About the Year of Light On 20 December 2013, The United Nations (UN) General Assembly 68th Session proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015). This International Year has been the initiative of a large consortium of scientific bodies together with UNESCO, and will bring together many different stakeholders including scientific societies and unions, educational institutions, technology platforms, non-profit organizations and private sector partners. In proclaiming an International Year focusing on the topic of light science and its applications, the United Nations has recognized the importance of raising global awareness about how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health. Light plays a vital role in our daily lives and is an imperative cross cutting discipline of science in the 21st century. It has revolutionized medicine, opened up international communication via the Internet, and continues to be central to linking cultural, economic and political aspects of the global society.
What is Photonics Photonics is the science and technology of generating, controlling, and detecting photons, which are particles of light. Photonics underpins technologies of daily life from smartphones to laptops to the Internet to medical instruments to lighting technology. The 21st century will depend as much on photonics as the 20th century depended on electronics.
The characteristics of light are waves and photons, which can be used to explore the universe, cure diseases, and even to solve crimes. Scientists have been studying light for hundreds of years. The colors of the rainbow are only a small part of the entire light wave range, called the electromagnetic spectrum. Photonics explores a wider variety of wavelengths, from gamma rays to radio, including X-rays, UV and infrared light. It was only in the 17th century that Sir Isaac Newton showed that white light is made of different colors of light. At the beginning of the 20th century, Max Planck and later Albert Einstein proposed that light was a wave as well as a particle, which was a very controversial theory at the time. How can light be two completely different things at the same time? Experimentation later confirmed this duality in the nature of light. The word Photonics appeared around 1960, when Theodore Maiman invented the laser. Even if we cannot see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, visible and invisible light waves are a part of our everyday life. Photonics is everywhere; in consumer electronics (barcode scanners, DVD players, remote TV control), telecommunications (internet), health (eye surgery, medical instruments), manufacturing industry (laser cutting and machining), defense and security (infrared camera, remote sensing), entertainment (holography, laser shows), etc. All around the world, scientists, engineers and technicians perform cutting edge research surrounding the field of Photonics. The science of light is also actively taught in classrooms and museums where teachers and educators share their passion for this field to young people and the general public. Photonics opens a world of unknown and far-reaching possibilities limited only by lack of imagination.
In 1945, UNESCO was created in order to respond to the firm belief of nations, forged by two world wars in less than a generation that political and economic agreements are not enough to build a lasting peace. Peace must be established on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity. UNESCO strives to build networks among nations that enable this kind of solidarity, by:
LEAD AGENCY
o Mobilizing for education: so that every child, boy or girl, has access to quality education as a fundamental human right, and as a prerequisite for human development. o Building intercultural understanding: through protection of heritage and support for cultural diversity. UNESCO created the idea of World Heritage to protect sites of outstanding universal value. o Pursuing scientific cooperation: such as early warning systems for tsunamis or trans-boundary water management agreements, to strengthen ties between nations and societies. o Protecting freedom of expression: an essential condition for democracy, development and human dignity. Today, UNESCO's message has never been more important. We must create holistic policies that are capable of addressing the social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainable development. This new thinking on sustainable development reaffirms the founding principles of the Organization and enhances its role: o In a globalized world with interconnected societies, intercultural dialogue is vital if we are to live together while acknowledging our diversity. o In an uncertain world, the future of nations depends not only on their economic capital or natural resources, but also on their collective ability to understand and anticipate changes in the environment - through education, scientific research and the sharing of knowledge. o In an unstable world - marked by fledgling democratic movements, the emergence of new economic powers and societies weakened by multiple stress factors – the educational, scientific and cultural fabric of societies – along with respect for fundamental rights - guarantees their resilience and stability. o In a connected world - with the emergence of the creative economy and knowledge societies, along with the dominance of the Internet, the full participation of everyone in the new global public space is a prerequisite for peace and development. UNESCO is known as the "intellectual" agency of the United Nations. At a time when the world is looking for new ways to build peace and sustainable development, people must rely on the power of intelligence to innovate, expand their horizons and sustain the hope of a new humanism. UNESCO exists to bring this creative intelligence to life; for it is in the minds of men and women that the defenses of peace and the conditions for sustainable development must be built.
COORDINATING PARTNER SPIE is an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light. SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. Serving more than 256,000 constituents from approximately 155 countries, the not-for-profit society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. SPIE annually organizes and sponsors approximately 25 major technical forums, exhibitions, and education programs in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. SPIE provided $3.2 million in support of education and outreach programs in 2013. SPIE publishes the SPIE Digital Library, containing more than 400,000 research papers from the Proceedings of SPIE and the Society's 10 scholarly journals with around 18,000 new papers added each year, and more than 195 eBooks from the SPIE Press catalog. The SPIE Press publishes print monographs, tutorial texts, Field Guides, and reference books. SPIE also publishes a wide variety of open access content. Membership includes Fellows and Senior Member programs. The Society has named more than 1,000 SPIE members as Fellows since 1955, and implemented its Senior Member program in 2008.The SPIE awards program serves to recognize outstanding contributions from individuals throughout the scientific community regardless of membership status. The SPIE international office is located in Bellingham, Washington and the SPIE Europe office is located in Cardiff, Wales.
NYC COMMITTEE
Camille Santistevan and Savona Bailey-McClain are leading the New York City Committee for the International Year of Light. The Chairs are marrying the disciplines of art, design and technology together to convey to the public the importance of light and light technology and how it has already impacted our daily lives. The Chairs are reaching out to the business, artistic and educational communities in NY and around the world, as partners. Access and sustainability are the primary themes for this yearlong celebration. Already, they have tapped into the largest public university system in the country – CUNY and will announce key partners and artists who are joining this effort, which is expanding everyday.
Baldev Duggal is a visionary leader in the photographic, printing and creative industries. As founder of Duggal Visual Solutions, Lumi•Solair and the Duggal Greenhouse, Duggal is a creative icon with global impact. Duggal’s ingenuity and passion for excellence is the trademark of his decorated career. In the 1960s, after moving to New York from India with a one-way ticket and just $200 in his pocket, Duggal pioneered the first “dip and dunk” film processing technology and opened a small photo lab that would become a staple of New York’s vibrant Photo District. More than 50 years later, Duggal Visual Solutions sets the standard worldwide for the creation of visual imagery, revolutionizing visual communication for corporations, museums, galleries, creative professionals, governments and non-profit organizations alike.
Duggal’s pure desire to make the world a more beautiful place goes far beyond the lens of a camera, as he is committed to combining creativity with innovative sustainable technology. The Duggal Greenhouse serves as a premier NYC venue and laboratory in new technology, while Lumi•Solair, a Duggal Energy Solutions division, engineers off-grid solar-powered street lighting systems. “We combine the craftsmanship of yesterday with the technology of tomorrow, creating a balance between art and science,” Duggal says, a mission that is engraved on the front entrance stone of the Duggal Greenhouse.
Access: Art Interactive Light-Based Gallery Macauley Honors College, 35 West 67th Street, NYC November 16, 2014
The rapid pace of technology has opened new doors for creating 21stcentury art. White walls are crumbling and artists are beginning to taking advantage of these opportunities. Engaging the public and offering them the choice to participate and even shape the focus and direction of art is now a reality. We are no longer watching old Jetson television shows but actually living it. Come learn about the 2015 International Year of Light by the UN and activities that will showcase various platforms around the City. Produced by: NYC Light 2015/Committee for the International Year of Light Curated by: Savona Bailey-McClain & Camille Santistevan Presented by: DUGGAL TEDx Artists: Julie Antolijao, John Choi, Eileen Cohen, Vicki DaSilva, Lady K Fever, Henry Gwiazda, M. Henry Jones, Ellen Maynard, Jonas Nilsson, Eva Olsson, Stefen Reed, Pete Rogina, Carrie Mae Rose, Dianne Smith, Vaughn Spann & more.
Graphic logo for NYC Light 2015 by Julie Antolijao
INTRODUCING
VAUGHN SPANN
FEATURED ARTISTS
VICKI DASILVA
LADY K FEVER
JOHN CHOI
ELLEN MAYNARD
AND
DIANNE SMITH
ARTISTIC TEAM LEAD CURATORS SAVONA BAILEY-MCCLAIN currently lives and works in New York City. She is an independent curator, producer and preservation advocate. The range of McClain’s practice has included sculpture, drawings, performance, sound, and mixed media. McClain is the Executive Director & Chief Curator for The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. a sixteen year old public art organization and curatorial collective serving neighborhoods around the City. Her public art installations have been seen in the New York Times, Art Daily, Artnet, Los Angeles Times, DNAinfo, and Huffington Post among others. McClain strives for a soulful, meaningful connection with the public and the “arts”. It simply has to be approachable as far as she is concerned. McClain has installed at Times Square, DUMBO, Soho, NoLita, Williamsburg, Governors Island, Queens, Greater Harlem (East, Central and West), Chelsea, Upper East Side and the Bronx. Noted works include The H in Harlem, Counting Sheep, Story Piles, East River Flows, Under the Viaduct, Playlabs and Loosely Coupled. McClain has a liberal arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh and has been recently selected to join TINA, the new international network for contemporary art curators based in Italy. CAMILLE SANTISTEVAN is currently the Education & Outreach Manager at the CUNY Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) an economic development center sponsored by Empire State Development, with the mission to facilitate industry/university collaborative research. The CUNY CAT supports important applied research, particularly studies involving light-enabled technologies. Since 2008, CUNY CAT has helped NY industry create or retain 156 jobs and has been credited with $73M of non-job economic impact, while training STEM students for high-paying jobs in industry & government. Camille is responsible for coordinating various outreach activities that engage college student researchers, CUNY faculty, community organizations and business representatives. She holds a M.S. degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work and a B.A. in Political Science from University of California, Berkeley. CURATORS IVY BROWN has lived her life as a pioneer in the very city where she was born. In 1985, when others dared not set foot in the Meatpacking District, she bought a fourth floor flat in the Triangle Building and transformed it into a haven of tranquility and artistic expression. Twenty-seven years ago, the neighborhood wasn’t filled with high-fashion flagships, tech firms, gourmet markets, and chic nightclubs. It was still unlit, unsavory, and undesirable, the streets filled with meat packing byproducts, and home to misunderstood transvestite prostitutes. Hardly a place for a soft-spoken young woman to establish an artistic residency and gallery space, but Ivy gritted her teeth and took the challenge with determination. Ivy We represents a range of art that has a visual voice and distinctive attitude. She opened the gallery in November 8, 2001 when things were very quiet in New York City. Ivy felt it important to open the doors as soon as possible as so many other doors seemed to be closing. The gallery has approximately 1500 sq. ft., all the walls move as does the track lighting. LINDA GRIGGS has exhibited work at the Hampden Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Vox Populi/American Fine Arts, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, the Wustum Museum, Carolyn J. Roy Gallery, the Leubsdorf Gallery - Hunter College, Cuchifritos, the NY Public Library, Office of the Manhattan Borough President, Albany International Airport Gallery, the Matzo files, Bullet Space, Gahlberg Gallery - College of Du Page and at galleries in PA, TN, OH, VA, CT and NM. Her 1994 Solo Exhibition at Carolyn J. Roy Gallery was reviewed favorably in Cover Magazine by Jeanne C. Wilkinson and listed in the New York Times. Catalog, Therese Lichtenstein. She has been awarded fellowships at the MacDowell and Millay Colonies for the Arts, the AAI Rotating Studio Program and grants from Change, Inc and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Griggs has an MFA Hunter College, BFA Virginia Commonwealth University.
ARTISTS JULIE MARIE ANTOLIJAO was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised into the Philippine culture by her parents. At a young age, she had such a strong imagination and loved art. In high school she took several art classes and enjoyed drawing anime and nature landscaping on my free time. Julie still draws from time to time, but now most of her artwork is produced through the computer. She also does some light digital photography as well. At a time Julie had the privilege to work with two different companies who specialized in colored diamonds and custom jewelry. She worked as an assistant to one company to make catalogs and the other to produce pictures for inventory. She graduated at Berkeley College where she had taken a few classes in Web Design and Computer Graphics. She continued her education in learning the aspects of Adobe Creative Suite CC in programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Edge Reflow, Edge Animate, and Dreamweaver. JOHN NAMU CHOI is a 2015 Master’s candidate at Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Before ITP, he studied design and planning for public and architectural spaces as an Urban Planner and Landscape Architect. Now, as a creative technologist, former experiences have provided him with a unique perspective on his works. During his time in ITP, he would like to focus on creating something to communicate or interact with many people. EILEEN COHEN is an accomplished artist, video editor, animator, and colorist. She is a long-time member of “The Space”, a Long Island City-based not-for-profit events group and Arts Collective. Her work has been seen regularly on networks such as HBO (VICE), BET (Master of the Mix), MTV (VMA’s, InBetweeners), and others. She has also worked in film and has had screenings at numerous film festivals as well as in music videos. She graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art where she received Departmental Honors in Film/Video. She is an active alumnus who has also taught at the NY Film Academy. She collaborated with Peter Rogina in Light Photo animations for the Holocenter Gallery Farewell Extravaganza in April 2014 and most recently participated in the intervention series Under the Viaduct where Cohen and Rogina produced digital works for the famed Cotton Club in West Harlem. DENNIS HLYNSKY is a US-based artist and designer. With an insatiable desire to consider technology and its place in the arts, he came early to video and has more than 30 years of experience in the medium. He was among the first students in the RISD video program and is now a devoted teacher. Since 1983 he has committed himself to the study of digital processes. A skilled 3D artist his most recent work was cited by the Black Maria Film Festival. Hlynsky was a co-founder of Electron Movers, a regional media center and performance space, and a principal in the Video Analysis Project for ten years, using video as an intervention for people with life-threatening problems. The project garnered the attention of international media. His interest in celebration as an art form resulted in his designing the fireworks celebration for Providence for five years and has been central to several longstanding community arts events. Most recently, he and Daniel Peltz co-designed the Lepton, a true-non-linear editor for social web-based media. M. HENRY JONES is the Founder of SnakeMonkey 3D Studios. For three decades, SnakeMonkey 3-D Studio has been the launchpad for incredible collaborative projects that M. Henry Jones has created in conjunction with dozens of fellow East Village musicians, artists, and photographers. Years of animation work led to the creation of the group’s unique, viewer interactive, animated Fly’s Eye 3-D images. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012, his group has focused on improving their Fly’s Eye Project by experimenting with various methods. They are excited to begin a partnership with the Crouse lab at the City College of New York Grove School of Engineering that will help them to optimize their polyurethane lens array using Zemax optical design software. LADY K-FEVER (b. Canada) is a New York based inter-disciplinary artist and curator working with painting, installation, photography, performance and public art projects. She began her career in Vancouver the early 1990’s when she was invited to create an installation with Riot Grrlz for Artropolis 93. In 2003, she became the first Canadian woman to paint at the legendary Graffiti Hall of Fame in East Harlem, New York and to be put down with NYC graffiti crews KD & TDS. Her work has been exhibited in Bronx Lab Style Wars Bronx Museum, Graffiti Research lab MOMA, Figure8 El Museo del Barrio, Born again: Eight Artist Respond Longwood Art gallery, B-girl Be Intermedia Arts, This side of Paradise No Longer Empty and Figment 2012 New York and published in the New York Times, New York Post, Daily News and in the
magazines: Studio (Harlem), Mass Appeal (Brooklyn), Backspin (Germany), and Trace (international) among others, and in the books Graffiti Women: Street Art from Five Continents, and Burning New York: Graffiti NYC, and We B Girlz (New York). In 2013, her graffiti/street art has been presented at The Graffiti Hall Of Fame 2013, New York, Rooftop Legends 2013, New York, and The New York Walls Wynwood, Miami. From 2004 to 2006, she was the lead curator at The Aurora Gallery in Chelsea creating exhibitions History in the Making I, II & III. She has curated Made from love for the Bronx Museum’s project space in 2007, Outside the Box at the Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx and most recently light graffiti in Under the Viaduct in West Harlem. HENRY GWIAZDA is a new media artist/composer whose artistic trajectory has taken him from sampling, sound effects, and immersive technologies to his current work with new media. This new work is a comprehensive artistic approach that has resulted in work that is multimedia in nature and focused on movement. Gwiazda's works are regularly screened in festivals and galleries throughout the world including New York, Paris, Madrid, Cairo, Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Sao Paolo, Naples, Marseilles, Seoul, Damascus, Athens, Istanbul, Moscow and many others. He won First Prize at Abstracta Cinema (Rome, Italy), Magmart Video Festival (Naples, Italy), Festival InOut (Gdansk, Poland), Second Prize at the Crosstalk Video Art Festival (Budapest,Hungary), Third Prize at the GIGUK Video Art Festival (Giessen, Germany), and the Grand Prize for Best Audio at the 2008 DIGit Media Exposition (Narrowsburg, NY). His work is available on Innova Recordings. ELLEN MAYNARD is a Brooklyn-based dance artist and filmmaker. Ellen performed in original works by Bebe Miller, Lily Skove, Ann Sofie Clemmensen, Esther Baker-Tarpaga, Ohad Fishof, and Noa Zuk, during her time as a BFA student of dance at The Ohio State University. Ellen was director of photography for Stephan Koplowitz’s dance film installation work in progress during Bates Dance Festival 2014. She is currently dancing for Dante Brown | Warehouse Dance, and Quentin Burley. Luminata is the premiere choreographic work for Ellen in West Harlem, NYC. JONAS NILSSON is an artist who works with contemporary art where moving image is my major way of expression. He was born in Sweden where Jonas first went to a couple of art schools before completing his MFA degree year in 2000 at Norwich University College of the Arts in the UK. His work often deals with issues surrounding the western way of life where he likes to make comments on, and relate his work to, a dark dystopian and/or melancholic places or landscapes, both in an inner-world and outer-world. Jonas’s work has been shown at video screenings and video art festivals throughout Europe, North America and Asia, and he represented at Northern Video Art Network, NOVA is a web-based platform for artists working with video, media art and experimental cinema. He is also a member of the artist association Smålands Konstnärsförbund. Jonas is the co-founder and curator with Eva Olsson of art:screen, which is an international platform for new media art. We are also running Art Temple 1:85, Art Temple 1:85 is an art space for contemporary arts with a focus on emerging and experimental arts on research and development practices. EVA OLSSON is a Swedish artist who works with contemporary art where moving image is her major way of expression. She reconstructs familiar situations to create new insights in short animations, by working with reflections on everyday life. Eva completed her MFA degree at Norwich School of Art & Design in the UK. Her works are represented at: ArtFem.TV an online television programming presenting Art and Feminism; FemLink. The International Video-Artists Collective; Northern Video Art Network, NOVA a web-based platform for artists working with video, media art and experimental cinema. She is also a member of the artist association Smålands Konstnärsförbund. Together with Jonas Nilsson, the co-founded and curate Art:screen, which is a platform for new media art. They also run Art Temple 1:85, which is an art space for contemporary arts with a focus on emerging and experimental arts on research and development practices. STEFEN REED is a Harlem born, multi-media artist whose abstract and figurative work is inspired by the personalities within the pulse of New York City. Influenced by visual and literary artists such as Gordon Parks and Langston Hughes, Reed creates his work through a mélange of mediums including photography, paint, collage, spray paint, acrylic paint, craypas, and the moving image. His subject matter – namely the homeless, children, Women, and poverty, – teeter between the immaculate and the flawed, and draw on his own fears and experiences living in an environment where the struggle to stay afloat or drown is constant.
PETER ROGINA is an artist with roots in holography. He started making holograms with friend, Nick Pollara, in 1987.Their works have been sold internationally, been on display in Santa Fe, NM, the Center for the Holographic Arts in NYC, and numerous schools where Mr. Rogina speaks on the physics of holography. He quickly became interested in 3D Photography and has shown works at the National Stereoscopic Association convention in Buffalo, NY, in Los Alamos, NM, and at the Museum of Natural History in NYC, where his most recent showing was entitled, “3D China”. He has been a speaker on 3D at B&H Photo in NYC and has spoken at or chaired numerous 3D panels at conferences ranging from the Santa Fe Film Festival to the 3D Entertainment Summits in NYC and Hollywood. In 2010, he gave the keynote address at the largest 3D conference in Europe entitled “Beyond 3D, The Next Medium”. He holds six patents in the field of immersive imaging and is a co-founder of Enchanted Glass Entertainment. Mr. Rogina’s light photos have been featured in Peta Pixel and shown at multiple Global Online Art Exhibits, including galleries on light in Transmission and Reflection and Manipulated light. He has collaborated with Emmy Award winning artist/animator, Neil Epstein, and renowned abstract painter, Peter Smolenski. His most recent collaboration is with Eileen Cohen, who he met at the Flux Factory in Long Island City. Recent works were shown at the Holocenter Closing Extravaganza in April 2014 and the famed Cotton Club in West Harlem for the intervention series Under the Viaduct. CARRIE MAE ROSE is a sculptor, seeker and technologist whose research overlaps into the fields of fine art, technology, fashion, science and mysticism. Rose’s work has evolved from her Wearable Weapon sculptures series made from recycled material to creating installations, prints and computational couture with technology. She has participated in events with MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, Rockefeller Cultural Innovation Fund, Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, Microsoft Social Computing Symposium, NY Hall of Science, Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, IgniteNYC, Princeton Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department and Parsons, The New School for Design. Recently in New York she has exhibited work in BETA Spaces, Devotion Gallery, Galerie Protégé, Gallery 151, Con Artist Collective, Eyebeam Art & Technology Center and an online MoMA project entitled Design & Violence. She is currently collaborating with ISMC (International Space Medicine Consortium) to build a gem-lined garment with EEG & HPV sensor feedback to train future astronauts in meditation. DIANNE SMITH is an abstract painter, sculptor, and installation artist. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in New York City’s Soho and Chelsea art districts as well as, numerous galleries and institutions throughout the United States. She is an educator in the field of Aesthetic Education at Lincoln Center Institute (LCI), which is part of New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Since the invitation to join the Institute over six years ago she has taught k-12 in public schools throughout the Tri-State area. Her work as a teaching artist also extends to undergraduate and graduate courses in various colleges and universities such as: Lehman College, Brooklyn College, Columbia University Teachers College, City College, and St. John’s University. Dianne is a Bronx native of Belizean descent. She attended LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, the Otis Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Smith recently completed her MFA at TransArt Institute in Berlin. She currently lives and works in Harlem, NY. VAUGHN SPANN was born in Orlando Florida and is a BFA candidate at Rutgers University. He has used art to develop a visual language that addresses politics, and popular culture. His experiences growing up in various urban environments has helped define his identity and influence his work. Spann's work has been shown at The Newark Museum, Reginald Lewis Museum, Rupert Ravens Contemporary Gallery, Aferro Gallery, and the annual Newark Open Doors.
PRESENTING
US International Year of Light Artists WAYNE SKIPPER & YONA APPLETREE LIGHT AT PLAY RADIANCE ORB
Wayne’s background spans the technology gamut – from hardware design to software architecture. He is passionate about education and emerging technologies. A voracious learner from a young age, Wayne has spent many years pioneering the cutting edges of technology. As Founder of Concentric Sky, Wayne leads a team of hand-selected professionals designing and building a wide range software products – from high-focus, individualized K-6 software, to large-scale analytics systems designed to quantify the activity of user populations. Wayne and his team have designed hundreds of products in Concentric Sky’s 8-year history, including some of the most widely used assessment systems available on the Internet today. Wayne began his career in the US Navy working on Avionics Systems, but soon afterward became interested in microprocessor architecture and silicon chip manufacturing. This led him to work for Texas Instruments, Applied Materials and eventually to Dell, where he played a key role on the Component Engineering Team co-developing early PC prototypes with Intel. After leaving Dell to study classical art and architecture in Europe, Wayne focused his energies on software design and specialized in technology-facilitated learning. He played a pivotal role in the development of several corporate learning platforms such as Peterson’s Test Prep product line and Cengage Learning's CengageNOW - as well as in numerous children’s products, including offerings by Encyclopedia Britannica and National Geographic. Wayne has testified before the FTC on behalf of Google and led a team working with the IETF on next-generation web protocols. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Laboratory for Education Transformation and designs interactive LED art in his spare time. In 2010, Blue Chip Magazine honored Wayne with a 20 Under 40 Award for his career achievements.
Yona has been an artistic technologist through his life. Since a young age, Yona has had a deep love of computers and electronics. His unquenchable curiosity to understand how things work -- particularly mechanical and electrical devices -launched him into a 15-year exploration of computer programming and hardware tinkering that has led him to where he is today. Since age 16, Yona has been a professional software developer, designer and architect - building and maintaining large-scale educational analytics and grading systems. His love of clean, functional systems led him to develop expert-level skills both on user-facing client systems and the data-driven backends that power them. Experienced in the artistically rich northwest festival culture and coming from an artistic family, Yona has always endeavored to express his technical skills as Art. Inspired by 6 years of attending the Burning Man arts festival, he realized that vision with Wayne Skipper in creating the Radiance Dome light installation in 2013. The success and popularity of this art motivated the founding of Light at Play, which won the Lucite International JUST IMAGINE™ awards in 2013.