A new event series where writers. filmmakers, and artists discuss ideas and inspiration with scientists, technologists, and designers.
A new event series where writers. filmmakers, and artists discuss ideas and inspiration with scientists, technologists, and designers.
QUARTERLY
Q2: Mimicking Nature
The thin line between nature and everything else
2220 Arts + Archives
May 28, 2025 at 7:30pm
"The rules which govern the birth and life and decay of living systems don't apply in the realm of technology. A washing-machine does not grow old gracefully. It still retains its youth, as it were, its bright chrome trim, when it's been junked. You see these technological artifacts lying round like old corpses — in fact, their chrome is still bright." — JG Ballard 1975
What exactly is nature and how closely can we capture it or replicate it through experiments? For our next gathering, we will have Yasaman Sheri, Tom Comitta, and N. Katherine Hayles in conversation, moderated by Joanne McNeil. We will discuss the thin line between nature and everything else, whether anything really is “nonhuman,” and what about the natural world can and cannot be replicated.
Featuring:
Yasaman Sheri is a Designer, Researcher and Writer exploring the creative and critical inquiry within science technology and culture. She has over 15 years of experience building novel computing inputs and interfaces, creating contemporary curricula in Design Interactions and writes on human perception of life sciences and culture. She is currently Principal Investigator of Synthetic Ecologies Lab at Serpentine Galleries, Professor of Media Design Practices at Art Center College of Design and Research Affiliate at NYU.
Tom Comitta is the author of The Nature Book and two fiction books coming out in 2025: People’s Choice Literature: The Most Wanted & Unwanted Novels (Columbia University Press) and Patchwork (Coffee House Press). Their fiction and essays have appeared in WIRED, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Believer, and BOMB. Comitta lives in Los Angeles with their partner and child.
N. Katherine Hayles is the Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the James B. Duke Professor Emerita from Duke University. Her research focuses on the relations of literature, science and technology in the 20th and 21st centuries. Prizes include The Rene Wellek Award for the Best Book in Literary Theory for How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Literature, Cybernetics and Informatics, and the Suzanne Langer Award for Writing Machines. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book is Bacteria to AI: Human Futures with our Nonhuman Symbionts.
Thanks to The Poetic Research Bureau for hosting.
Come join us for the first panel in the series.
Q1: The Automobile
Why do cars look the way they do? What changes to car design might lead us to experience cities in a whole different way? What’s going on with all the Waymos on the road? Join us for a discussion of the automobile past, present & future.
Featuring:
Jasmin Blasco is a French-American artist who works with sound, language, film, installation and performance. His practice explores the relationship between interpretation, translation and narration. Blasco's work pays particular attention to the evolving dialog between communication systems and their embodiment, observing the ways in which narratives emerge out of the encounter between the lived experience and the built environment. His work has been exhibited at the Antarctica Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, Istanbul Modern, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The MAK Center LA, Zébulon, The Music Center LA, Human Resources, Coaxial, Café OTO, Iklektic, Spektrum, Goldsmith, Ikono.tv, Baert Gallery, Wilding Cran Gallery and with Seymour Projects in Paris.
Claudio Carbone was born in Florence, Italy, raised in the parking lot of a FIAT dealership, and formed creative skill set in Turin as a designer at Stile Bertone. Taking naps in the Stratos Zero he realized interiors were his safe place. Under Technicon and Vintech contracts he got hired to design, lead and manage teams at some of the most prestigious design offices in the LA area such as General Motors, VW Group DCC, Honda Advanced Design and Faraday Future where he helped manage a talented team from ideation phase to beta car building. He founded CARBONE STUDIO in 2018 and declared independence from OEM careers, expanding further into a more diverse, yet more intimate and sustainable way of working.
Nora N. Khan is an independent critic, essayist, curator, and educator based in Los Angeles, where she is currently Arts Council Professor at UCLA in Design Media Arts. Her writing on philosophy of AI and emerging technologies, and the future of creative production in a technocratic age, is referenced heavily across fields. Formally, this work attempts to theorize the limits of algorithmic knowledge and locate computation’s influence on critical language. Her books are AI Art and the Stakes for Art Criticism (2025), Seeing, Naming, Knowing (2019) and Fear Indexing the X-Files (2017), with Steven Warwick. She is a member of the Curatorial Ensemble of the 2026 edition of Counterpublic, one of the nation’s largest public civic exhibitions, focused next on ‘Near Futures’. She was the Co-Curator with Andrea Bellini of the Biennale de L’Image en Mouvement 2024, A Cosmic Movie Camera, hosted by Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève, and also curated Manual Override at The Shed (2020).
Joanne McNeil is the author of WRONG WAY (2023) and LURKING (2020). Her writing on technology and art has appeared in Filmmaker magazine, Technology Review, and The Nation.
Gabriel Wartofsky is a Los Angeles-based designer and strategist who leverages design to [re]connect people to the joy of everyday life. His work is dedicated to creating joy-driven products, spaces, and experiences that celebrate individuality while fostering a sense of community. With a deep understanding of the intersection between design, technology, and culture, Gabriel has been at the forefront of innovation, shaping future-forward products and systems that blend delight with environmental responsibility. He has led cross-disciplinary teams across industries—from sustainable transportation and cleantech to finance, retail, and hospitality—consistently pushing the boundaries of what's possible. Born in Washington, D.C., Gabriel holds degrees from both Georgetown University (2003) and ArtCenter College of Design (2009). He currently resides in Los Angeles, where he continues to explore the potential of design to create meaningful connections.
Dec 14, 2024 at 5pm
2220 Arts + Archives
2220 Beverly Blvd, 90057
Thanks to The Poetic Research Bureau for hosting!