information technology: the advance of information technologies creates a new situation, whereby many of our desires and needs can be met by virtual reality or the world of the internet.

As of now, as were talking, I think that the needs that can be fulfilled through virtual reality and the internet only account for a small fraction of human desires.

But I have no doubts that in the futuremaybe the near futurealmost all human desires will be able to be fulfilled in the worlds created by VR, AI, and the internet. For me, the immediate outcome of this is a change in humanity. Human civilization will be changed from an outward-looking to an inward-looking civilization.

How do I differentiate these two types of human civilization? For me, an outward-looking civilization is defined by the age of the great ocean navigations, the discovery of new continents. Thats a desire for discovering new grounds of human development. Whereas in our probable inward-looking civilization of the future, this desire would be nonfunctional.

In the short term, an inward-looking civilization is a civilization of happiness. But in the long term theres no visionary prospects for an inward-looking civilization.

Within that supercomputer, there are 10 billion human beings. And these 10 billion human beings are happy. For me, this happiness is horrible.

I have a solid beliefthis might just be methat we might have a really prosperous future in store for us. But if in that future theres no interstellar travel, then, for me, that is not a good future for humans.

So, I have a horrible dystopia in my mind. In that future of our inward-looking civilization, the ecology of the earth will be restored. You will have reforestation and the best ecological surface of the world. But across this world, you will not be able to see any single human individual. Instead, there will only be a huge cave, in which you have a supercomputer. Within that supercomputer, there are 10 billion human beings. And these 10 billion human beings are happy. For me, this happiness is horrible.

We already have some signs of that kind of life. Take any big metropolitan city. If you live in Beijing or New York, for example, from your birth certificate to your death certificate, you do not need to leave a room that has wi-fi. You can spend all your life in an internet environment.

Wow. That is a dark vision for technology and for science. It reminds me of The Machine Stops, by E. M. Forster. Do you know the story?

Oh, yes. I see what you mean.

Everyone lives underground inside a hexagonal chamber, like bees in a honeycomb.

Thinking about E. M. Forster: his work was, I believe, from the early 20th century.

Yes.

Do you see? The kind of dystopia I describe is already predicted.

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To Reach the Pure Realm of the Imaginary: A Conversation with Cixin Liu - JSTOR Daily