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). Her interdisciplinary research and practice move between spatial and object design, Future Studies and Human-Computer Interactions. Along with practicing architecture, she uses 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 kind of 'intelligence' in order to expand their relationships beyond quantified functionality. This is currently explored as part of her practice-based PhD in the field of AI Ethics and Design at the
Centre for PostDigital Cultures (Coventry University, UK), funded by the UKRI (UK) and the Onassis Foundation (GR). 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 everyday practices.
Her current research has been presented in the following conferences:
‘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
“DIY Decadence” collaborative co-authored publication by Bompas and Parr Editions (2020),
”Cook 8” , the Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, 2018, and the
”London Design Festival”, London, 2017, among others. In 2020 she was also awarded the Artworks Fellowship (funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation) under the category of Visual Arts.
*Her debut work in the field of Collectible Design was on show at the
'Collectible Fair 2023' in Brussels.
Her work is currently on show at the "Innovation for Linving" exhibition by Isola Design, as part of the Milan Design Week 23 (18 - 23 April, 2023).
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.
