Executive Assistant – Antikythera

Salary:
Full-time position
$22.60 – $26.92 hourly

What We Do:
The mission of the Berggruen Institute is to ask questions and develop foundational ideas about how to reshape political and social institutions in a transforming society. We work across cultures, disciplines, and political boundaries to engage great thinkers in developing and promoting long-term answers to the biggest challenges of the 21st Century.

Our Values

Respect the human dignity of all
Cultivate future-oriented solutions
Inquire with an open mind
Build a collaborative environment
Invest in people and relationships

Antikythera is a program at the Berggruen Institute that convenes a wide range of thought leaders (researchers, philosophers, technologists, scientists, and others) in exploring the implications for planetary-scale computation. This interdisciplinary program develops original, practical interventions in the social and economic future of computing, including artificial intelligence, computational simulations and economics, and philosophy of technology. The program hosts international salons and an intensive design research program with numerous participants and activities.

Skills and Experience:
Antikythera is seeking an executive assistant to support its directorial team with administration, operations, and program coordination. This is a full-time position that provides an exciting opportunity for a positive, organized, focused and mission oriented individual. A dedicated self-starter, who is highly detail oriented, with excellent communication skills, and enjoys supporting leaders in realizing ambitious ideas.

An ideal candidate will have strong writing and/or visual background, plus familiarity with art, design, science, and philosophy, is a plus.

Please note, only candidates living in Los Angeles will be considered. International travel opportunities associated with the position.

Position Responsibilities:

Executive Assistance – 80%
● Schedules meetings and ensures that appropriate calendars are kept up to date
● Provides timely briefs and travel plans to executives at weekly meetings
● Manages all incoming internal and external queries and responds in a timely manner
● Drafts, tracks and manages correspondence, meeting notes and other materials for the program.
● Manages contact lists
● Coordinates travel for executives and other team members as needed
● Receives, processes and tracks program expenditures and receipts
● Supports executives on other arrangements as needed

Event Support – 20%
● Supports directors with event logistics and communications during convenings
● Ensures touch-sensitive arrangements for special guests

Work Perks:
● We offer an exceptional 401k plan
● Health, dental, and vision
● Hybrid office work model
● Paid vacation, sick, and holiday pay
● Phone reimbursement
● Dog-friendly workplace
● Hybrid office work model with flexibility
● Snacks and gourmet coffee!

Please email the cover letter and resume to careers@berggruen.org. No phone calls please.

Berggruen Institute is a proud equal opportunities workplace. We firmly believe employing a diverse workforce is important regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Berggruen Institute is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

composed by Arswain
machine learning consultation by Anna Tskhovrebov
commissioned by the Berggruen Institute
premiered at the Bradbury Building
downtown Los Angeles
april 22, 2022

Human perception of what sounds “beautiful” is necessarily biased and exclusive. If we are to truly expand our hearing apparatus, and thus our notion of beauty, we must not only shed preconceived sonic associations but also invite creative participation from beings non-human and non-living. We must also begin to cede creative control away from ourselves and toward such beings by encouraging them to exercise their own standards of beauty and collaborate with each other.

Movement I: Alarm Call
‘Alarm Call’ is a long-form composition and sound collage that juxtaposes, combines, and manipulates alarm calls from various human, non-human, and non-living beings. Evolutionary biologists understand the alarm call to be an altruistic behavior between species, who, by warning others of danger, place themselves by instinct in a broader system of belonging. The piece poses the question: how might we hear better to broaden and enhance our sense of belonging in the universe? Might we behave more altruistically if we better heed the calls of – and call out to – non-human beings?

Using granular synthesis, biofeedback, and algorithmic modulation, I fold the human alarm call – the siren – into non-human alarm calls, generating novel “inter-being” sonic collaborations with increasing sophistication and complexity. 

Movement II: A.I.-Truism
A synthesizer piece co-written with an AI in the style of Vangelis’s Blade Runner score, to pay homage to the space of the Bradbury Building.

Movement III: Alarmism
A machine learning model “learns” A.I.Truism and recreates Alarm Call, generating an original fusion of the two.

Movement IV: A.I. Call
A machine learning model “learns” Alarm Call and recreates A.I.Truism, generating an original fusion of the two.

RAVE (IRCAM 2021) https://github.com/acids-ircam/RAVE