I’m a conceptual artist, educator, marketer, and writer, focused on the strategic reimagining of institutions of all kinds to help them harness social engagement for transparency and sustainable growth.
As the founding Artistic Director for Gulliver’s Gate, the miniature world museum in Times Square, my interdisciplinary background helped me lead all aspects of the experience development from a Kickstarter through a successful $40 million capital campaign and launch. Created to depict local culture and global connections for the broadest possible audience, it reveals cultural connections and the interconnected systems at work in the world at large.
During my years as a copywriter and Creative Director at Bodden Partners, McCann Erickson, and Wunderman, I learned collaborative teambuilding and management of creative departments of up to 15 members. Together we focused on the strategic development of unexpected and transformative products, campaigns and positionings for brands such as the Israel Ministry of Tourism, Exxon, Ericsson, Danone, Durex-x, the National Education Association, Transamerica, and many more.
Throughout my career, I have cofounded and launched many highly successful creative ventures across channels including Studio 360 for WNYC, an interdisciplinary public radio arts program; the largest marketing agency in Prague, Wunderman; and a double Grammy-winning gold album for Sony Music, Czech Republic, Sexy Dancers.
Personally affected by Superstorm Sandy, I’m now serving as Executive Director of the Resilience, Education, Training and Innovation (RETI) Center, a New York City nonprofit founded focused on turning disaster into potential by building urban resilience.
By teaching social impact, communications and writing at NYU Stern, I’m proud to help guide the next generation of financiers and entrepreneurs in innovative and sustainable business. I’ve also been a visiting lecturer on designing for resilience at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Parsons School of Design; School of the Visual Arts, and others.
With a career in conceptual art in collaboration with my wife, Františka, I’ve created and curated exhibitions and served as artist-in-residence extensively at museums and galleries throughout the US and abroad including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, Prague Biennial, and many others.
My book, The Academy of Forgetting, proposes the invention of an educational institution based in dynamism and critical thought. Other writing and art criticism has appeared in a wide range of academic and popular publications including the Village Voice, the Guardian, Art in America, and Flash Art, among others.