Gideon D'Arcangelo Bio

I’m a designer with ESI Design, where I have been since 1995 and my official title is VP of Strategy and Communications. Much of my work is in design integration – orchestrating the various design disciplines we work in at ESI – physical, media, systems, graphic and content – into holistic experiences. We see the boundary between physical and virtual spaces disappearing, and this is a big part of what we work on at ESI. Some of my current projects: new store concepts for Best Buy, the Hall of Human Life at the Boston Museum of Science, and a redesign of the web platform for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Some of my past projects include Action Center to End World Hunger for Mercy Corps, the Reuters Sign at Three Times Square, and the on-island and on-line ancestor search at Ellis Island.

An area of special focus for me is the intersection of new technology and musical experience. I am a contributing producer for WNYC’s Studio 360. From 2005-2008, I produced the Listening In series on “Weekend America.” From 2002-2005, I produced the “Walkman Busting” radio documentary series on WNYC’s “The Next Big Thing.” I was a original member in the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) community, taking part in the first NIME workshop at CHI2001 and actively participating in the development of the conference through 2007, when I was Papers Chair at NIME2007 in New York.

I teach in the graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where I have been since 2000. I currently teach the thesis seminar for graduating students. I created two curricula for ITP – “Interactive Computing in Public Places” and “New Interfaces for Musical Expression.”

In the 1990s, I worked with ethnomusicologist and folklorist Alan Lomax on the Global Jukebox, an illustrated database of world song and dance styles. I am currently on the board of the Association for Cultural Equity, the foundation founded by Alan Lomax and currently headed up by Anna Lomax Wood. Writings include “Recycling Music, Answering Back: Toward an Oral Tradition of Electronic Music” (NIME 2004 Proceedings) and “Alan Lomax and the Big Story of Song,” (Rounder Records CD1863). I have a BA in Music with Special Honors from the University of Chicago.

Contact: gideon – at – listeningin – dot – org