Every year the Harvard Business Review creates a list of the year's top 20 Breakthrough Ideas. The 2008 list included a Hub Culture concept around P2P finance, tied to the development of Ven, Hub's social currency available inside Facebook:

"Peer-to-peer, or P2P, networks have thrown the media industry into turmoil, changing the flow of information from a one-to-many model (with newspaper publishers, Hollywood studios, and big music companies as the sources) to a many-to-many model (with blogs, YouTube, and file-sharing forums as the venues). The ability of individuals to both consume and create content—news, movies, and music—greatly threatens traditional players. Witness the struggles of established U.S. newspaper publishers—the share prices of the four largest have fallen between 10% and 50% during the generally rising market of the past three years—because of challenges from new media and advertising models, including P2P schemes.

A shock like the one that jolted the media is poised to strike other industries, perhaps more disruptively. It is already being felt in financial services. Start with the phenomenon of microcredit: the lending of small sums to, and then within, social groups at the village level in poor economies, with members collectively guaranteeing the bank’s loan. Combine that with the power of a global digital network, and a new model for banking begins to take shape.

Indeed, P2P financial systems are set to reprise in the banking industry what has happened in media. Already, websites like Kiva, Prosper, and LendingClub have extended microbanking to consumers in developed economies. In such systems, everyone is a tiny bank, making it easier to raise small amounts of capital among people who know—or at least, because of their social network, trust—one another.  Research by TIME magazine shows that early default rates on these types of 'social loans' are many times lower than those enjoyed by traditional banks.

It is only a matter of time before these digital systems close the arbitrage enjoyed by large banks, which lend at up to 15% interest but pay only about 5% on capital. Why do business with a bank when your network’s lending and savings interest rates are both 7%? To grasp the power of such a system, imagine your local credit union with the membership and social networking capabilities of MySpace.

Furthermore, people will soon use personal currencies to make payments for “knowledge services” provided by other individuals, such as social introductions and shopping tips. These currencies will be traded on exchanges at floating rates determined by the market in real time. Like national currencies, personal currencies derive their value from the reputation and size of the network—status as an expert and number of friends, in this case, rather than market expectations and size of the economy.

An even greater shock could hit the energy industry, transforming it into a network that would make the current electricity grid seem rudimentary. Again, the consumer-producer would be the driving force. Some people are already installing home-based solar or other energy sources that allow them to sell electricity to the grid. Companies are using the roofs of their buildings for installations that turn the facilities into net power producers. Energy production and distribution could ultimately shift from a few key players to many participants."

The real breakthrough will come when cars generate more electricity than they consume—not as outlandish as it sounds. Hybrid vehicles currently take the kinetic electricity generated by braking and use it to help fuel motion and prolong battery life. BMW is the acknowledged leader in research into these technologies, with recent announcements about advancements in this area. Eventually, kinetic and battery technologies could improve to the point where cars generate excess kinetic power from their motion to be stored and sold back to the grid for micropayments."

The result of these P2P changes could be a system of consumer-producers, where we account more fully for the product cycles of information, finance and energy - producing a more efficient and robust economy as we do so. 

Somehow, the south of France seems to have a way of breezing past whatever happens in the world, content to exist in its own little Bain du Soleil-oiled bubble. In this zone, Cannes has become the principal hub, hosting more annual business travelers than most cities in Europe and regularly presenting such noozey events as the Monaco Grand Prix, Cannes Film Festival, and even the occasional conference.

you cannes do it

Photos courtesy MikE≈510 photostream

So you’ve secured your VIP access at the American Pavilion, scoured that smelly VIP room at Bungalow 8 for an in at the Hotel du Cap, and now you’ve just got to get your ticket before jetting off to Cannes and la vie VIP du Mediterranean...

But wait, quel horror! There are no flights?! No flights! This is typical of France; do not panic.

Normally you fly to Nice, which can accommodate seven passengers only, so at pressure points you are likely to find no availability on anything, including the orange bus with flight attendants in baggy jeans. Another idea is to try Marseille instead.

A taxi to Cannes is only about €300 and two hours of Gauloises fumes, but it is money you would have spent on Cristal sprayed into the pool at Nikki Beach Club, so no real loss. Besides, Marseille is ever nicer, especially if you heading to the western end resorts like San Rafael or St. Tropez, where the traffic jams heading east are especially long

The south of France in general and Cannes in particular have become a favorite hot-spot for international Russians, so brushing up on a bit of the latest might help you on the local scene. A bit touristy, but Le Loft and Bâoli offer the best music for late night antics, and Nikki Beach's temporary installation is a must-see for the month of May. 

playing the rooms field

Upon arrival it is important to understand the intricacies of where you stay. Most social agendas take place in private homes in the hills, and if you're in for work, activities take place in and around the Palais du Festivals, a giant triangle of a building that blocks traffic at the end of the Croisette. Do not under any circumstances assume that because all Cannes hotels say they are full it becomes acceptable to stay in Nice or Bangladesh or the next closest town with available rooms.

If they have rooms, it means no one wants to be there, and you are not trying hard enough. Acceptable nearby locales do include Cap Ferrat, Juan-les-Pins, Antibes, and Mougins.

Conversely, staying up the coast at the Hotel du Cap is worth the distance because you are staying at the Hotel du Cap, and thus allowed to be late for everything. “Traffic, you know, Hotel du Cap,” will suffice as an excuse for the whole week under all circumstances. If you get a hotel in Cannes, the power structure is around the InterContinental Carlton, the Martinez, the Noga Hilton, and the Majestic (our favorite pool). If you need to do an event, know that the Carlton will annoy you and do it half right, while the Martinez is a bit more chic and pricey; go to the Noga Hilton only if you work for Intel and like bad lighting. It's very blah-corporate. The 3.14 Hotel, featuring a private beach on the Croisette, is worth a look if you're in the right mood, even if its only at their ridiculous website.

The truly chic take villas and apartments in the hills along the coast (Mougins) or behind the Croisette point. Philippe Marmayou is the one to call on that front— his real estate holdings are slim, but he knows everyone and will have you set up in a spiffy. His newly renovated pad in Cannes is also a dream, with a great terrace and weird keys. It’s an adjustment from hotel life, but worth it for the balcony views. Reach him at +336-2545-5799.

the sea, see, scene

When in Cannes, take meals at Farfalla. Located on the Croisette across from the Palais, it is packed with cool urbanites and good music. It just has that something that the other restaurants don’t. The owners are fabulous: Christian and his brother have been running it since whenever, very nice to friends and even civil to people they don’t know, a rarity in the south of France. The food is great too, especially the beef tartar. There are other places to go in town, but really, just let them hook you up on the inside dinner track. Relax, it’s Cannes, you don’t want to look like you are trying too hard.

Farther afield, try La Colombe D'or - a beautiful spot with great food and terraces in St. Paul de Vence.  La Colombe D'or is a good twenty minute taxi ride from Cannes, and was a favorite of the city's old artistic set, including Picasso and Matisse.

Should you have time, take the gin palace over to Nikki Beach or Le Club 55. Novices, you must pronounce the latter as “Sank-on-Sank," but you knew that. This is where everyone goes for rose in the afternoon with a huge fruits du mer— enough seafood for the mob. 

For females, uniforms are bikini, bling-jewelry, and towering high heels with see-thru wrap; suit with sandals and dark Valentino shades will do just nicely for the boys.

As mentioned before, you may see people spraying champagne into the pool, onto the beach, and at anyone reasonably cute. There is no reason to indulge in such behavior yourself, as it’s very nouveau. Instead, donate a small sum to charity and lie back on your $2,000 Hermes towel, not thinking about the wonderful things you are doing in the world, while ignoring the irony of your towel costing more than some annual incomes.

taking it all in

Back in Cannes, when everyone else is showering, take a nice stroll down the beach, past the clowns and corporate touts, flying banners, and branded taxis as the sun sinks into the ocean behind a sea of Arab yachts. Think to yourself about the romance of the Riviera and all the glamor of the past, Bridget Bardot and all of that. Then realize this: Today Cannes is Europe’s Vegas. More expensive. Just as corporate. Nearly as cheesy. But somehow, like Vegas, it’s a required stop. Make the most of it and be frou-frou for a week, but buy that sunscreen beforehand, since the Euro remains like, crazy high.

A sense of detachment floods the viewer of Tim White-Sobieski's latest light and video works, one of a few highlights from the Pulse Art Fair 2008, New York. Light Currents adds to the repertoire of Tim, who is already one of the world's leading video artists. He is best known for his 20 meter long installation in the Louis Vuitton collection in Paris and a growing list of stunning videos, including Desire, Vertigo and Terminal.  

This 3D installation presents mildly pulsating LED lights that reinterpret highly influential work from the Light-and-Space movement of the 1960s and 1970s led by James Turrell, with Robert Irwin and others.  Tim updates the idea of working with pure light by integrating technology into the story: the pieces use light emitting diods, computer programming and controlled light to create new visions of images in his earlier films.  The result is a mesmerizing entity that practically hypnotizes the viewer.

Tim's previous video work has often looked at the abstract, featuring videos that turn a large scale projection into fabrics and backdrops that merge and blend over the course of the video. The backdrops created are perfect for running against a larger event, as they add to the aural experience rather than overtake it.

The central idea behind Light Currents is to examine the role of the individual in relation to the macrocosm - what Tim describes as "a series of spiritual layers" that emanate from the individual outward.  As a mirror, the light works are designed to reflect this perspective.

Meanwhile, the continued success of cutting edge contemporary art at Pulse, and the larger New York Armory Show, highlight the increasingly central role that technology is playing in the development of art. Not only does the integration of technology answer age old artistic questions about progress and what the human experience values in the culture, it makes possible the realization of things only previously imagined. Light Currents functions as a living, pulsating piece, telling a story through simple emanation, forcing the viewer to create his or her own story in a language that can only be understood through emotion.

Tim's work aptly raises the question: at what point does the use of technology in itself constitute an exploration of art? Its not just that art should be beautiful, reflective or inspiring. At some point the technology itself begins to reflect the culture, and its very technicality becomes the true innovation/inspiration.

Light Currents is presented at Pulse by Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna.