Maria is an architect, designer and researcher, having completed her architectural studies in Greece and holding an MA in Design: Critical Practice (Goldsmiths University, UK). She also recently completed her PhD in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) as part of the 'AI and Algorithmic Cultures' research path at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures (Coventry University, UK). Her interdisciplinary research and practice move between spatial and object design, Future Studies and HCI. Along with practicing architecture, over the last years she has been researching and using mixed media (both digital and physical) and different crafting techniques to experiment with mechanisms and (im)material constructs invading domestic environments and disrupting everyday performativity to reinvent relationships between humans, non-humans and the built environment.
Lately, she is questioning normalized human-machine interactions centered on a specific, market-driven construct of 'intelligence' in order to expand interactions beyond quantified functionality. Her PhD focuses on human-computer Interactions within home, more specifically those between humans and Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs), and how these can be re-configured in more open-ended and creative ways through the concept of ‘idiocy’. Domesticity becomes her primary playground for questioning pre-scripted normativities, surfacing and merging the agency of non-humans and the absurdity of human idiosyncrasies in informing technologically mediated practices. This research was funded by the UKRI (UK) and the Onassis Foundation (GR).
Her current research has been presented in the following conferences:
'EKSIG 2023', organized by the Design Research Society (DRS), IT, 2023;
‘Anthropology, AI and the Future of Human Society’, co-organized by the RAI (Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland), the BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) and the FAN (Future Anthropologies Network), 2022;
‘DIS’22’, the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems,2022;
‘ECAH 2022’, the 10th European Conference on Arts and Humanities, UK, 2022;
‘PDC 2022’, the Participatory Design Conference, UK, 2022;
‘DRS2022’, the Design Research Society Conference, ESP, 2022;
‘Future Bodies’, the New Media Caucus Symposium, US, 2022;
“DesAIgn” conference, co-organized by the Design Faculty of Holon Institute of Technology (Israel), and the Institute for Art, Design and Advanced Technologies, University of West Bohemia (Czech Republic), 2021.
Her practice-based work has been presented in group exhibitions and publications, including the
'Collectible Fair 2023' (Brussels, 2023), the Milan Design Week (2023),
“DIY Decadence” collaborative co-authored publication by Bompas and Parr Editions (2020),
”Cook 8” at the Benaki Museum (Athens, 2018), and the
”London Design Festival” (2017), among others.
In 2020 she was also awarded the Artworks Fellowship (funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation) under the category of Visual Arts.
She combines her research interests with her passion for experimenting with crafting techniques and diverse materials to animate the ineffable and peculiar inner life of everyday objects around her.
