The ability to weaponize that tool and the inability for those platforms to counter that weaponization, whether they want to or not, is really hard.” New inspiration in generative art
“We are more divided as a country directly because of social media. I was physically exhausted, mentally exhausted and ethically exhausted by the time I left,” Kemp said. “It definitely became an ethical thing for me. Kemp said the Cambridge Analytica scandal was an example of some of the issues he was seeing when he stepped away from the company in May of last year, once again taking time to reflect. But Kemp hit a wall again, finding that the platform could cause more harm than good. Kemp worked at ActionSprout for nine years, building a successful company that boasted 150,000 clients in 72 countries. “We were a tool that primarily helped nonprofits, but also political candidates use Facebook more effectively as a communication engagement platform.” “I started a company called ActionSprout,” Kemp said. Kemp said he enjoyed the work but felt a for-profit model might be more successful. There, he built websites, databases and email systems designed to increase efficiency and online presence. Kemp volunteered for ONE/Northwest, a Seattle nonprofit organization focused on assisting nonprofits in integrating technology into their organizations. “People were working 80 hours a week.”Īfter Kemp left Microsoft, he took some time off with his wife and moved back to Bellingham to reflect on his next career move.
“It was an extremely misogynistic male-dominated culture that just chewed through people.” Kemp said. Kemp said he also experienced grueling hours and what he viewed as a toxic work environment which left him feeling burned-out and in need of a change. Kemp said the company’s goal of encouraging more gaming in its target demographic without considering the negative effects made him worry about legacy. “It got me thinking a lot about, what are the effects of this product, what are the effects of this industry?” “I’ve always had that awareness of, is it moving in a positive direction or is it moving in a detrimental direction,” Kemp said. Kemp successfully created a robust and active community around the company’s gaming console but after a time began to question the ramifications of his work. “I started a little consulting company that was doing like a bunch of those banners for casinos.” Codename Xboxīy chance, Kemp accompanied a friend to a temp agency and ran into a fellow Western alumnus who asked if he would be interested in working on a project called codename Xbox - a turning point that led to a six-year stint working for Microsoft. “A bunch of companies wanted banners,” Kemp said.
He also started his own business which focused on using Adobe Flash, a web graphics design tool mostly used for advertising at the time. After finishing a degree in industrial design he bought a house in Seattle and supplemented the mortgage by splitting it with roommates. “That’s why I ended up in Bellingham.”īut Kemp didn’t settle in Bellingham right away. “He showed me his portfolio and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is what I want to design,'” Kemp said. Hawaii to Bellinghamįrom Kona, Steinhilber pointed Kemp in the direction of pursuing a degree in industrial design at Western Washington University. Among them was Budd Steinhilber, one of the founders of the Industrial Designers Society of America. “We had some really great advisors,” Kemp said.
Kemp and his teammates helped design and build the first solar vehicle to drive from California to Delaware, no small feat for a group of high school kids from Kona. “I was always interested in computers and stuff so I just kind of naturally fell into that.” “In Hawaii the state department of energy sponsored a competition for high schoolers, so all the high schools built solar cars,” Kemp said. From there, he’s moved through the worlds of gaming, Facebook and into computer-generated laser art. In high school in the early ’90s, Kemp was in an extracurricular program designing and racing solar cars. Kemp - far beyond being an early adopter - is a person who dwells comfortably on the bleeding edge of technology. Shawn Kemp’s art studio may appear at first glance to be the quintessential man cave, with one glaring exception: his features a high-power laser.
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