kurt

Obit

Kurt MacDonald is dead. He was 100 years old.

A media artist, designer and photographer by trade, his work was best known for using technology to inspire reflection about current social issues. Yet he is perhaps most famous for opting out of all electronic communications networks and "retiring from technology" 15 years ago in what many thought at the time was a publicity stunt. Though he maintained his withdrawal from the mediated world, he was never a recluse and remained active in his family and community throughout his life.

Kurt aspired to live as simply as possible, refusing to retain any items that he no longer had any use for, even giving away the rights to his own artwork every 5 years. "Why would I want to keep it?" he was fond of saying, "I'm done with it. Have to move on."

In an interview recently, asked what he felt most proud of in his career, Kurt said teaching was the greatest contribution he had made. "We are all children in some capacity, in some respect, always trying to figure out the bizarre world around us. And whenever we think we figure something out, our first instinct is to go and tell our friends. I'm just glad that somebody was interested in what I had to say. I'm glad that I got to see the look of discovery on so many faces in my lifetime as a teacher. That's the best thing to leave behind."

He never married.