Behnaz Farahi and Andy Cavatorta will give keynote lectures during this week's MACAA Conference. Both lectures are also part of the Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Farahi will present her lecture on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 5:30 p.m.; Cavatorta will present his lecture on Friday, Oct. 5 at 5:30 p.m. Both lectures will take place at the Embassy Suites Hotel at 1040 P St. in Lincoln. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Farahi's lecture is titled "Emotive Matter from Fashion to Architecture." How can material in the environment foster new empathetic interactions with users? What if matter could detect people's physical movement and emotional states, and respond accordingly? Illustrated with a series of experiments, prototypes and interventions inspired by natural systems, this presentation will address emotive material interfaces that respond to the behavior of the human body and its emotions through the implementation of emerging technologies.
Farahi is a designer and creative technologist based in Los Angeles and working at the intersection of fashion, architecture and interaction design. Trained as an architect and specializing in 3D printing and physical computing, her ultimate goal is to enhance the relationship between human beings and their environment by following morphological and behavioral principles inspired by natural systems.
Farahi is a recipient of a number of prestigious awards, including the 2016 World Technology Design Award and the 2016 Innovation By Design Fast Company Design Award. Her work has been featured on various television channels, including the BBC and CNN, and in leading journals and newspapers, such as Wired and The Guardian. She is currently an Annenberg Fellow and is completing her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Media Arts and Practice at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.