Immersion
Shapeshift Summit: Immersion
Explore AI’s real impact across the global city of Chicago.
Begin your Shapeshift experience a day early with the Immersion program on May 28.
Curated by the Institute of Design in collaboration with Murmur Ring, our Immersion will bring together an intimate group of participants to explore real-world applications of AI across Chicago to make the abstract tangible.
Get your tickets early. Space is limited.
Wednesday, May 28
Through a series of site visits with speculative artists data scientists, policymakers, and more, Immersion participants will experience the implications of AI at work in a variety of contexts and models.
Workshops, discussions, and reflections will be facilitated throughout the day and designed to connect the immersion directly to subsequent Summit programming. The Immersion will begin and end in the South Lobby of Merchandise Mart.
8:30 – 9:30am Gather & Welcome
Gather at Merchandise Mart, South Lobby
222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza
Join us in the South Lobby of Merchandise Mart for an official immersion welcome and group introductions.
9:30-11:30am Site Visit: National Public Housing Museum & Open Communities
919 S Ada Street
The National Public Housing Museum and Open Communities will welcome us to the newly constructed museum for a chance to observe the intersection of our housing crisis, data discrimination, and emerging technologies.
This site visit will feature an introduction to the ML-assisted tool Northwestern graduate students have built to serve the Evanston-based fair housing agency’s mission to eradicate housing discrimination.
12-1:30pm Site Visit: Mindworks
224 S Michigan Avenue, Suite 102
Mindworks is a working laboratory with hands-on exhibitions dedicated to the science of human judgment.
During our visit we will meet with scientists and researchers to consider how ascending technology can be used to improve human decision-making.
Lunch will be on your own, with a number of dining options nearby.
3-4:30pm Site Visit: Parsons + Charlesworth
Speculative artists Parsons & Charlesworth devise satirical objects and installations that draw upon research into the future of work and human enhancement to highlight the nature of our post-human condition.
The immersion cohort will join the artists in their studio to discuss their body of work and collaborate with them on the creation of additional fictional products for their Lumen Prize-winning Catalog for the Post-Human.
5-6pm Site Visit: Salesforce
333 W Wolf Point Plaza
Salesforce’s Amy Guterman will host a discussion on how the company uses technologies like AI for philanthropic good.
The cohort will also have a chance to build our own AI agents with the Salesforce team.
6:30-8pm Cocktail Reception at Marshall’s Landing
222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Founder’s Room
Reflect on the day’s experience and share insights with colleagues over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres during our private reception in the Founder’s Room of Marshall’s Landing in Merchandise Mart.
8pm ART on THE MART Projection Viewing
222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Founder’s Room
View the largest permanent digital art platform in the world.
Cynthia Noble, founding Executive Director of ART on THE MART, will join us to discuss this public art initiative as we adjourn to the street for an exclusive projection viewing.