Kevin Slavin is Chief Science and Technology Officer for The Shed, New York City’s new center for artistic invention. Slavin will foster artists working with emerging developments in science and technology, including augmented and virtual reality, AI, synthetic biology, materials science, and locative media, to express the ideas and imagery of our time. The Shed, New York’s first multi-arts center, will open in spring of 2019.

Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab, and serial entrepreneur, Kevin has built renowned projects and companies at the intersections of entertainment, games, big data, next-generation technologies, and design. As Co-founder of Area/Code in 2005, Kevin has been a consistent pioneer in rethinking game design and development around new technologies (like GPS and DNA testing) and new platforms (like Facebook and iOS). Working with MTV, Disney, Nokia, Nike, CBS, and many others, Area/Code was acquired by Zynga in 2011 to become Zynga New York. Prior to acquisition, their work served several billion pages, and more than 50 million users.

In 2013, MIT's Media Lab appointed Kevin to start and lead “Playful Systems,” a new division of the lab. A nascent group, they have worked with the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, chess grandmaster Maurice Ashley, and MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Their work has attracted global attention, including every major news network and coverage from The Huffington Post, Discovery, Wired and the New Scientist. Kevin also co-founded Everybody at Once, a consultancy focused entirely on how online audiences and fans interact with TV, movies, and sports. The company currently works with BBC America, BBC News, Starz, American Public Media, and the European soccer team Roma.

Kevin spent 10 years as a creative director and planner at some of the largest agencies in the US, and has been named to most of the industry awards, including Creativity Magazine's Creativity 50.”

As a professor and teacher, he’s taught at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, Fabrica, MIT, and Cooper Union, where he is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees. His work has been exhibited in museums including MoMA, the New Museum, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, and the Frankfurt Museum für Moderne Kunst.

How Algorithms Shape the World (Big Data, Finance, New Technologies)

Kevin understands algorithms as nature — our world is subject to algorithmic optimization, not just on Wall Street, but in our homes, our architecture, and in our cities. Math is shaping our environments, what he calls the ‘physics of culture.’ Years before “flash trading” was a household phrase, Kevin articulated its effects far beyond Wall Street; his work remains on the cutting edge of the world these technologies have unleashed. His TED Talk on the subject of algorithms was listed #18 Best of TED 2011.