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Benjamin Lee Bacon

Associate Professor of Media and Arts at Duke Kunshan University
DKU Faculty

Selected Presentations & Appearances


Inside Dogma Lab - ArtSci Salon and Leonardo Laser Talks · 2021 Invited Talk Toronto University
Education + Media - 6th Annual Intermedia Festival: International Academic Seminars · 2020 Keynote/Named Lecture China Academy of Art, Ningbo, China
COVID-19 Memory Archival Project - Coronavirus: Human, Cultural, and Political Implications · 2020 International Meeting or Conference Duke University Franklin Humanities Institute and Duke Kunshan University Humanities Research Center, Durham, NC USA
"Co-Evolution of 2 AI's" - Inter-World-View (World Young Scientist Summit) · 2020 International Meeting or Conference China Academy of Art and Zhejiang Association of Science and Technology, Wenzhou, China
Art x Tech - Australia-China Youth Dialogue · 2019 Keynote/Named Lecture Australian Embassy, Shanghai, China
The History of Chinese Electronic Music - Radio Documentary · 2019 Interview German National Radio,
Current Works: Little Sound Machines and Artificial Intelligence · 2019 Invited Talk Modern Weekly, Shanghai, China
Spectators and Speculators: Critical and Speculative Design - 212 Creative China Forum · 2019 Keynote/Named Lecture Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art, Guangzhou, China
Speculative and Critical Design - Design 3.0 Forum · 2018 Keynote/Named Lecture Tsinghua University / ID KAIST,, Beijing, China
Dogma Lab, Transhumanism and New Musical Interface - Alibaba UED UCAN Conference · 2017 Keynote/Named Lecture Alibaba, Alibaba, Hangzhou, China
Future Design · 2017 Invited Talk Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, Shanghai, China
New Music Technologies - Wetware Music Festival Forum · 2017 Invited Talk Beijing, China
Magnetic Body Instrument: Transhumanism and New Media Interface - “++” Audiovisual Interaction International Forum · 2017 Invited Talk China Academy of Art Shanghai Institute of Design, Shanghai, China
Fourth Revolution in the Music Industry - TED Talks · 2016 Keynote/Named Lecture TEDxNingbo, Ningbo, China
Digitized DIY, Open and Disruptive Noise - Minsheng Creativity Forum · 2015 Invited Talk Minsheng 21st Century Art Museum (M21), Shanghai, China
Present and Future Modes of Production - New Media Seminars · 2013 Invited Talk Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art, Guangzhou, China
Tangible Design - International Conference on Interaction Design · 2013 International Meeting or Conference Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
AMD Foundation 'Changing the Game' and PETLab Activate! - Rural Education Action Program: Gold or Just Glitter · 2012 Invited Talk Standford Center at Peking University, Beijing, China
The Role of Mobile Technology in the Future of Asian Markets - Nokia Research Center Shenzhen Opening Conference · 2011 International Meeting or Conference Nokia Research Center Shenzhen Lab, Shenzhen, China
Open-Source Hardware and Mobility - Nokia Academic Conference · 2011 International Meeting or Conference Nokia Research Asia, Beijing, China
User Experience Design Process - Nokia Academic Conference · 2011 International Meeting or Conference Nokia Research Asia, Beijing, China

Outreach & Engaged Scholarship


Lead in China Implementation of Program - Activate! Game Design STEM Education Program · 2010 - 2013 Community Outreach Dandelion Middle School , Dandelion Middle School flag China Activate! is a website, a curriculum, and a space for playing, designing and sharing games. Activate! uses the lens of game design and the related tools of iterative design and programming to strengthen Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills and develop stronger issue literacy on environmental and energy-related topics. Activate! is targeted for youth between the ages of 13 and 18. The Activate! site enables youth to make games using the game development tool "Game Maker." While Activate! can be used online by youth individually, it can also form the core of classroom and/or after-school programs. ​ Benjamin Bacon implemented the Activate! program in Beijing, China. in 2010, with funded support from the AMD Foundation, he was able to build a computer lab for the Dandelion Middle School for migrant children, located in Daxing District, Beijing. With teams of Parsons graduate students, Prof. Bacon was able to initiate and run design education summer programs at Dandelion Middle School and Renmin University High School in Beijing between 2010-2013. This work was presented at the Stanford Center at Peking University Beijing.

Service to the Profession


Research Lead - XResearch Cluster · 2022 Other V2_Lab for the Unstable Media,
Event Planning - Beijing Design Week Caochangdi 2012 · 2012 Event/Organization Administration Beijing Design Week, Caochangdi Art District

Academic & Administrative Activities


Director of Signature Work, Duke Kunshan University (University-Wide)
Chair, Signature Work Committee
Committee Member, Undergraduate Studies Committee
Committee Member, Institutional Review Board
Member, Scholarship Taskforce
Member, DKU Degree Granting Evaluation Committee