University of Southern California
PROJECTS | 2021
Operation Porifera
Andrea Binz, Ana Mangino, Zoe Lee
Set in the year 2080, Operation Porifera imagines a society where a water-filtering freshwater sponge plays a pivotal role in responding to the Los Angeles Arsenic Crisis of 2030.
https://spark.adobe.com/page/bSsp0YaFEotUv/
Finalist Team
Instructor - 2021
Aroussiak Gabrielian
Aroussiak Gabrielian is an environmental designer and media artist working with biological materials, natural systems, and atmospheric phenomena. Her design work aims to torque our imaginaries to help us re-think our interactions with both human and non-human agents on this planet. Aroussiak is co-founder and design director of foreground design agency, an award winning critical design practice based in Los Angeles, that aims to dismantle structures of power and privilege that render specific humans, species, and matter silent. Aroussiak is currently an assistant professor of landscape architecture and urbanism at the School of Architecture, affiliate faculty of Media Arts and Practice at the School of Cinematic Arts, and director of the newly established Landscape Futures Lab, all at the University of Southern California.
advisors - 2021
Jordan Chancellor
Jordan is currently a PhD student in Marine and Environmental Biology at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on genomic responses to climate change and selective breeding of commercially important bivalve species. She has an interest in sustainable local food systems and multi-trophic aquaculture climate solutions.
Maddelyn Harden
Maddelyn is currently a PhD student at the University of Southern California. Her research focus within the Nuzhdin Lab centers on the genetic diversity of California macroalgae. With her work she hopes to apply population and evolutionary genetics to answer a suite of marine conservation biology questions as well as to inform policy initiatives governing coastal ecosystems.
Catherine Euale
Catherine is a textile artist, activist, researcher, and storyteller. In her practice, she challenges the need to use materials and methods that are non-compatible with living systems.
She believes that deepening our relationships with the material can raise awareness of our forgotten relationships within more than human worlds. She stands for interspecies and multidisciplinary collaboration rather than competition for creating true innovation. Her work is inspired by living systems and traditional crafting practices merged with digital fabrication and bio-material research.
Levi Simons
Levi is currently a postdoc at the University of California, Los Angeles. His work involves the use of environmental DNA, remote sensing, and machine learning in order to develop new tools for assessing ecological conditions. He has an interest in collaborating with community scientists and artists in conducting and communicating research.