The Retro Roadshow + Abstract Conference 2026

Sep 18

We recently had the honor of exhibiting some of our most historically significant artifacts at the inaugural Abstract conference by Convex!

This was a conference dedicated to the art of thoughtful design in the Age of AI, so we curated an exhibition of historically-relevant artifacts:

A Vectrex from 1982: with its built-in vector display and extremely limited system resources (1 kilobyte of RAM!), creating games on the Vectrex required a stunning mix of technical wizardry and artistic vision.
An Apple Lisa from 1984: as the first mass-produced personal computer with a graphical user interface, the Lisa represents an inflection point in history when computers began to embrace a human-centric way of working, rather than forcing humans to think like a computer. We also brought a vintage Apple ImageWriter II printer so attendees could use the Lisa to design and print their own keepsakes. It was so much fun seeing what they came up with!
A NeXT Cube from 1989: as one of the most advanced desktop workstations of its era, the NeXT Cube helped popularize 'object oriented programming' and became the birthplace of the Web. To give attendees a fully authentic experience, we built a custom website and hosted it from our other NeXT computer at home, so Abstract attendees could really experience what the earliest moments of the Web were like, including an oldschool 'guestbook' for them to sign!

The reception from the Abstract attendees was incredibly warm and engaging. More than just enjoying the sight of some cool old gadgets, they really leaned in and engaged with us, exploring the history these objects represent and reflecting on their legacy and influence in today's world.

Similarly, it was an absolute delight to work with the Convex team throughout the planning stage and during the show itself. Their passion and relentless attention to detail was inspiring, and every aspect of the event reflected the care and thoughtfulness folks like Fayeeza Shaikh and Wayne Sutton poured into Abstract.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback we heard from attendees, we're confident that this will just be the first of many Abstracts to come!