This month’s seminar explores the spectrum of ultimate friendship, from “a man’s best friend” to unique connections with others, and the influence it has on one’s life work. We’ll study how process and design can shape relationships and how relationships can shape process and design. We open with a keynote by Graphic Designer, Paul Sahre on his memoir “Two-Dimensional Man,” about the relationships that lead him to design. We continue with a panel discussion on “ultimate friendship” featuring Dog Whisperer, Lauren Novack, NYU Animal Studies Fellow, Nandini Thiyagarajan, and Identical Twin American Artists, Ryan & Trevor Oakes.
Moderated by Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun with an interactive workshop by Dog Whisperer, Lauren Novack.
BYBF (Bring your best friend, dogs welcomed)
In Homo Sapiens, I Hear You, A/D/O's year-long series of seminars led by the “Willy Wonka of Design,” Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun, we question, debate and modernize Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Over the past six months we’ve explored Sleep, Food, Air, Safety, Fear and Friendship. During July’s seminar, we’re investigating Curiosity. We’re bringing together experts and pioneers in storytelling, conservation and magic to help us understand our deep-rooted desire to know and learn.
Featuring Gabo Arora, award-winning VR/AR Creator, Professor and Senior Advisor at The UN (and the UN’s first Creative Director), Julie Arslanoglu, Research Scientist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as Matthew Holtzclaw, one of the top performers and technicians in the world of magic and special effects. Also, a surprise in the form of paleontology and archeology!
We open with a presentation by Arora on his latest VR and UN projects. Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun will then lead a fireside chat with panelists whose work runs on curiosity. Together, we’ll uncover how evolution has made us both the ultimate learning machines and possibly a soon to be extinct species. Unravel curiosity and paleontology through design and philosophy with us on July 12th.
Thursday, July 12 | 6:30 pm
29 Norman Ave NY 11222
Gabo Arora co-founded Tomorrow Never Knows™ and teaches at Johns Hopkins University, where he designed and leads the new Immersive Storytelling and Emerging Technology (ISET) program and lab. Formerly, he was a Senior Policy Advisor for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN's first-ever Creative Director, with over 15 years of humanitarian field experience in disaster and conflict zones, and has directed, produced and pioneered a series of widely acclaimed virtual reality documentaries (Clouds Over Sidra, Waves of Grace, My Mother's Wing, amongst others) for the UN. Gabo is currently an advisor to numerous UN agencies, NGOs, and multinationals on the use of immersive tech to promote social causes.
RESEARCH SCIENTIST AT
THE METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM OF ART
Julie Arslanoglu
investigates paints, coatings, adhesives and the organic materials of artworks across all ages. Her education and career bridge the conservation and science worlds as she holds graduate degrees in organic chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University and in Paintings Conservation from the Courtauld Institute of Art (London) and, has worked at the Getty Conservation Institute, the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the National Institutes of Health.
MAGICIAN AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE ARTIFICE GROUP
One of New York City’s most in-demand entertainers and consultants, Matthew Holtzclaw has been recognized as one of the top performers and technicians in the world of magic and special effects. Matthew's company, The Artifice Group offers a fine selection of the best magicians working today; each unique and perfect for any type of gathering.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AT NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Julia Molnar is an Assistant Professor of Anatomy at NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine. She teaches medical gross anatomy and studies the evolution of vertebrate locomotion. Before joining NYITCOM, Molnar was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Howard University and received her PhD at the Royal Veterinary College's Structure and Motion Lab in London.
SEMINAR SERIES:
HOMO SAPIENS, I HEAR YOU
Homo Sapiens, I Hear You is composed of 12 classes and associated programs, hypnosis radio sessions and other sublime experiments. The research seminars are framed as an expedition, or a live encyclopedia, that interrogate and criticize the egocentric model while proposing a new one at the end of the series. At A/D/O, we consider every topic, as designers and creators, in all their multiplicity. As a result, each seminar is a compilation of 4 to 5 different viewpoints, and panelists; inspired to exist as a live form of rhizome, a concept developed by philosophers Guattari and Deleuze to consider knowledge as a part of a larger network and combination of disciplines.
Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun is a designer of extreme experiences that aims to bring the sublime to life. Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun is an award-winning French designer and filmmaker who creates multi-dimensional experiential projects at the intersection of science, theatre, politics and Design. Wired awarded her their inaugural Innovation Fellowship in 2014, and Icon magazine, Dezeen and Creative Review recognized Dr. Ben Hayoun as one of the top 50 designers 'shaping the future' for her pioneering “total bombardment” design philosophy.
Her laboratory, NBH Studios, is on a mission to bring chaos to the world; she is the founder and director of the International Space Orchestra the world’s first orchestra of NASA space scientists and astronauts; and most recently she founded the University of the Underground, a subversive tuition-free educative and cultural programme that is on course to modify the status quo in public institutions and academia.
