Despite the abundance of culture surrounding us, culture feels more stagnant than ever. We are collapsing under the weight of cultural abundance: more products to buy, more apps to download, more influencers to keep tabs on, more misinformation to parse through, more polarization in our feeds. The irony of it all is that creativity has become more of a luxury than ever. We’re calling this emergent pattern hyper-optimization.

Join us for a panel discussion exploring the phenomena of hyper-optimization, a term coined by the Office of Applied Strategy (OAS) in its latest research dossier on the future of culture, featuring creative and business leaders within the cultural industries.

All attendees will also receive a copy of the full dossier as a limited edition, collectible physical object.

7 – 7:15: Arrival
7:15 – 8:15: Panel Discussion
8:15–8:30 Q&A

To learn more about the Office of Applied Strategy and our newest research report entitled “Hyper-Optimization,” visit this link here.

To read the manifesto portion of the dossier in advance of the event, please visit this link here.

Tony Wang is a strategist and the founder of the Office of Applied Strategy, a new type of consulting firm that combines management consulting, brand strategy and futures thinking into a single firm. He works with cultural leaders and brands such as Cartier, Chanel, Prada, Ariana Grande, Cash App, Riot Games, and David Zwirner. Previously, he was the Director of Brand & Content at SSENSE. He has also held roles at McKinsey, IDEO, and Google.

Joel Evey leads creative teams in the fashion and cultural space. Currently serving as Creative Director of Grailed, his career has long considered the relationship between the communal and the commercial.

Helen Chen is a strategist, researcher, and artist based in New York City. Her artistic practice focuses on exploring possible futures in food systems, material ecologies, and interspecies relations. Her work on fungi research has been internationally exhibited and received design awards such as Core77.

Chloé Desaulles is a creative director, strategist, artist and technologist based in New York City. Her practice specializes in storytelling innovation, research & development, cultural criticism and interactive design for emerging technologies with past works for The New York Times R&D, Versace, Apple Special Projects Group, The Brooklyn Museum, Bad Binch Tong Tong or Black Dog Films.

Ruby Justice Thelot is a designer, cyberethnographer and artist based in New York. He is an adjunct professor of Design and Media Theory at New York University. He is the founder of the award-winning creative research and design studio 13101401 inc.

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