World Building Live: Decoding Stories

Heba Y. Amin is a visual artist, researcher and lecturer based in Berlin who examines the convergence of politics, technology and architecture. Amin is the co-founder of the Black Athena Collective and a current Field of Vision fellow (NYC). She has an extensive repertoire in public speaking. Furthermore, she is one of the artists behind the subversive graffiti action on the set of the TV series HOMELAND which received worldwide media attention.

Juan DiazB is a director, writer and narrative designer. He is the European Director of the World Building Institute, a research unit at the University of Southern California focusing on the future of narrative media. He is the creative director of Kosmology, a creative studio that develops multi-platform projects including TORPOR, a reflection on lifestyle and environmental degradation, and the award-winning music, dance, film and transmedia project WE ARE THE HEAT.

Sergei Gepshtein, PhD, is a scientist studying human perception and action from a mechanistic perspective of neuroscience and from a perspective that respects experience as a research theme in and of itself. He works at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (San Diego) where he directs studies on Adaptive Sensory Technologies, and at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) where he directs the Center for Spatial Perception & Concrete Experience. He is a founding member of the World Building Institute in Los Angeles.

Itamar Kubovy is the executive director of the Pilobolus Dance Theatre, where he founded and co-curates the critically acclaimed International Collaborators Project, which opens the choreographic process to artists and thinkers from diverse fields. Before joining Pilobolus, he studied philosophy at Yale, ran theatres in Germany and Sweden, directed plays, co-directed the 2002 season finale of THE WEST WING, and made a film, UPHEAVAL, starring Frances McDormand.