On February 22, 2026, we honored the Lunar New Year and welcomed the dynamic and energetic fire HORSE. This Hox Zodiac online dinner gathered a fascinating group of scientists and artists, born under the sign of the HORSE, who offered reflections shaped by the intensity, independence, and creative force of the equine. These tributes celebrated the HORSE as both companion and catalyst, a creature central to human migration, a partner in labor and domestic chores, a symbol in art and mythology, and an enduring figure in the imagination. It was striking to witness the breadth of cultural interpretations and the deep reverence inspired by the horse’s power, spirit, and untamed grace.
Honored Guests: Linda Weintraub, Kathy High, Maryam Razi, David Familian, Branko Metzger, Meredith Tromble, John Halpern, Petia Morozov, Haley Marks, Aleksandra Mara, Patricia Cadavid, and Maryam Razi.
FULL VIDEO
LINDA WEINTRAUB
Linda Weintraub is an American art writer, educator and curator. She has written several books on contemporary art. Her most recent works address environmental consciousness that defines the ways cultures approach art, science, ethics, philosophy, politics, manufacturing, and architecture.
KATHY HIGH
An interdisciplinary artist working with technology, art and biology, Kathy High’s creative projects focus on living systems, empathy, animal sentience, and the social, political and ethical dilemmas of biotechnology and surrounding industries.
MARYAM RAZI
Maryam Razi is a visual designer, eyewear artisan, freelance curator, and part-time writer. Her creative work sits at the intersection of art, science, technology, and culture.
DAVID FAMILIAN
David Familian is a visionary curator and artist whose work bridges art, science, and technology. Through more than three decades of interdisciplinary innovation, David has shaped over thirty exhibitions and launched pioneering residencies that connect artists with leading researchers across fields from biology to law.
BRANKO METZGER and MEREDITH TROMBLE
Branko Metzger is an art historian whose scholarly work focuses on modern art, cultural-institutional practices, and urban cultural history. His research is grounded in an interdisciplinary approach, archival analysis, and contextual interpretation of artistic phenomena.
Meredith Tromble makes installations, drawings, digital works, texts, and performances, often in collaboration. Her creative work sits at the convergence of art, science, and technology.
JOHN HALPERN
John Halpern has created numerous interactive public art events and films. His projects evolve through a process of deconstruction, breaking “problems” down into component parts and reassembling them in forms that undermine the logic of the perception that conceptualized them as “problems” in the first place.
ALEKSANDRA MARA
An event producer focused on immersive, experiential design, Alexsandra Mara is the founder of AMARA Studio. She is also a co-creator of the invite-only Mountaingate dinner series, and serves as Director of Experience at Conscious City Guide.
PETIA MOROZOV
For over 25 years, Petia Morozov has been deploying design as a powerful tool to re-ignite curiosity and meaningful engagement with the world around us. Petia draws from her experiences in architecture, interiors, infrastructure, product design, retail branding, landscape, transportation, interaction design, systems thinking and public programming to spark social, cultural and environmental worth in every project.
HALEY MARKS
An artist at heart, Haley Marks Marks is a biomedical engineer with interests in nano-biosensor research, translational medicine, and optics education. She has expertise in developing novel reporter dyes, nanoparticles, and has extensive experience working with spectroscopy/microscopy instrumentation, 3D printing, and developing microfluidic and lateral flow assay platforms.
PATRICIA CAVADID
Patricia Cadavid is an immigrant, artist, and researcher born in Colombia. Her work looks at the relationships and effects of coloniality through new media and sound. She is informed by her migratory experience, and by decolonial and anti-colonial thinking. Her recent research has focused on the amplification of the memory contained in ancestral interfaces from Abya Yala in the Andes that were taken away by colonization.
CC HART
CC Hart is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and neurodiversity advocate. Her creative and intellectual output spans visual art, essays, poetry, performance, and public speaking, often grounded in her lived experience as a polysynesthete.
IAIN KERR AND CLOSING REMARKS
Iain Kerr is a designer, systems thinker, and social entrepreneur, working at the intersection of creativity, ecology, and emergent systems. With a background in Architecture, Design, Art and Philosophy, he brings a unique perspective to issues of social innovation, design and entrepreneurship.
