E36 Dario Calmese: Designing Consciousness with IBI Founder.

Today’s episode is a special one. This time, it's me in the hot seat, in an extremely candid conversation with our inaugural IBI Fellow, Adam Saleh, an anti-disciplinary designer and current senior at UC Berkeley studying computer science and linguistics.

The Institute of Black Imagination began as a library, when I acquired roughly 2000 books from the personal archive of the late great multi-hyphenate artist, Geoffrey Holder in 2018, roughly 4 years after his passing. What I encountered in Geoffrey was a mentor, and what I encountered in his archive was a roadmap, a blueprint to creativity. I quickly understood how much input it took to create an output like that, and sought to find funding to create a physical space to house the collection and give access to other black and brown creatives to explore, be inspired, and ignite their own imaginations.

Key Links

Speak French to Dario, s’il vous plaît

Black in Design at Harvard

Theory of General Relativity

Decolonizing the Gaze: An interview with Dario Calmese

Cognitive Dissonance

Spotlight Consciousness

Dub: Finding Ceremony by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

What to Listen to

I learned to respect the power of love performed by Stephanie Mills

Je te veux Performed by Jessye Norman

This conversation was recorded in October 2021