Paul Abacus

Who is Paul Abacus?

Paul Abacus is a debatably fictional lecturer, designer, and consultant, who speaks frequently about the dissolution of national borders and the reform of global visual culture. He was called a “multi-media visionary” in the December 2011 issue of Spirit Magazine.

Abacus moved to Los Angeles in 2009, where he worked with Early Morning Opera and director Lars Jan to develop the cross-platform multimedia presentation ABACUS. He frequently consults for data visualization firm Cousins and Sears and presented his ideas at the University of California Berkeley’s New Media Working Group in September 2011.

In October 2010, ABACUS premiered at the inaugural Filament festival at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York. In September 2011, it was announced that Paul was invited to give his presentation in the “New Frontier” program at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to be followed by a series of lectures at REDCAT in Los Angeles in February 2012.

Paul Abacus’ thinking is heavily inspired by the work of polymath R. Buckminster Fuller. Having constructed an updated version of Fuller's visionary data-visualization device, the Geoscope, Abacus utilizes this device to make the argument that we are living near the end of the Screen Age, a historical moment when "the era of nations" will wane.