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Brutalist Architecture. IBM. Star Wars. John Maynard Keynes. Tomorrowland. Dystopian cinema. The USCO. Equisite Corpses. Aristotle. Beavis and Butthead. The U.N. Ludwig Wittgenstein. The number 55.

Heaped together, these subjects seem incompatible. But piece them into the right configuration and they reveal the story of how one of the most enduring and culturally vital art movements in history—one you might not know about but in all likelihood have been a part of—may be terminated because of a document known as SOPA.

Part art history, part economics, part philosophy, Leland Maschmeyer’s talk will take us from a cement building in Boston to a comedy show in D.C. From Surrealist parlor games to recent social experiments that suggest the Surrealists had better insight into economics than most economists do today.

All economic, social, and artistic roads have led to SOPA. But they need not end there. As Leland will show, design opens the road ahead. To drive this idea home, all attendees will receive a new book created by 55 artists which speaks to a post SOPA future—one based in the design and economic ideas of the Surrealists.

Come prepared to be intrigued, infuriated, and inspired—in that order.

Leland is partner and creative director at Collins. In 2011, Campaign selected him as a “Global 30 Under 30” creative talent. His team’s work has earned several TDC, Jay Chiat, MIXX, AAAA, and Effie awards. It has also been featured in Graphis, Print, and Communication Arts. In addition, he authored Triumph of the Commons: 55 Theses on the Future. A mix of philosophy and pop culture, this exquisite corpse book, created in collaboration with 55 artists, resurrects the concept of the commons and explains its necessity to society’s future.

Leland teaches two classes in the graduate program at the School of Visual Arts—“Designer as Entrepreneur” and “Designing Interaction.” He has also teamed with communications researchers to examine the interactive space. Their resulting paper, “Interruptions and Online Information Processing: The Role of Interruption Type, Interruption Content, and Interruption Frequency,” was selected for presentation at the 2005 International Communication Association conference. Leland graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
THIS EVENT IS PRODUCED IN COLLABORATION WITH: