Cultural Futures Track

SDD_1of2+copy+movers.029 (1).jpeg — Cultural Futures

Supported by
the Knight Foundation

It is more critical than ever that museums implement scalable means for engaging their visitors, and without the technological resources to do so, small and mid-sized museums are in a tough spot.

What comes first: culture or the technology through which we perceive it? Through experimental partnerships with museums, cultural institutions, libraries, or civic hubs outside of New York City, members of this track engage in co-creative research and exploratory design that reimagines sustainable tech in the culture sector. In support of their work, members in the Museum Technology Track are provided with subsidized membership at NEW INC, participate in topically relevant workshops, guest lectures, mentorship and regular meetings, and also stipends to support research, prototyping, and wider participation in the field.

Additionally, NEW INC is partnering with MCN (Museum Computer Network) to develop a new web-platform for sourcing and sharing repeatable case studies exploring how technology has been used in the museum and cultural sectors.

This track is made possible through the renewed support of the Knight Foundation, and builds on the work of our Museum Technology Track which ran for three years.

Member Highlights

Featured

Aisha Shillingford & Terry Marshall

Intelligent Mischief

Intelligent Mischief is a Brooklyn-based creative studio unleashing Black imagination to shape the future, co-founded by Aisha Shillingford and Terry Marshall. Their purpose is to boost invention and imagination, re-align action logic, and experiment with new forms of culture & civil society to create atmospheres of change. They cultivate community and create multi-platform stories, experiences, and ephemera, and engage in collaborations at the intersection of social justice, art, design, and culture. They work with people across the African Diaspora to cultivate the creative potential of our peoples to create new realities. Their work builds on the Black Radical tradition and cultural movements such as the Black Arts Movement, Afro-surrealism, Afro Futurism, Visionary Fiction, Black Radical Imagination, Freedom Dreaming and more.

Noya Kohavi

Noya Kohavi is a technologist, writer and independent consultant. Her work uses computer vision and computational linguistics to generate new narratives and insights, focusing on data ethics and a queer approach to computing. At NEW INC, she is developing Lineage, a visual discovery engine for museum databases and visual archives. Using artificially intelligent visual affinity and resonance algorithms, Lineage digitally mimics the human associative process, making large image databases usable and accessible, and allowing for emergent histories to surface. Noya holds a BA in philosophy and linguistics from Tel Aviv University and an MS with honors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is the recipient of a Maria Moors Cabot Prize scholarship and a Magic grant from the Brown Institute for Media Innovation.

Caspar Lam & YuJune Park

Synoptic Office

Synoptic Office is a multidisciplinary design studio operating in the space between design, technology, and education. Co-founded by Caspar Lam and YuJune Park, the studio works alongside institutions and large organizations such as Carnegie Hall and Bloomberg to explore how technology can be used to tell stories of art and culture. Guided by the belief that cultural institutions are centers of memory and collective knowledge, Synoptic Office interweaves its expertise in cataloging, metadata, and design to bring the arts to the widest possible audience.

Image credit: Movers and Shakers