[Livestream] Mahyad Tousi
• â
About the speaker
Welcome Mahyad Tousi to the Museum of Arts and Designâs Stage!
Mahyad Tousi is a Brooklyn-based artist, filmmaker, and founder of the arts nonprofit Starfish. Working across Hollywood and the art world, his projects span network TV to major museum installationsâincluding REMOTE (with Mika Rottenberg), which premiered at NYFF and Tate Modern. He is currently in production on two new works: a follow-up to REMOTE, and CURAâa sensory work of âritual cinemaâ co-created with Indigenous tribes of the Amazon. His first Kickstarter launched in July 2025. Read more about CURA over on Kickstarter!
đ” Performance by Carla Kihlstedt
Carla Kihlstedt is a vocalist/violinist/violist, writer/lyricist, composer/improviser, and educator. Her music is nourished by friendships, books, curiosity and is influenced by many musical languages and traditions. Like many modern humans, she has omnivorous musical tendencies. An award-winning violinist and graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and a long-time instigator of composerâs collectives and bands of all sorts, Kihlstedt fuses her classical technique and ear for nuance with her DIY maker-space ethos.
Carla is on the faculty of the Contemporary Musical Arts Department of the New England Conservatory and of the MFA in Music Composition program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts at CalArts. She has co-facilitated the Creative Gesture Lab for composers and choreographers at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and is a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps. She is currently incubating an ongoing educational, environmentally-motivated youth chorus project called Long for This World. You can explore more at carlakihlstedt.com.
Local partners
Global Partner â Adobe
Adobe empowers everyone, everywhere to imagine, create, and bring any digital experience to life. From creators and students to small businesses, global enterprises, and nonprofit organizations â customers choose Adobe products to ideate, collaborate, be more productive, drive business growth, and build remarkable experiences.
Global Patron â Harnisch Foundation
Harnisch Foundation believes in a fairer world that works better for everyone, with special attention on gender and racial equity.
Local Partner â Harvest
Harvest is a web-based time tracking and invoicing application relied on by thousands of people around the world, from freelancers to small businesses to departments of Fortune 500 companies. Harvest founders Danny Wen and Shawn Liu had searched for tools to help their agency scale with more efficient methods to track time and send invoices. Unable to find one, they invested their own time, energy, and money into creating what they knew was a better way to run the businessâand Harvest was born.
Local Partner â MPB
MPB transforms the way that people buy, sell and trade photo and video gear. As the largest global platform for used photography and videography equipment, MPB is a destination for everyone, whether youâve just discovered your passion for visual storytelling or youâre already a pro.
Founded by Matt Barker in 2011, MPB has always been committed to making gear more accessible and affordable, and helping to visualize a more sustainable future. MPB recirculates more than 485,000 used products every year, extending the life and creative potential of photo and video equipment for creators around the world.
Headquartered in the creative communities of Brooklyn, Brighton and Berlin, the MPB team includes trained camera experts and seasoned photographers and videographers who bring their passion to work every day to deliver outstanding service.
Venue Partner â Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) champions contemporary makers across creative fields, presenting artists, designers, and artisans who apply the highest level of ingenuity and skill to their work. Since the Museumâs founding in 1956 by philanthropist and visionary Aileen Osborn Webb, MAD has celebrated all facets of making and the creative processes by which materials are transformed, from traditional techniques to cutting-edge technologies.
