SALON 1 will feature branding experts presenting ideas on how to rebrand Park51 (the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”) to members of the public, who will be cast in the role of Park51 board members. At the end of the salon, the public will vote on the best proposal.

Park51 is a planned community center “inspired by Islamic values and Muslim heritage” that has faced much public controversy over its proximity to the former site of the World Trade Center and 9/11 attacks.

Hashem Bajwa is CEO of De-De, a product development studio that uses Design & Development to build software applications and technology platforms that can become sustainable businesses. He spent his career working at the intersection of marketing and technology having lead digital strategy at ad agency Droga5 in New York and prior to that Goodby Silverstein in San Francisco. He began his career in global communications at the United Nations working under then Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Ian Daly, Planning Director & Cultural Strategist at Anomaly (anomaly.com)

Prior to becoming the planning director and cultural strategist at Anomaly, Ian helped lead DirecTV to one of their most successful periods ever, with an award-winning campaign featuring a Russian oligarch and a tiny lap giraffe. He won a Silver Effie for his work as strategic lead on Canon, and helped Dairy Queen usher in a new generation of fans. Ian also draws upon a background in national lifestyle/technology media, comprised of six years as a senior writer at Details Magazine (Conde Nast), as well as writing for Esquire, Glamour, The New York Times, The Poetry Foundation, and Wired UK, where he is currently a contributing writer.

Jeffrey Inaba, Principal at INABA (inaba.us) and Director of C-Lab (c-lab.columbia.edu) Jeffrey Inaba is founder of INABA, an architecture office that specializes in an analytical approach to form making and building. He is also the founding director of C-Lab, a think tank at Columbia University‘s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation which studies urban and architecture issues of public consequence. Before starting INABA, he was a principal of AMO, the research firm founded by Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture. In addition to being a faculty member at Columbia, Inaba has taught at UCLA, Harvard and SCI-Arc.

About Public Movement Public Movement (founded 2006, Tel Aviv) is a performative research group which investigates and stages political actions in public spaces. In the last five years, Public Movement has explored the regulations, forces, agents, and policies, formations of identity and systems of ritual which govern the dynamics of public life and public space. Public Movement has organized events, rituals, and political situations through consultation and collaboration with scholars, experts, and ongoing group debates and discussions. The Movement was founded in November 2006 by co-leaders Omer Krieger and Dana Yahalomi until August 2011 when Yahalomi assumed sole leadership. Public Movement actions take place in public space and in collaboration with art, theatre, dance, and academic institutions in Israel and abroad.