https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5243-9814
Sandra Álvaro is an Adjunct Professor at the Art Department of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Sandra Álvaro works at the intersection of art, philosophy, and technology. She develops a theory grounded in practice for the mapping of conceptual frameworks which improve our understanding of the current sociotechnical system and its relations with the Anthropocene. Among her research main areas are the aesthetics and politics of computational technologies; the epistemology of data-driven models; collaborative design and the emergence of new communities of practice; the commons and environmental justice; new materialism and posthumanist philosophy.
Sandra Álvaro holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. Her dissertation, “Postdigital City. Aesthetics and Politics in the Space of Embodied Virtuality”, was awarded an Excellent and the mention of International Doctorate. It also was included in the Leonardo Labs Abstracts Service. She also holds MA’s in Contemporary Art Theory (UAB) and Philosophy of Culture (UB) and a Diploma in Fine Arts from the Escola Massana in Barcelona.
She has been a Research Fellow of the program of Culture Analytics at the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) in the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and invited artist/researcher at the Laboratoire Paragraphe/CITU at the University Paris 8 and the Cultures of Interface Programme at the Kunstuniversität Linz.
She has companioned her theoretical and academic work with artistic production. As an artist, she has explored the encounter between virtual and urban space and has developed projects exhibited in art centres and Festivals such as MOCA (Taipei), MADATAC Festival (Madrid), the Caixa Forum Barcelona and Madrid, Casal Solleric (Palma de Mallorca) or the Museum of Modern Art of Toluca (Mexico)
Research areas:
Contemporary Art & Aesthetics, Art and Technology, Media Theory, Digital Culture, Environmental justice, Digital transformation (professional consultant and Digital Business Advisor), the effects of technology in society (software studies, critical media) Urban Space (new cartography and geography, non-representational theory) Epistemology of Computation (visualization and data analysis, simulation, Artificial Intelligence), The Postdigital, New design strategies (archaeology of media, speculative design, critical making), Posthumanism and poststructuralism, Cultural analytics and social media, data ethics and policies.
Education
2016_ PhD. In Philosophy. Philosophy Department, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB)
thesis: Postdigital City. Aesthetics and Politics in the Space of Embodied Virtuality
Qualification: Excellent with mention of International Doctorate
https://www.educacion.gob.es/teseo/imprimirFichaConsulta.do?idFicha=440774
Included in the Leonardo Labs Abstracts Service:
https://collections.pomona.edu/labs/record/?pdb=3782
2008_ MA in Aesthetics and Contemporary Art Theory Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB) and Fundación Miró, Barcelona
2005_ Degree in Fine Arts Escola Massana, Barcelona
2001_ MA in Philosophy of Culture and Philosophical Anthropology Universidad de Barcelona (UB)
1999_ BA in Philosophy Universidad de Barcelona (UB)
Teaching and Research
2019-2023_ Adjunct professor at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB)
- Art of the Twentieth Century (BA in Art History)
- Art Theory (BA in Art History)
- Contemporary Art (BA in Art History). New Materialism and the Historiography of New Media and Computer Art“
- Contemporary Art (BA in Audio-visual Communication). Art, new communication formats and the Critics of New Media“
2020-2022_ Visiting professor at the Interface Culture Programme – Kunts Universität Linz
- Mars 2022 – ERASMUS + Workshop: Interactive Art and Posthuman Thought II
- Mars 2020 – Erasmus + Workshop: Interactive Art and Posthuman Thought
2020_ Teaching Fellow at the IXDM (Institute of Experimental design and Media Cultures) – University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland – 2020 _ Teaching at the seminar: Eco-criticality, Alternative Environmentalisms
2018-2020_ Lecturer at the MA: “Management of Cultural and Creative Industries” _ Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes
- Innovation Strategies for the Cultural and Creative Industries
- Human Resources: Team Management and Distributed Leadership in Cultural and Creative Industries
2016_ Visiting researcher at IPAM (Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics at the University of UCLA. Taking part in the long program Culture Analytics.
2014-2015 Lecturer at the BA course in Technoetic Arts, join-program: Roy Ascott Studio at DeTao Masters Academy and the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art (SIVA) – Shanghai (China)
2013-2018_ Freelance writer and collaborator at the CCCBLab
2012_ Coordinator in Spain of the workshop “Hypermedia Art” Organizers: UAB, UPF, Laboratorie Paragraphe Paris 8 . Held on the University Paris 8 (16th, March – Paris)
2011_ Director of the Catmeeting III: First Workshop with Laboratoire Paragraphe (Paris 8 and Cergy Pontoise Universities) “Art numérique : Mythe ou réalité” / “Digital
2009_ Invited researcher/artist at the Laboratoire Paragraphe/CITU Université Paris 8, Paris (September 2009 – January 2010)
Awards – Fellowships
Erasmus + program (2020 and 2022) – visiting professor at the Interface Culture Programme – Kunts Universität Linz (Austria)
IPAM Fellow (2016- 2019) – Cultural Analytics Workshop- Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics – UCLA (EUA)
Visiting Researcher (2009) at Laboratoire Paragraphe/ CITU in Paris 8
Grants for young professionals of the Cultural Industry, Ministry of Culture of Spain – 2009.
Publications
Álvaro, Sandra (2022). “Art, Eco-aesthetics and Cosmopolitics” at Rasa Smite, Jeans Hauser, Kristin Bergaust, Raitis Smits (Eds.) Green Revisited. Encountering Emerging Naturecultures in Art and Research. Acoustic Space, volume 19/ Renewable Futures, Issue 4. RIXC. pp: 217-236. ISBN: 978-9934-9119-0-3
Álvaro, Sandra (2022). “Practiced, Conceived and Lived space in the Postdigital City. Estoa. Revista De La Facultad De Arquitectura Y Urbanismo De La Universidad De Cuenca, 11(22). pp: 47-58 DOI:https://doi.org/10.18537/est.v011.n022.a04
Álvaro, Sandra. (2019). “A topological space for design, participation, and production. Tracking spaces of transformation” Journal of Peer Production, Issue #13 Open – Peer-reviewed papers
Álvaro, Sandra. (2019). “Artistic production and embodied information. Tracking Spaces of Transformation” at Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits (eds.) VIRTUALITIES AND REALITIES New Experiences, Art and Ecologies in Immersive Environments, Acoustic Space Journal, Vol. 17.
Álvaro, Sandra. (2018). “The public sphere in the epoch of the algorithmic hyper-mediation: Fake News, disinformation, misinformation and the commodification of behavior”. At Hipertext.net, El futuro digital de los hechos. n. 17, Nov. 2018. DOI: 10.31009/hipertext.net.2018.i17.07
Álvaro, Sandra (2016). “Art and Data: The Aesthetic Emergence of Knowledge” at Everardo Reyes-Garcia, Pierre Châtel-Innocenti, Khaldoun Zreik (ed.) Archiving and Questioning Immateriality. Proceedings of the 5th Computer Art Congress, Europia Productions, Paris, pp. 108-126
Álvaro, Sandra (2015). “Disruptive Strategies in The Postdigital City”. Proceedings of the 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art. ISSN: 2451-8611 ISBN: 978-1-910172-00-1
Álvaro, Sandra. (2014).”Topologías del arte en la era de la información/ Topologies of art on the information era”. ARTNODES, DOI: http://doi.dx.org/10.7238/issn.1695-5951
Álvaro, Sandra. (2014). “Complexity, multi-perspectivism, and Tracking: A brief history of the meaning of image from the Postmedia to the Postdigital ages”, Technoetic Art Journal, ISSN: 1477965X
Álvaro, Sandra. (2013). “Postdigital Art: building appropriable information apparatuses” at re-new 2013 Conference proceedings, Framing Media — p. 242-247. ed. re-new digital arts forum. ISSN 2245-7801
Álvaro, Sandra. (2013). “El arte nómada. La interacción más allá de la pantalla /Nomadic Art. Interaction beyond the screen” at DEFORMA cultura on line, 6/5/2013. ed. Sendema, Valencia
Álvaro, Sandra. (2011). “Art and Locative Media: interaction on the hybrid space of the city” at DISTURBIS nº9, spring 2011, ISSN: 1887-2786
Álvaro, Sandra. (2008). “Under Construction”. K. Zreik and E. Reyes García. (Ed.) Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress: Computer Art Congress [CAC.2]Toluca & Mexico City. March 26th-28th, 2008, ed. Europia Productions. Paris ISBN 978-2-909285-45-6
Working Papers
2016_[White paper] D’Orsogna, M., Álvaro, S., Hunter, B., Oiva, M., Mireilles, I, Bardiot, C., Jofre, A., Manovich, L. : ”Collaboration and Translational Data Science for the Study of Culture” at Culture Analytics: White Papers Edited by Timothy R. Tangherlini (UCLA)
2016_[White paper] Álvaro, S., Bardiot, C., DeSalvo, S., LapinaKratasyuk, E. Oiva, M. Yazdani, M. “Teaching Culture Analytics: Filling the Gap between Humanities and Social Science Research and Data Science tools: A Pedagogical Study” at Culture Analytics: White Papers Edited by Timothy R. Tangherlini (UCLA)
Knowledge Transference
Álvaro, Sandra. “The Latest Post-Digital Revolution: The Internet of Things, Big Data and Ubiquity”, at Blog CCCBLab. Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #Virtual scenes #Internet Universe, 03-07-3013. http://blogs.cccb.org/lab/
Álvaro, Sandra. “Big Data and Digital Humanities: From social computing to the challenges of connected culture”, at Blog CCCBLab. Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #Virtual scenes, 23-10-2013
Álvaro, Sandra. “The power of algorithms. How software formats the culture”, at Blog CCCBLab. Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, # Open Science, 29-01-2014
Álvaro, Sandra. “IML. A project for a new humanism. Interview with Pierre Lévy”, at Blog CCCBLab, Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #Internet Universe, 26-03-2014
Álvaro, Sandra. “The Other Net behind the Big Wall (1&2)”, at Blog CCCBLab, Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #Internet Universe, 13/21-01-2015
Álvaro, Sandra. “The Maker Culture in China” (I, II & III) at Blog CCCBLab, Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #Internet Universe, 15/22/29-04-2015
Álvaro, Sandra “Avatars, Cyborgs and Robots: Can Humans Enhance Themselves? (I & II) at Blog CCCBLab, Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #Science, #Posthumanism, #Artificial Intelligence, 20/01/2016
Álvaro, Sandra. “Welcome to the All-Connected World of IoT” Infographics. Dossier IoT. At Blog CCCBLab, Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #technology, 11/11/2016
Álvaro, Sandra. “Fake news: sharing is caring” At Blog CCCBLab, Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #technology, 7/3/2017
Álvaro, Sandra. “Living together smart algorithms” at Blog CCCBLab, Research and Innovation in the Cultural Sphere, #technology 3/5/2017
Conferences and Lectures
2022_Paisajes y Arquitecturas del Error – Seminario Internacional. Grupo de Investigación DPARQ (27 – 30 de Septiembre, Morille, Salamanca)
Presentación: Sandra Álvaro y Miguel Serrano Nomadología Botánica del Depaisaje2021_ PostSensorium – Open Fields Conference. Organizers RIXC Art Science Festival ( September 23 – November 12)
Paper: Aesthetics of Perception, a historical approximation to inhuman vision and its ecological meaning2020_ ECODATA – Open Fields Conference. Organizers RIXC Art Science Festival (October 8-10, Riga, Latvia)
Paper: Art, Eco-aesthetics, and Cosmopolitics2019_ “Virtualities and Realities” – Openfields Conference 2. Organizers RIXC Art Science Festival (October 19-21, Riga, Latvia)
Paper: "Behind the Black Mirror. PostDigital Art unveiling the sociotechnical systems"2018_ “The Design of Networked Objects to the Design as Object, Design as Method: Making Critical Communication Futures” pre-conference at ICA (International Communication Association) 68th Annual Conference 2018 (May 23, Prague)
Long Abstract: “The Design of networked objects as Spaces of Transformation. From cyber-management to the Ecology of Participation”_Annual Deleuze Scholarship Conference. # 7 DELEUZE and the POLITICS of SUSTAINABILITY –Utrecht University (May 16, Utrecht)
Long Abstract: “Art and Aesthetics as metamodelization: the collective experimental composition of inhabitable territories”_Arts Incognita. Poetics of Artificial Creativity: Symposium on Art and Artificial Intelligence.
Organizers: Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (Consejeria de Cultura) and School of Creative Media (Hong Kong) (March 15-17, Cordoba, Spain)
Long Abstract: “Intelligent Machines Analysing/Producing Culture”2016_Computer Art Congress 5 – Digital Art: Archiving and Questioning Immateriality. Organizers: Laboratoire Paragraphe/CITU ( October 26th-28th, Paris, France)
Paper: “Art and Data: the aesthetic emergence of knowledge"2015_ ISEA 2015 – Disruption. Organizers: ISEA International (August 14th-19th – Vancouver, Canada)
Paper: “Disruptive Strategies in The Postdigital City”2013_ Re-new 2013 – The big picture. Organizers: re-new digital arts forum, Aalborg University, CIID, The IT University and the Athelas New Music Festival in Copenhagen. (October 28 – November 3 – Copenhagen, Danmark)
Paper: “Postdigital Art: Building appropriable information apparatuses” _Behind the Image and Beyond – CR13 International Research Conference in the series of Consciousness Reframed: Art and Consciousness in the post-biological era. Organizers: Planetary Collegium, University of Plymouth, England and The German University in Cairo, Egypt (31st, March – 2nd, April – Cairo, Egypt)
Paper: “Complexity, multi-perspectivism and tracking: A brief story about the meaning of image from the Postmedia to the Post-digital ages”2012_ Coordinator in Spain of the workshop “Hypermedia Art” Organizers: UAB, UPF, Laboratorie Paragraphe Paris 8 . Held on the University Paris 8 (16th, March – Paris)
Paper: “New practices in urban art: The art as an interface of the city” 2011_ Director of the Catmeeting III: First Workshop with Laboratoire Paragraphe (Paris 8 and Cergy Pontoise Universities) “Art numérique : Mythe ou réalité” / “Digital art: myth or reality” Organizers: Philosophy Department UAB, Laboratoire Paragraphe (Paris 8 and Cergy Pontoise Universities) and Arts Santa Mònica Held on Arts Santa Mónica (4th – 5th, May – Barcelona)
Paper: “Locative Media. Georeferencing and the collective utterance”_Lecturer at the Seminars “Chercheurs medias/ researchers of New Media”. Organizer: Kaldhoun Zreik, Universidad Paris8 Held on the CNAM (Conservatoire National d’Arts et Métiers) (4th, January – Paris)
Paper : “Sur l’espace public, presentation de WoS/Occupations”.2009_ Congress H2PTM, Paris 8, Participation in the organization of the digital art workshop (30th, September – 2nd, October – Paris)
2008_ Lecturer at CAC.2, Second Computer Art Congress. Organizers: Laboratoire Paragraphe, Université Paris 8 (Francia), Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Toluca and Campus Estado de Méjico (Mexico), and Europia Productions (Francia) (March – Mexico)
Paper: “Under Construction”Projects and Exhibitions
2017_ “Postdigital Strategies for the Anthropocene”. (Participative data collection and interpretation. Collaborators: Natalie Jeremijenko, Pilar Rosado…)- Cultural Innovation International Prize: Climate Change. CCCB, Barcelona
2014_ “Labyrinth City” (video Installation 3D). Exhibition: Hong-Gah Museum, Taipei
2013_ “Cultural consumption and territoriality” (Data visualization), BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya) Datathon Innovachallenger (2013). On-line:
http://www.enlaciutat.es/consumocultura/
“Labyrinth City” (video, animation 3D). Exhibition: Festival MUDAFEST Program VIDEOsPAIN (25th-26th May- Madeira, Portugal). Festival MashRome Program VIDEOsPAIN (8th-11th May –Roma, Italy). Festival Coruña Mayúscula Selection MADATAC (23th March, Coruña, Spain). Jääl Photo – Photography Fair, (14th -16th, February – Madrid)
“Urban Dwellings” (Photo montage). Exhibition: Ciudad de Palma Awards – Antoni Gelabert of Visual Arts 2012, Casal Solleric, (January 20th – March 17th – Palma, Mallorca)
REALIDAD||REFLEJO/ Reality/reflection (video, animation 3D) Exhibition: Alart 2013, Art Festival (9th August-15th September, Alaro, Mallorca)
2012_ “Labyrinth City” (video, animation 3D). Festival: MADATAC – 04 (Contemporary Advanced New Media Audiovisual Art Festival) CIBERCIVITAS_CYBERCULTURE AND AUDIOVISUAL ART FOR THE END OF TIME International Official Section, Special Mention. (10th – 16th, December – Madrid)
REALIDAD||REFLEJO (video, animation 3D). Exhibition: Room Art Fair 2, Art Gallery La Real, (23th – 25th, November – Madrid)
2011_ “Urban Dwellings” (video). Exhibition: Room Art Fair (16th -18th, December – Madrid)
“Inhabited City”, Photo and web, on-line: www.enlaciutat.es. Supporter: Departament de Cultura i Mitjanas de Comunicació de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Exhibition: “Entorns 4 visions de Terrritori”: Inhabited Lleida. Serveis Territorials del Departament de Cultura a Lleida (February 9th –March 4th – Lleida)
2010_ “WoS/Occupations”, Geolocalized video, Net.art (Web2.0) project held on the Laboratorie Paragraphe/CITU, Universidad Paris8, On-line: www.enlaciutat.info Supporter: Ministerio de Cultura de España (September 2009 – February 2010 – Paris)
2009_ “Urban Dwellings”, (Photo montage + video). Solo exhibition: Art Gallery La Real (March 6th – May 1st – Palma de Mallorca)
“Reconstruint Lleida”, (video digital). Exhibition: “Paisatges Transversals” Caixa Forum Madrid and Caixa Forum Lleida, (1st – 31th January)
2008_ “Under Construction” (Interactive film). Exhibition “Emerging forms of Digital Art”, Modern Art Museum of Toluca, (March – April. Mexico)
2007_ “Under Construction”. Exhibition: i-TUBE CXF, Loop’07, Caixa Forum Barcelona