Events and Updates


September 2015

Sonia Coman covers our activities on Alianta.

February 2015

Jessica Backus, Director of The Art Genome Project,  Artsy

Jessica discussed the evolution and goals of the Art Genome Project, the classification system and technological framework that powers Artsy. She described the art historical and technological tools used to map the characteristics that connect artists and artworks across history. The Art Genome Project has over 1,000 of these characteristics, including art-historical movements, subject matter, and formal qualities. Jessica described how these characteristics create endless opportunities for discovery and learning, connecting works being made today to works with similar attributes made decades or even hundreds of years ago. For example, Cindy Sherman might be linked to Richard Prince via The Pictures Generation, and the Venus de Milo  might be linked to Salvador Dali’s own version of the iconic work via the Nude category. In this sense, The Art Genome Project is a unique tool in expanding art-historical knowledge. The discussion highlighted the thrills and challenges of combining art historical scholarship and technological tools to build a system that makes the process of discovering art more interactive and  accessible to a wider audience.

 

December 2014

Jeffrey Ernstoff 

As ISPOCC’s guest on December 5th, 2014, Creative Director Jeffrey Ernstoff spoke to common challenges and innovative solutions in the fields of the arts, science and business. Focusing particularly upon effective scaling, variation, and outside-the-box thinking, he shared an insider’s view of projects he has led for Radio City Music Hall, Super Bowl Halftimes, Mercedes-Benz, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Fortune Magazine, the Kellogg Innovation Network, the Olympic Games, ABC, NBC, CBS, and special events in India, South Africa, China, and Panama. As a hybrid writer-musician (woodwinds and percussion,) he studied Arts and Education at Harvard University, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America and ASCAP.

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November 2014

Francisco Araya 

Francisco Araya is the executive chef at Alegre Restaurant at the Hotel Palacio Astoreca, Valparaíso, Chile.

In 2008, Francisco hit an important mark in his career when he joined the El Bulli team under Ferran Adrià. At this point, equipped with the knowledge and experience to take on the helm of his own kitchen, Francisco returned to Chile, this time to take on a new challenge as the executive chef at a private club, overseeing 30 other chefs. In 2012 Francisco decided to up sticks again and leave Chile for Tokyo where, along with two colleagues from El Bulli, he started his own restaurant, “81”—a hidden gem in the heart of Japan’s capital, serving up flavours of Latin America, Europe and Japan, all in a cozy 81-seater setting. The restaurant met with much critical acclaim and in 2013 was awarded a Michelin star.

Now Francisco has taken to the kitchen at the Alegre restaurant in Valparaíso as its executive chef. Working with the highest quality local products whenever possible, Francisco aims to widen the palate in Chile with his farm-to-fork philosophy and sophisticated yet approachable cuisine.

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October 2014

Adam Royalty

Lead Research Investigator, Stanford D.School

Adam Royalty has been seen trying to grow by balancing rational problem solving with creative expression. A voracious learner, he loves exploring new disciplines and new ways of thinking, then adding those perspectives to his own. “Jack-of-all-trades” does not sufficiently describe the scope of his talents nor even does the title of “Renaissance man.” This is mainly due to the fact that his art, music, language, writing, and myriad other interests are severely underdeveloped. But latching on to the adage, “fail early, fail very often,” Adam steadfastly believes he will some day use a diverse collection of knowledge and abilities to save the world or d.sign something cool.

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September 2014

Visit to the High Line

Guided tour led by Sonia Coman

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April 2014

Matthew Israel from Artsy

Matt is the Director of Art Genome project and leads the educational initiatives at Artsy. He is the author of Kill for Peace:American Artists Against the Vietnam War.

Matt shared with us his experience overseeing the Art Genome project which combines art history and computing technology to create an innovative art discovery and teaching tool.   Among other themes, we had a chance to discuss the classification process underlying the Art Genome project and the work of Artsy as a for profit educational technology company.

January 2014

Idea Generation Workshop with Luki Huber:

Luki Huber is a product designer. Between 2002-2005, he worked exclusively for the creative team of the world renowned restuarant elBulli. In this role, he designed innovative products combining principles of design and gastronomy. His products have been showcased at the Centre Pompidou and are also sold commercially.

In January 2014, Luki lead a hands-on workshop to share the creative process behind his work. He presented exercises to illustrate the process of generating ideas in a team. With the help of visual tools, our group worked through several idea generation exercises to learn about the cognitive and team processes that aid and impeded creativity.   Further we learned how the organizational processes that facilitate creativity in one context—a restaurant—might be applied to other team contexts such as academic research.

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Ferran Adrià: Notes on Creativity exhibition

We visited the exhibition showcasing the visualizations and drawings by elBulli’s chef Ferran Adrià. The numerous drawings and sketches of new dishes and cooking methods chart the evolution of Mr. Adrià’s ground-breaking culinary techniques over twenty years.

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