New Currency Interview
Eric Chen, of Oligarchy and Active Labour, was kind enough to interview me for New Currency, Issue 03. Below is our conversation from September 2023. You can also see it in context in the image above.
Osebo is a designer living and working in New York. He’s the co-creator of Evenings and a design lead at Nike. He creates environments for people to connect and dance offline through his collective W3INOSTALGIA—accessible, portable, or easy to use.
EC: I’m curious about your relationship to third places.
Osebo: Growing up in Washington DC, two of my earliest third places were Freedom Plaza and U Street Music Hall. For many, Freedom Plaza is a historical landmark where demonstrations and political protests are held. For skaters, it’s known as Pulaski, the center of skateboarding for the city. U Street is one of the first places I remember being introduced to dance music. I got a lot of inspiration from watching the best people in their flow states at Pulaski and U Street.
Right now, I live in Brooklyn. The evolution of Pulaski and U Street for me is Blue Park and a studio in Greenpoint called Quay. Blue Park is a school blacktop transformed into a DIY skate park. Quay is not a club, but we do have a studio where CDs are set up, where anyone can use our equipment, 3D printers, sewing and woodworking, surfboard shaping, and more. Quay is close to The Lot Radio, where I often go to listen to local DJs.
Similar to skate spots, clubs, and radio stations are often places that have been repurposed for bringing people together around a shared sound. Clubs and radio stations are third places for me. They are also similar places to me, whether in-person or virtual.
Work is a feeling. You often know when you’re working on the right things because it will feel like play to you but it’s not so simple.
EC: The club is also my third space, so I can certainly tell that those experiences shape the way you think about Evenings and its hardware.
Definitely. We made a device in the studio that gave us a window into our friends playing music and more affordability once I join them. Millions of people create and play music daily. Still, only a tiny percentage of these moments are captured and shared because tools to broadcast audio are not accessible, portable, or easy to use. What stemmed from pure interest and cross-referencing from my third places in DC turned into something that can provide a lot of value to clubs, radio stations, churches, and more.
Evenings is focused on supporting third places like these, physically and digitally. We’re giving artists a piece of software that helps them stay present in the moment of their playing while connecting with their audience, while also reaching people who may not be able to attend live. We wanted it to be something that you just plug into a DJ controller, a synthesizer, or anything that plays audio. You can press a button, leave it and forget about it.
EC: Where is the line drawn between work and pleasure for you at the club?
I find myself at the club for the same three purposes: attending a show, helping broadcast a show, or DJing with my group, New Nostalgia. Sometimes I’m doing at least two of these things simultaneously, and in most cases, it’s a pleasure.
Work is a feeling. You often know when you’re working on the right things because it will feel like play to you but it’s not so simple.
Places that can feel like work for some can look like work to most people. Places that can feel like work for some can be play in your third space. The line can be blurry between work and play when I’m trying to do great work and I’m trying to be more like play. Great work means I’m doing something out of pure curiosity, which may not be interesting to most but is to me.
EC:
I like re-framing work vs. pleasure into work and play—I also feel they exist, not on opposite ends of a spectrum, but rather in parallel.
Play should always be enjoyable and inspiring. If one of these factors is missing, it should be defined as work. When I talk about play, there’s a genuine benefit to doing it, and it can’t be prescribed with a manual. When I work, I can usually describe what I’m trying to do with logic in a way that’s not so simple. Work and play can be distinguished by how difficult it is for me to talk about.
EC: Is there a deciding factor for you in terms of what feels like work and play?
People are an essential factor as it relates to my environment and whether I’m working or playing. Currently, the more people in proximity to me, the more likely I am to play. At home by myself, I have the headspace to focus on Nike, where I work. I share my studio with a dozen people focused on their projects. In most cases, I’ll concentrate on Evenings there and collaborate and get feedback from my peers. At a club, I’m generally amongst crowds and focus on being present.
Get a copy of New Currency, Issue 03 here
I’m going to introduce myself in every entry… so if you don’t already know, I’m Osebo, a Designer working on software for social networking, and tools for creating interactive media like games. If you want to learn more about more go here…