Rethinking perception through design | Behnaz Farahi | TEDxMIT

Quick Overview

Behnaz Farahi's work explores the intersection of social, material, and psychological dimensions to create responsive and interactive technologies that challenge societal norms, such as gender objectification, by transforming perception and fostering connection through bio-inspired materials and computational design.

Key Points: Farahi's research explores the relationship between the human body and environments, ranging from the intimate scale of wearables to public art installations like projecting eyes onto the MIT Great Dome. The project "Gaze to the Stars" projects encoded personal narratives and emotions from 200 participants onto the MIT Great Dome, turning it into a storytelling vessel. Farahi investigates how materials and technologies shape our perceptions, emotions, and connection to the world, drawing from social, material science, and psychological perspectives. She showcased responsive materials, including a textile made of colorful, overlapping ovals and a structure of spiky filaments that react to stimuli. A key theme is challenging the "male gaze" and female objectification prevalent in fashion and media, aiming to subvert these power dynamics. The research involves developing novel, responsive, and often bio-inspired materials created through techniques like electrospinning and robotic fabrication. The presentation concludes by inviting the audience to experience the interactive sound healing performance featuring crystal singing bowls, visualizing sound patterns through water interaction.

Context: Behnaz Farahi, presenting at TEDxMIT, discusses her interdisciplinary research that merges computational design, material science, and critical theory to explore human perception and interaction with technology. Her work often centers on critical perspectives regarding gender, surveillance, and the body's relationship with responsive environments, utilizing innovative materials and interactive installations to provoke new ways of seeing and feeling.