Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.10.2013, Page 18

When Oliver Luckett comes to Iceland to speak at this
year’s You Are In Control conference, it’ll be his sixth or
seventh time in the country. And while we did manage to
talk about theAudience, the celebrity social media consul-
tancy he co-founded with Sean Parker (of Napster fame,
aka Justin Timberlake’s character in The Social Network)
and the talk he’ll be giving, more than once we talked
about how much we love Iceland.
Social Media | How To
Oliver thinks he has about 65 pieces of Icelandic art
in his home in Los Angeles— Hrafnkell Sigur!sson’s
nearly two-metre tall panoramas of garbage, Hulda
Vilhjálms’ beautiful glass sea creatures, and various
works by Daníel Magnússon, Gabríela Fridriksdóttir
and Brynhildur "orgeirsdóttir. He also counts Einar
Örn Benediktsson, Reykjavík’s cultural chair and one
half of the band Ghostigital, as one of his friends, as
well as Reykjavík Mayor Jón Gnarr, whom he helped
with The Best Party’s social media efforts during the
last election.
And his love affair with Iceland—and all the social
connections he’s made here —stems from theAudi-
ence. One of his clients, Björk, introduced him to
Einar Örn and Jón Gnar (fun fact: she once beat him
in a gingerbread house contest).
Finding your audience
Of course, Oliver didn’t get invited to speak at YAIC
because he’s a fan of the country. The conference, now
in its seventh year, brings together professionals from
all areas of the creative world to talk about how digital
media effects art and, more importantly, how artists
can adapt. TheAudience helps celebrities build their
social networks (and their bargaining power), but it
also helps them reach their target audience without
alienating anyone else.
Take Richard Simmons, one of America’s most
beloved dance workout instructors. Richard is a
relic from the pre-internet days. Your children and/
or younger siblings may never even have handled a
VHS, the format that made him famous. Before work-
ing with theAudience he had around 18,000 Face-
book fans and no Google+ profile. Now he has nearly
66,000 fans and a decent Google+ following. More
importantly he’s reaching the right people—young
people.
TheAudience coordinated a video on BuzzFeed
that consists almost entirely of Richard, wearing
green tights and an orange tank top with a bedazzled
dove, standing still while a man in short shorts gyrates
around him for a full minute. Viewers of a certain
age possibly wouldn’t be amused. But even though
it’s ridiculous, it has a catchy soundtrack and nearly
120,000 views on YouTube.
Before theAudience, Oliver founded Digisynd, a
social media startup Disney bought in 2008 in which
he helped manage the online presences of Disney
characters. So he went from managing the social
presence of Cinderella and Woody from Toy Story—
Disney moved forward with the sequel to ‘Finding
Nemo’ after realising Dory is one of its most “liked”
characters—to managing the social media presences
of Russell Brand, Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron
and, of course, Richard.
Would you share this?
While Oliver’s here to share his knowledge about so-
cial media, there’s a lot Hollywood could learn from
Iceland, too. According to Oliver there’s a whole group
of Hollywood creative types who’re connected because
they’re all members of the Iceland club. After all, this
little island is the setting for, most recently, director
Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Noah’ and Tom Cruise’s ‘Oblivi-
on.’ In Oliver’s words, this is a place full of people who
“value art, culture and love over everything.” The aver-
age Icelander might question the values of the Siggi or
Sigga sitting next to her, but it’s probably just best to
accept the compliment.
Oliver grew up in Mississippi, deep in the Ameri-
can South. His father, Bill, is a lawyer and co-owns
the Ground Zero blues club with Morgan Freeman.
But as a teenager, coding and microbiology interested
Oliver more. “Anything to get out of Mississippi,” he
said. He taught himself to code, and a high school
teacher set him up as a lab researcher studying plate-
lets. And while microbiology and social media don’t
seem to have much in common, Oliver would argue
otherwise.
“Facebook is one billion organisms attached to one
network,” he said. On that thread, Oliver argues that
the rules that govern organic life and ecosystems also
govern how ideas spread. Without giving too much
away, his talk “Wild Efficiency” will cover those rules
and look at the parallels between the natural world
and the world of ideas.
And for the up-and-coming artists who can’t af-
ford theAudience’s services, Oliver has one key piece
of advice: A solid social media presence is incredibly
valuable. Social media “is the most efficient way to
reach a consumer,” he said. Musicians should be put-
ting out multiple videos, creatives should be collabo-
rating with other creatives. Artists need to create con-
tent that’s great, but also provides great utility, which
can be hard. Frosti Gnarr, the artist, designer and
son of Jón, who is behind Grotta Zine, has the right
idea, Oliver said. Grotta Zine pushes artists to share
their work and get their names out there on a platform
[Tumblr] that’s geared toward sharing. It is also a re-
ally cool blog. “The rule of thumb is, would you share
this?” he added. “Would you post this on your wall?”
18The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 16 — 2013
How To Gain Friends
& Alienate No One
Social media expert Oliver Luckett
will speak at this year’s YAIC
— By Arit John
Nine Questions With
Rafaël Rozendaal
The You Are In Control speaker Oli-
ver Luckett said he’s most excited
this year to see Rafaël Rozendaal.
Rafaël’s a New York-based visual
artist and avid haiku writer whose
installations have been seen around
the world. In 2010 he founded BYOB
(Bring Your Own Beamer) a do-it-
yourself visual projection project
open to artists anywhere. We sent
Rafaël a few questions, and here are
his responses.
How long have you been a working artist?
I was born an artist, so 33 years.
Did you go to art school, and how impor-
tant do you think art school is?
Yes, I went to art school, but it's not very
important to me, I just did it quickly. The
coolest thing about art school is that you
have time to experiment.
Are you a digital artist first, or did you
move from physical mediums into digital?
I like to do whatever is interesting to
me.
What was the main goal of BYOB?
Well, I mostly was trying to find a way
of making exhibitions more spontaneous.
That's the main idea. Projections are flex-
ible and if everyone is responsible for their
own gear, things are much easier. It means
less stress more fun!
Have you ever been to Iceland?
First time to Iceland! I always wanted to
see Iceland, so it's a great opportunity.
What are you planning on talking about in
your speech?
How I started, what challenges I faced,
what led me from one step to another, and
I will read some poetry! Regarding speak-
ing: since most of my works are screen
based, they are great for lectures. When I
speak, it's almost an exhibition, because I
am showing the actual works on a projec-
tion, not documentation of the works.
What advice would you give someone who's
just starting out and wants to make a living
off of being an artist?
My main advice is: DO A LOT, TRY A
LOT.
Is there anything you'd like people to know
about you?
I'm not as mean as you'd think.
What's next for you after the conference?
Christmas.
October 28-30
You are in control conference
Tickets: 10,000 to
20,000 ISK
PR
EVIEW
Bíó Paradís www.youareincontrol.is