Flora Weil is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Interactive Media Arts (IMA) at NYU Shanghai. She is a Eurasian interdisciplinary designer, artist, and researcher with a background in engineering. She takes a holistic approach to developing technology that combines ecology, design, anthropology, cybernetics, and speculative thinking. She holds a double Master's in Innovation Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. Her past projects have been shown at the V&A Museum, Dutch Design Week, Milan Design Week, and the Singapore Art Museum. As a design engineer at the University of Tokyo, she led multiple interdisciplinary projects that turned emerging scientific research into proposals for new products and platforms. She was previously a research fellow at Strelka Institute, Transformations of the Human, M+ Museum and Design Trust. She co-runs an interactive media studio called Nephila that builds open-source tools for experimental worldbuilding. She engages with complex, often contradictory environmental conditions, aiming to create new ways of thinking about, representing, and experiencing the world.
Education
-
MA/MSc, Innovation Design Engineering, Royal College of Art & Imperial College London
-
BS, Engineering, Smith College
Research Interests
-
Open-source Tools
-
Ecological Infrastructure
-
Worldbuilding Systems
-
Non-Western Technocultures