OPENING REMARKS & KEYNOTES
Amir Baradaran
Amir Baradaran is a New York-based Iranian-Canadian ARtificial artist. As the Arts-Based Creative Research Associate and Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Baradaran is developing iBegoo…read more
Dean Mary C. Boyce
Dean Mary C. Boyce leads the education and research mission of Columbia Engineering with more than 200 faculty, 1600 undergraduate students and 2600 graduate students…read more
Isolde Brielmaier
Scholar and curator Isolde Brielmaier is Assistant Professor of Critical Studies in the Department of Photography, Imaging and Emerging Media at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University … read more
Anne del Castillo
Anne del Castillo is the Commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), which comprises four divisions: the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting which coordinates film and television production throughout the five boroughs; NYC Media, the largest…read more
Alberto Ibargüen
Alberto Ibargüen is president, CEO and a trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
He is the former publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. During his tenure, The Miami Herald won three Pulitzer Prizes and El Nuevo Herald won Spain’s Ortega y Gasset Prize for excellence in journalism…read more
Zia Khan
As Vice President of Innovation at Rockefeller Foundation, Zia oversees the Foundation’s approach to developing solutions that can have transformative impact on people’s lives, with a focus on innovative finance, data & technology, and science. He writes and speaks frequently on leadership, strategy, and innovation…read more
Cathy O’Neil
Cathy O'Neil is an American mathematician and the author of the blog mathbabe.org and several books on data science, including Weapons of Math Destruction which was long-listed for the National Book Award for Nonfiction…read more
Lisa Phillips
Called “The Most Powerful Woman in the New York Art World” by The New York Times, Lisa Phillips has been Director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art since 1999. As Director, she initiated and realized the design and construction of…read more
Kamal Sinclair
Kamal Sinclair is a producer, community arts leader, and multi-disciplinary artist. She serves as the Senior Manager of the Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Story Lab, which supports artists working at the convergence of all the creative… read more
George Zarkadakis
George Zarkadakis is a novelist, Artificial Intelligence engineer, science communicator and entrepreneur. He has over 25 years’ experience in management consulting, media, marketing and communications, as well as in digital strategy and innovation…read more
LIGHTNING SPEAKERS
Mitchell Davis
Mitchell Davis is the chief strategy officer of the James Beard Foundation, a cookbook author, a food journalist, and a scholar with a Ph.D. in Food Studies from New York University. With the Beard Foundation for 20 years, Davis has created and overseen…read more
José Carlos Diaz
José Carlos Diaz is the Chief Curator at The Andy Warhol Museum and was a 2018 fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL). Diaz has recently curated the first museum solo exhibition of Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri and is currently … read more
Stephanie Dinkins
Stephanie Dinkins is a transdisciplinary artist who creates platforms for dialog about artificial intelligence (AI) as it intersects race, gender, aging, and our future histories. She is particularly driven to work with communities of color to co-create more … read more
Alexander Fefegha
Alex is the co-founder & head of making at Comuzi, a product & service innovation studio in London, rendering emergent technologies into next generation products and services for positive human interaction. Some of Comuzi’s clients…read more
Ross Goodwin
Ross Goodwin is an artist, creative technologist, hacker, gonzo data scientist, and former White House ghostwriter. He employs machine learning, natural language processing, and other computational tools to realize new forms…read more
Justin Hendrix
Justin Hendrix is Executive Director of NYC Media Lab, a public-private partnership between the City’s industry and its universities to drive emerging media and technology innovation and entrepreneurship, and the founding Executive Director of …read more
Lauren Kunze
Lauren Kunze is the CEO of Pandorabots, a leading chatbot platform that powers conversational AI software for hundreds of thousands of developers and top global brands. She’s an expert on state-of-the-art solutions for hard AI problems like natural language understanding and generation….read more
Steve Feiner
Steven Feiner (Ph.D., Brown) is a Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University, where he directs the … read more
Ori Inbar
Ori is a world-leading expert in the Augmented Reality industry and has devoted the past decade to fostering the AR ecosystem. As an entrepreneur, ecosystem builder, advisor and investor. He is the Founder and Managing Partner for Super Ventures and CEO of http://AugmentedReality.Org…read more
Gideon Mann
Gideon Mann is the head of Data Science at Bloomberg, guiding the strategic direction for machine learning, natural language processing, and search on the core terminal. At Bloomberg, his team has worked on the company-wide data science platform, natural language question answering, and deep learning text processing, among other products...read more
Tomas Garcia
Tomas Garcia is VP of Technology and Digital Media at the LACMA, guiding the digital vision of one of the nation’s pioneering arts institutions. In this capacity he leads the digital operations of a multi-generational and diverse workforce…read more
Marina Hassapopoulou
Marina Hassapopoulou is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cinema Studies and Associate Co-Director of the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program…read more
Eva Kozanecka
Eva Kozanecka is a New York-based filmmaker and producer specializing in content strategy, creative direction and film development.
She currently co-leads Artists and Machine Intelligence, a program at Google that pairs artists, researchers and engineers…read more
Kenric McDowell
Born in Napa, California and based in Topanga, California, Kenric McDowell has worked at the intersection of culture and technology for over twenty years. Kenric leads the Artist + Machine Intelligence program at Google Arts & Culture…read more
Daniel Morena
Daniel Morena is the founder and creative technologist ahead of 32Bits, the interactive design company responsible for the development of some of the most well-known interactive installations in Brazil…read more
Oonagh Murphy
Dr Oonagh Murphy is an arts manager, writer and lecturer, her research has taken her around the world to explore international best practice on the scalability of emerging technologies for cultural organisations. In August 2017, she joined Goldsmiths, University of London as Lecturer…read more
Newman
Newman is a Senior Researcher and Principal at metaLAB at Harvard, and a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. As a researcher expressing ideas through installation art, her work engages with technology’s role….read more
Angela Nichols
Angela Nichols is a long time freelance technical writer and editor who grew fascinated with the possibilities of AI-assisted, created, and derived art, who recently fell headlong into its ever-expanding world. She’s currently the Head of Labs for Botnik Studios…read more
Sandra Rodriguez
Sandra Rodriguez PhD, is a creative director and a sociologist of new media technology. Over 16 years, she directs, produces and collaborates on documentary films, interactive docs and VR/MR projects, garnering multiple awards…read more
Caspar Sonnen
Caspar Sonnen is a festival organizer and curator specialized in independent cinema and digital media art. As New Media Coordinator of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, he has successfully developed digital festival strategies and online initiatives…read more
Toshie Takahashi
Toshie Takahashi is Professor in the School of Culture, Media and Society, Waseda University, Tokyo and has held visiting appointments at the University of Oxford, Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society as well as…read more
Loretta Sarah Todd
Female. Cree. Metis. White. Writes (Sundance Writer's Lab). Directs (many films. many festivals). Thinks (tersely cogent or flamboyantly theoretical). Produces (experienced the labyrinth). And yes, awards & accolades. Known for lyrical imagery with strong storytelling,..read more
William Uricchio
William is professor of Comparative Media Studies at MIT in the US as well as at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He is principal investigator of the MIT Open Documentary Lab, which explores the frontiers of interactive and …read more
Victoria Vesna
Victoria Vesna, Ph.D., is an artist and professor at the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci Center at the School of the Arts and California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). Although she was trained early on as a painter (Faculty of Fine arts, University of Belgrade, 1984), her curious mind…read more
PARTICIPANTS
Salome Asega
Salome Asega is an artist, researcher, and current Technology Fellow at the Ford Foundation. She is the co-host of speculative talk show Hyperopia: 20/30 Vision on bel-air radio and the Assistant Director of POWRPLNT, a digital art collaboratory…read more
Chris Barr
Chris Barr directs arts and technology investments at Knight Foundation. Through this work, he collaborates with art museums and other cultural institutions to shape innovation and technology… read more
Katherine Behar
Katherine Behar is an interdisciplinary media and performance artist whose works exploring issues of gender and labor in contemporary digital culture have appeared throughout North America and Europe. She is known for projects…read more
Brooke Belisle
Brooke Belisle studies the history and theory of media aesthetics. She is an editor of the Journal of Visual Culture, and directs a certificate in Media, Art, Culture, and Technology at Stony Brook University, where she teaches in the Department of Art. ..read more
John Borthwick
Betaworks CEO, founder, Betaworks is a startup platform that builds & invests across the social, data driven media internet. Betaworks combines three areas of expertise. A studio; building products like Giphy, Dots, bitly, & Tweetdeck…read more
Assia Boundaoui
ASSIA BOUNDAOUI is an Algerian-American journalist and filmmaker based in Chicago. She has reported for the BBC, NPR, PRI, Al Jazeera, VICE, and CNN. Her debut short film about hijabi hair salons for HBO Documentary Films premiered at the 2018 Sundance.…read more
Michael Connor
Michael Connor is Rhizome's Artistic Director. He has curated exhibitions and projects for Yarat, Baku, Cornerhouse, Manchester, the Museum of Moving Image, New York, ACMI, Melbourne, Bell Lightbox, Toronto, FACT, Liverpool, MocaTV, and BFI, London…read more
Chris Dannen
Chris Dannen is CIO, co-founder, and managing partner at Iterative Capital, the New York-based cryptocurrency investment manager, and head of product at i2 Trading, the wholesale dealer and trading desk. His career has been devoted to the study and design of human systems in an entrepreneurship context…read more
Susan Delvalle
Susan (Suzy) Delvalle is the President and Executive Director of Creative Capital, a national arts organization that supports innovative and adventurous artists through funding, counsel and career development services…read more
Tom Emrich
Sometimes called the “man from the future”, Tom is recognized as one of the world’s leading thought leaders and influencers in Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and wearable tech. He was recently listed as one of 30 people… read mor
Elif Gokcigdem
Dr. Gokcigdem is a thought leader, historian of Islamic art, and a museum scholar who is committed to creating fertile grounds of empathy through informal learning platforms to inspire positive … read more
Mark Hansen
Mark Hansen joined Columbia Journalism School in July 2012 and took on the position of inaugural director of the east coast branch of the Brown Institute for Media Innovation. Prior to joining Columbia, he was a professor at UCLA, holding appointments in the Department of Statistics, the Department of Design…read more
Stephen Hartman
Stephen Hartman lives in San Francisco where he works as a psychoanalyst and co- chairs the faculty of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC). He is also a faculty member on the Relational track at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in New York…read more
Keely Henderson
As the Senior Associate Dean of Advancement at Columbia Engineering Keely leads the Development and Alumni Relations team for Dean Mary C. Boyce. She is responsible for engaging and strengthening the engineering community of alumni…read more
Nadav Hochman
Nadav Hochman is co-founding director of The Tech + Arts Initiative at The Tech Museum of Innovation in Silicon Valley (CA, USA), facilitating creative collaborations between global artists, designers, industry partners, and research institutions…read more
Joanne Hvala
Joanne Hvala heads the communications team at Columbia Engineering, and in that role provides strategic guidance and content oversight for Columbia Engineering’s integrated marketing communications and branding initiatives…read more
Margarete Jahrmann
Margarete Jahrmann, Ph.D., is a pioneer game artist (2004 software arts award transmediale Berlin, 2003 prix ars electronica, distinction interactive arts) and Univ.-Prof. Artistic Research University of Applied Arts Vienna. As professor in Game Design….read more
Eleni Janis
Eleni Delimpaltadaki (Janis) has joined NCRC as Chief Capital Markets Officer and Managing Director. Eleni is a social impact executive with an extensive record of success developing new business, large-scale programs and investment…read more
Mark Jarzombek
Mark Jarzombek is professor of the history and theory of architecture at M.I.T. where he has taught since 1995. He is author of Digital Stockholm Syndrome in the Post-Ontological Age (Minnesota University Press, 2016). His writings are at the intersection of ….read more
Zachary Kaplan
Zachary Kaplan is executive director of Rhizome, a net art organization based on the web and an affiliate of the New Museum in NYC. Before Rhizome: Renaissance Society, Chicago…read more
Nora Khan
Nora N. Khan writes criticism on emerging issues within digital visual culture, experimental art and music practices, and philosophy of emerging technology. Her research focuses on experimental art and music practices that make arguments through software…read more
Karen Marta
Karen Marta is a New York–based editor and publishing consultant. She was the founding U.S. Editor of Parkett and is the editor of Hans Ulrich Obrist’s Interview Project and many of his books…read more
Shaka McGlotten
Shaka McGlotten is a social anthropologist with a background in the fine arts. Their work brings together the theoretical insights of queer studies with the methodological toolkit of anthropology to consider new media technologies in relation to queer cultures…read more
Yucef Merhi
Yucef Merhi is an artist, coder, researcher, and curator, based in Miami. He is a pioneer of Digital Art, and is known for exhibiting the first work of art that included a video game console, the Atari 2600. Since 1985, Merhi has produced a wide body of works that engage poetry, facial recognition, AI, VR…read more
Tiffany Norwood
As a global serial entrepreneur, Tiffany Norwood has done seven start-ups, two IPOs, spanning 30 years and more than 50 countries. She did her first start-up as a teenager and had a patent by the age of twenty-three…read more
Opeyemi Olukemi
Opeyemi Olukemi, Executive Producer of POV Spark and VP of Interactive leads the innovation arm of the nonfiction film program POV. Throughout her career as an interactive producer, funder and public programmer, Opeyemi has created spaces and pipelines for interdisciplinary artists, communities…read more
David K. Park
David K. Park is Dean of Strategic Initiatives for the Faculty of the Arts and Sciences at Columbia University. Dr. Park is a member of Columbia University’s Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering New Media Center…read more
Christiane Paul
Christiane Paul has written extensively on new media arts, lectured internationally on art and technology and is the recipient of the Thoma Foundation's 2016 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art. Her recent books are A Companion to Digital Art…read more
Stephanie Pereira
Stephanie Pereira is the Director of NEW INC, and is a community engagement expert with over fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of arts and business. Prior to joining NEW INC, she was a senior leader at Kickstarter read more
Paola Prestini
Composer Paola Prestini is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Brooklyn arts center National Sawdust. Since 1999, when she co-founded the multimedia production company VisionIntoArt (subsequently re-launched as National Sawdust Projects)…read more
Victoria Rogers
Victoria Rogers joined Knight Foundation in May 2015. Previously, Rogers was the executive vice president of New World Symphony, where she helped set the strategic plan and oversaw all revenue generation, earned and philanthropic as well as marketing and communications for the orchestral academy…read more
Frank Rose
Frank Rose is a recognized authority on the future of media. In his most recent book, The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories, he argues that we are seeing the emergence… read more
Marc Rowley
Father, Inventor, CGI and STEAM enthusiast 5-time Emmy winner, multiple patents, multiple global innovation and advertising awards, Co-Founder of Live CGI, Led ESPN's…read more
Roderick Schrock
Roderick (“Roddy”) Schrock is the Executive Director of Eyebeam in New York City, an institution dedicated to supporting art that critically engages with technology. Schrock manages the functional capacities of the organization’s direct artist support…read more
Toni Sikes
Toni Sikes is the founder of three art companies, and currently serves as CEO of CODAworx, the global leader in commissioned art, is a professional network for artists, design professionals, and industry resources. CODAworx provides … read more
Julian Stadon
Julian Stadon is a UK based Australian transdisciplinary artist/designer/curator/educator exploring embodied mixed realities, data bodies, social ecosystems and the Anthropocene….read more
Jalina Stewart
Jalina Stewart started her career in the music industry where she had the opportunity to use various entertainment platforms to create unique opportunities for brand exposure and award-winning videos and commercials for artists …read more
Adaora Udoji
Adaora Udoji’s expertise is emerging technology. She helps Fortune 500 companies understand how new tech can work for them, startups grow their businesses, and investors identify new opportunities. Udoji also invests in and advises women founders and entrepreneurs…read more
Elena Villaespesa
Elena Villaespesa works as an Assistant Professor at the School of Information, Pratt Institute. Her research and teaching areas of interest include digital strategy and user experience research and evaluation applied to the museum sector…read more
Ari Ezra Waldman
Ari Ezra Waldman is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Innovation Center for Law and Technology at NYLS. He is the Founder and Director of the Institute for CyberSafety, which includes the first-of-its-kind law school pro bono clinic representing victims of online harassment...read more
Tom Westerlin
Tom is a Creative Director with an emphasis on emerging tech and a drive to connect brands and users through authentic experiences. He started in gaming where he brought characters to life for hit titles including The Godfather and…read more
Amelia Winger-Bearskin
Amelia Winger-Bearskin is an artist, technologist, and organizer who develops cultural communities at the intersection of art, technology, and education. She founded IDEA New Rochelle…read more
Sarah Wolozin
Sarah Wolozin is director of the MIT Open Documentary Lab. As director, she develops and oversees lab projects, operations, and collaborations. She is the founder and editorial director of …read more
Karen Wong
Karen Wong is the Deputy Director of the New Museum, a mid-size museum renowned for its entrepreneurial platforms and mission: new art and new ideas. She co-founded the initiatives IDEAS CITY (2010), a residency and …read more
Dajuin Yao
Dajuin Yao is Vice Dean of the School of Intermedia Art, Chair of Open Media Department, and Director of virREAL Center for Art & Technology at the China Academy of Art. He did his doctoral studies…read more
David Young
David Young has spent his entire career at the leading edge of emerging media and technologies. Almost almost thirty years of doing client-based design innovation he shifted to generative and … read more
Helen Yung
Helen is an inter/transdisciplinary artist, researcher and consultant. Helen makes installations, interactions, and interventions. Her projects range from working with underground artists to the largest… read more