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The Edge: Bruno Fonzi, at the Intersection of Art and Tech
Novedge: Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do
Bruno Fonzi: Tech geek, entrepreneur and supporter of the arts. I am co-founder of Lanica, a mobile game platform for javascript developers. In 2009 I started CODAME, a San Francisco based organization. We run not-for-profit events, inspiring, promoting and bringing Art and Technology together. I am also a start-up adviser.
photo by Chris Ryan
Novedge: What is the vision behind CODAME?
Bruno Fonzi: CODAME exists to push the boundaries of technology with an emphasis on artistic expression and creativity. We unite independent artists, coders, and game developers to celebrate the intersection of ART+TECH. We are a deeply engaged and dynamic community pushing the boundaries of hardware, software, and physical/digital mediums. We like to have fun too! The key components of CODAME are social, informal, independent, open and collaborative. CODAME events currently average about 300 participants and for our latest festival, there were over 1600 art+tech people registered.
Novedge: What surprised you the most about running this series of events? What have you learned throughout the years?
Bruno Fonzi: After four years and more than 30 events, my biggest surprise has been how fast the CODAME ART+TECH community has grown! In our 2013 CODAME ART+TECH Festival, we had an entire building in SOMA [a neighborhood in San Francisco], 5 floors, unfortunately the venue was not big enough to accommodate everyone. Now we need much bigger venues! We began as a small group of friends connecting either in a living room, meeting at a park for a BBQ, having bonfires on the beach or sailing around the San Francisco Bay. We all shared the same passion for art and technology, talked about our current projects, code, design challenges, while having fun. I am continually inspired by and learning from the CODAME community. I believe inspiration is a key factor to the success of CODAME. We aim to bring the same inspiration and motivation back to the organizations where people work.
photo by Sam Wolson
Novedge: What can artists learn from technologists and vice versa? Why is it important to explore the intersection of art and technology?
Bruno Fonzi: We're an eclectic bunch of artists and technologists. We learn by collaborating and are motivated and inspired by each other, and then, incredible things happen. This is what CODAME is about: bringing people together with different skill sets, all interested in learning, sharing and building beautiful inspirational works. Exploring the intersection of art and technology is important as we leverage evolving technology and creative innovation to build amazing works that may have been unthinkable in the past. We use new technology as our playground to build art.
Novedge: You decided to start your own company. What are some of the rewards and challenges of founding and being part of a start-up?
Bruno Fonzi: I'm drawn towards the small start-up energy. I love being surrounded by a very motivated team, building something from scratch and innovating. Disrupting and changing the industry as we know it today is a great reward. Lanica was founded with very talented people I had the pleasure of previously collaborating with. We know our strengths and our weaknesses. We are all experienced in producing quality products, and we also enjoy our work, which makes for a great working environment and a successful company. The challenges are endless, but results are the most exciting part of a start-up. Finding solutions and making our customers successful are our main goals.
Novedge: What makes Lanica's platform special?
Bruno Fonzi: We provide a Game Development Platform. The platform includes design and developing tools, gaming engine framework, cloud services and professional support. We enable professional game developers to build multi platform games for Mobile, iOS, Android with more platforms to come, as they gain market share, using Javascript as the primary programming language. Javascript has become one of the most adopted programming languages in the world and our platform enables the creation of apps at a lower costs, delivering quickly to market at higher quality, without compromising or lacking any native features or performance.
photo by Cherri Lakey
Novedge: If you could go back in time, what would you say to your younger self before embarking in your current career?
Bruno Fonzi: "Expect the unexpected, embrace change, and your follow your passion!" At least, in regard to my career. More importantly, if given the opportunity, I would remind myself that I will be a very lucky man with a wife and family who support me and accept the sacrifices a start-up life entails. Make the time to play with the kids and build games with them too!
To find out more about Bruno, check out his personal website, Lanica and CODAME.
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