As an interdisciplinary researcher, artist and designer, I repurpose digital and analog media to critically reflect on cities and urban spaces. Through spatial and artistic interventions, participatory workshops and other interactive experiences, that question preconceived assumptions about the urban spaces we inhabit and open up conversations and processes of co-imagination and creation of alternatives. In my working process, I adopt a DIY and amateurist approach, using a range of different media, from 3D scanning and photogrammetry, to modded video games and printmaking. A key aspect is looking at projects as open-ended and open-source, documenting the process and making it available for further re-appropriation. My research and artistic practice focuses on participatory, DIY and informal approaches to urbanism and city-making. This focus is something that organically evolved from my background in participatory and critical design and my personal interest in spatial appropriation reflected in skateboarding and graffiti.
Felyx.city - FELYX.CITY is an exploration on commoning by looking at shared mobility services (scooters, mopeds, etc.) and their impact on the urban space. Now it consists of a series of physical and digital interventions that take as a starting point the same 3D scan of a Felyx (shared e-moped).
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Under the tagline “Own the City”, the Dutch company Felyx deploys hundreds, if not thousands, of shared e-scooters every day. While ‘sharing is caring’, unfortunately these type of shared vehicles tend to cause more trouble in the space they occupy. Becoming then a symbol for carelessness.
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www.felyx.city
Satellite Writers - Satellite Writers is a living collection of digital satellite images sourced from Google Earth.
The snapshots capture graffiti writing in different locations that are visible and legible from space, finding new meaning in graffiti spotting and in documenting its ephemeral qualities.
What a Mess - What a Mess is a collaborative project initially developed by Pedro Gil Farias and Hugo Pilate during the ‘Realities in Transition’ residency at V2_ exploring the untapped narrative potential of the urban fabric, and its place in the digital representation of cities.
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Together with different participants we hosted multiple photogrammetry walkshops and set out to digitally sample 3D vignettes of the neighborhoods visited in relation to different urban issues (hostile architecture, gentrification and street art, the porous city, etc.).
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www.whatamess.city
The Skatable City - ‘The Skateable City’ is a workshop format that allows participants to skate the unskateable by bringing 3D scans of real spaces/objects done in Polycam into a modded version of the skateboarding videogame Skater XL.
It combines the original project’s ethos to “explore the untapped narrative potential of the urban fabric” with the DIY spirit of creative appropriation of space both found in the skateboarding and game modding communities. All this while exploring topics of creative appropriation, accessibility and urban (in)hospitality in the public space.
Creative Commodities - Creative Commodities is an ongoing artistic project exploring creative ownership in a world of endless imagery, instant inspiration and AI-assisted image-making.
Taking from the vocabulary of finance and economics, during each During each iteration of the project, new source material (images, videos, audio, etc.) are generated either by participants or the artist, resulting in Commodities, that are then transformed into new works, or Derivatives. This process prompts reflection on authorship, creative appropriation and copyrights.
AI in the Hood - Developed and facilitated two set of workshops with the premise of understanding the potential implications and applications of creative AI tools (image generation and text based) for citizen engagement in city making efforts.
The first workshop took a more DIY approach to AI for city-making using off the box tools readily available online. As a first step, we were invited to reflect critically on AI-generated scenarios, written by Chat-GPT, for the future of Eindhoven. Next, they wrote their own stories about how they wanted the city to develop and translated them into prompts for NightCafé. With the tool they created visual scenarios for Eindhoven, altering real-life pictures of the city according to the prompts.
For the second workshop, we collaborated with UrbanistAI and combined their tool with Humankind's GPSA (Good Public Space Analysis) developed internally by Marta Nosowicz. This time, participants were guided from an analysis of the public space, using a space assessment exercise, to co-imagination moment where the ongoing discussions are translated into images using UrbanistAI's technology. The final produced visuals can stir debate about potential futures in the public space in question.
