A PRESENTATION AND CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST, RESEARCHER AND EDUCATOR SALOME ASEGA

What do you mean by design? Opening up the question at the heart of his practice and business, Room for Magic and Deem Journal, Nu Goteh—winner of the 2025 National Design Award for Emerging Designer— will present his renowned work that spans his community-centered research, branding, publishing, and social practice. He will explore the ways he and others have used design as cultural authorship, meaning-making, and a tool for intervening in the systems that organize our lives. After his presentation, Goteh will have an intimate conversation with Salome Asega, Director of NEW INC, a museum-led incubator for art, design, and technology. Together, reflecting on the past year, they’ll discuss design’s ability to mirror and shape the world we live in and the role it plays in a time defined by change.

Learn more about the ASL Tour happening before this program.

SPEAKERS

Nu Goteh is a designer, strategist, and educator who envisions design as a tool for communities to reclaim their futures. As founder and principal of Room for Magic and co-founder, managing partner, and creative director of Deem Journal, Goteh is at the forefront of an emerging generation of designers who integrate design, culture, art, community, and social practice. Through Deem’s global platform, which has expanded beyond the print journal to include experiential activations and digital content, Goteh works to create a more inclusive future by examining design as a process instead of as output. His community-centric studio practice, Room for Magic, brings together marketing, storytelling, creative direction, and human-centered design for clients such as the Art for Justice Fund, the Ford Foundation, the World Peace Foundation, the National Memorial for the Underground Railroad, and the Urban Civil Rights Museum, as well as for brands like Jordan and Headspace. Influenced by his Liberian heritage and passion for counterculture, Goteh is a global voice for design as a social practice.

Salome Asega is the New Museum’s Deputy Director of Strategy and Innovation, overseeing NEW INC, the museum’s cultural incubator for creative practitioners working across art, design, and technology. Asega is also an artist, researcher, and educator working between participatory design and emerging technologies. Prior to joining NEW INC in 2021, Asega was the inaugural New Media Art Research Fellow for Creativity and Free Expression at the Ford Foundation, where she supported artists and organizations in the new media arts ecosystem. She is also a cofounder of POWRPLNT, a digital art collaboratory based in Brooklyn that offers free and sliding-scale workshops run by established media artists. Since 2015, Asega has been teaching studio and

AccessibiliTy & What to Expect

Format: The program will begin with a brief welcome, then the speakers will engage in a presentation and moderated conversation. It will end with an optional Q&A with the audience.  The audience will remain seated for the program.
About the space: This program will take place in Cooper Hewitt’s Lecture Room on the Ground floor of the museum. It is fully wheelchair accessible. There is an accessible restroom on the Ground floor. Read more about  accessibility at Cooper Hewitt.
Accommodations: The program will have live CART captioning and ASL Interpretation. We welcome questions and accommodation requests that support your participation. Email us at CHEducation@si.edu or let us know when you register. Please make your request as far in advance as possible—preferably at least ten days before the program date.

Support

The National Design Awards are made possible by:
Design Partners
Shelby & Frederick Gans
Jon Iwata
Lisa Roberts & David Seltzer

Design Sponsors
Apple Inc.
Chris & Irma Fralic
Alexandra & Paul Herzan
Helen and Edward Hintz
IBM Corporation

Design Friends
ANT/DOTE
Irene Au & Bradley Horowitz
Jake Barton
Amita & Purnendu Chatterjee
Cristina Grajales Gallery
Al Eiber
The Garden Conservancy
Agnes Gund
Jessica Healy, Seven Willow Collaborative
Randy & Taylor Hunt
Lemberg Foundation
Michael Maltzan & Amy Murphy
Henry R. Muñoz III & Kyle Ferari-Muñoz
Pentagram
Theo Richardson, RBW.com
Virginia San Fratello
Savannah College of Art and Design
Kimberly Schuessler
Lauren Seikaly & Michael Huber
Enid Sherman in honor of Jules Sherman
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Margaret Gould Stewart