Not happy that Birdman took home Oscar's top prize?
Canadian artist and author Douglas Coupland thinks he knows why a movie about an aging actor was named best picture at Sunday's 2015 Academy Awards. In a nutshell: blame our hyper-connected world.
"There is a real nostalgia for continuity … or biological time," he said, pointing out that Boyhood, this year's other main Oscar contender, was also about the passage of time.
Coupland, who himself is now 53, has made a career of tapping into the current trends and moods underlying our culture. The Order of Canada recipient first shot to fame by popularizing the term Generation X 24 years ago.
Today, Coupland is still mining the zeitgeist. He has a brand new book, The Age of Earthquakes, which he describes as a "guidebook for the modern condition." He is even planning a collaboration with technology behemoth Google, although he's keeping those details under wraps.
"We can't announce it until April," he said.
'We're actually in not a bad place ... You look back after 10, 15, 20 years and you know what, [you realize] this is actually pretty good.'— Douglas Coupland
Walking through his current exhibit Everywhere is Anywhere is Anything is Everything at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, Coupland is clearly focused on a topic that seems more prevalent than ever: how people function in an increasingly hyper-connected, caffeinated world where there's little time to adapt to change.
"I'm actually starting to forget my pre-internet brain," Coupland said. "It's not like I'm super productive, but I've missed those quiet spots and I think a lot of people maybe do."
"It's not like technology's going to take a holiday for a year or two and we can all just have a break," Coupland said. "We're just sort of locked into this roller coaster ride now."
Talking to Coupland is a bit of a roller coaster too. In a wide-ranging interview, he touches on privacy, the environment, Facebook, China, Marshall McLuhan, the human brain, 9-11 and dead bees.
The exhibit, at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, highlights ambivalent feelings about technology. (CBC)
Yes, dead bees.
"Oh they're sprinkled here and there," Coupland said, pointing to one of his art installations, a dense cityscape littered with environmental woes. "There's a little pile of them there, being lifted in by a crane."
At first blush, Coupland's work might sound pretty glum. But the quirky, colourful exhibits hint at an underlying optimism.
"Oh… we're actually in not a bad place," Coupland said. "You look back after 10, 15, 20 years and you know what, [you realize] this is actually pretty good."
You can watch Wendy Mesley's full interview with Douglas Coupland on The National on Friday night at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT).
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