Overview

As digital technology advances at breakneck speed, Images are circulating quicker than ever before. But what is the status of the image in the digital era? We are joined by German art historian Dr. Hubert Burda for an examination of the "iconic turn" that our culture is undergoing.

A pioneer of the media industry will be presenting a concise history of images and how they function today in our digital world. Burda traces the connection between perspectival painting and the television, demonstrating how the image requires a frame, which in turn requires a material vehicle that in our era has become a non-material vehicle with its own formal parameters. Burda shows how images have always been linked to portability, but now migrate to an unprecedented degree, so that anyone with a personal device can globally disseminate, say, footage from a concert via Youtube.

In the latter half of the evening Dr. Burda will have a discussion with GAFFTA Chairman, Peter Hirshberg, about the effects of digital technologies on our society and the cultural implications that follow.

Agenda

6:30pm - 7:00pm - Networking

7:00pm - 7:30pm - Dr. Burda Talk

7:30pm - 8:00pm - Peter Hirshberg and Hubert Burda Discussion

8:00pm - 9:00pm - Music, Hors d'oeuvres, and drinks

Presenters

Dr. Hubert Burda (born 9 February 1940, in Heidelberg) is a German art historian and publisher. Hubert Burda is CEO and owner of Hubert Burda Media, publishing more than 250 magazines inside and outside Germany (including Focus and Bunte). He studied History of Art and Sociology at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich.

Dr. Burda is President of the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ) and cofounder of the European Publishers Council (EPC) as well as Council Member of the World Economic Forum (WEF). His commitment to cultural endeavours includes the Hermann Lenz Award for German lyrics, formerly the Petrarca Prize, which was first awarded in 1975.

Dr. Burda is chairman of the Council of the Munich Ludwig-Maximilians-University, and founded the Hubert Burda Centre for Innovative Communications at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel. The Academy for the Third Millennium, which was created by Dr. Burda, sponsors an exchange of knowledge on futuristic trends. The Academy initiated the Iconic Turn lecture series, devoted to examining how images - photography, mass media and computer technology - impacts on culture, society and science.

Dr. Burda has been awarded numerous awards and distinctions for his achievements in publishing and business, including the European Print Media Prize and the Gold Medal Freedom of Speech of the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA). In 2002 the title of Honorary Professor was bestowed on him by the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg and he received the Great Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2006 the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland ("Central Council of Jews in Germany") has awarded Burda its Leo Baeck Prize. 

Peter Hirshberg is at the epicenter of the noisy, connected world of online conversation. He is changing our thinking about marketing, branding and customer relationships. A Silicon Valley executive with several high profile marketing and branding related ventures, Peter has led emerging media and technology companies at the center of disruptive change for more than 20 years.

He is CEO of The Re:imagine Group, a fast growing agency helping brands with strategy and marketing in a world of empowered and connected audiences and customers. He's worked with executive teams at Best Buy, Sony, IBM, Verizon, GE, Estee Lauder, Telefonica and many others on digital and growth strategies. Previously Hirshberg served as Chairman of Technorati, the largest social media ad network with an audience of over 108 million unique visitors a month on over 400 professionally run sites with over a billion monthly page views.

He is a board member of ActiveVideo Networks and serves on the advisory boards of Ideeli and GlamMedia. He is a Trustee of The Computer History Museum and a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Since 2009 Hirshberg's been an advisor the the MIT SENSEable Cities Lab and a Senior Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. Hirshberg is Co-Founder & Chairman of San Francisco's Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. Guided by the principles of openness, collaboration, and resource sharing, GAFFTA’s promotes creativity at the intersection of art, design, sound, and technology. Previously Hirshberg served as president and CEO of Gloss.com, the online prestige beauty etailer co-owned by Estee Lauder Companies, Chanel and Clarins. He was founder and CEO of Elemental Software (sold to Macromedia in 1999).

During a nine year tenure at Apple Computer, Hirshberg headed Enterprise Marketing, where he grew Apple's large business and government revenue to $1 billion annually and helped lead the company’s entry into the online service arena. Peter is a frequent technology and media industry speaker, having presented at TED, the World Economic Forum, DLD, EG the Entertainment Gathering, the 140 Character Conference, Agenda (back in the day…), The Aspen Ideas Festival, TIEcon, CEBIT, WEB 2.0 Summit, and many other events. Peter Hirshberg earned his bachelor's degree at Dartmouth College and his MBA at Wharton.

About DLD

DLD (Digital - Life - Design) is a global conference network on innovation, digital media, science and culture which connects business, creative and social leaders, opinion-formers and investors for crossover conversation and inspiration. Chairmen of DLD are publisher Hubert Burda and serial digital investor Yossi Vardi. DLD has been founded by Stephanie Czerny and Marcel Reichart in 2005.