Tomas Laurenzo

Tomás Laurenzo is an Uruguayan multifaceted artist, engineer, academic, and designer who specializes in working with both physical and digital media. His research is focused on areas such as data representation, music, interaction, and politics and spans across different practices and interests. With a background in computer science and art, he has explored artificial intelligence, machine learning, human-computer interaction, physical computing, and extended reality.
==Work and academic career==
Dr. Tomás Laurenzo holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the PEDECIBA Program, where he was advised by Dr. Alvaro Cassinelli from the University of Tokyo. 
His work often relies on practice-based research, understood as the creation of artistic work
together with its phenomenological analysis and interpretation. He employs methods intrinsic to practice –such as investigations of form, language, and style– as well as methods extrinsic to
it, such as theoretical and philosophical research. 
Dr. Laurenzo has numerous publications in the areas of New Media Art and HCI, including presentations at conferences such as SIGGraph Asia, NIME, ISEA , NeurIPS , ECCV, Sónar+D, Mutek , and TEI, among others. His artistic production is also diverse, including installations, music, live cinema, video, and digital lutherie, and his artworks and performances have been showcased around the world.
He was part during 2017 and 2018 of an ongoing project focused on incorporating electrical muscle stimulation into musical performances called Technarte. The project also served to present other projects related to wearables and fashion technology, by the hand of the young designer Birze Ozkan, who showed how artificial intelligence and 3D printing are capable of reproducing the material voids produced by deterioration in cultural heritage. 
During 2018 Dr. Laurenzo was nominated for “On the Road” a unique, annual project initiated in 2014 by the Guan Shanyue Art Museum. The process involved 15 curators, art critics and scholars, from major institutions, art schools and museums throughout China and Hong Kong, proposing a selection of promising young Chinese artists. That year, for the first time in its history, the annual On the Road exhibition was dedicated to New Media Art.
In 2019 he gave a keynote at AI & Big Data Leaders Summit. The summit will brought together 150 data scientists, analysts, engineers, AI researchers and business executives from a wide range of industries to learn, network and experience the full potential of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data and attended CTW , an esteemed festival that serves as a dynamic platform, bringing together renowned creators and innovators from diverse artistic and related domains. 
As of January 2021, Dr. Laurenzo is an Tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Critical Media Practices, College of Media, Communication and Information, University of Colorado at Boulder. Previously, he worked as an Associate Professor at the University of the Republic in Uruguay, where he founded and directed both the Medialab of the Engineering School and the university's Core Group on Human-Computer Interaction. 
In addition to his academic work, Dr. Laurenzo has also participated in artistic activities and held positions at various institutions, such as the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong as an Assistant Professor, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT as a Visiting Scientist , Microsoft Research as a Research Fellow , Carnegie Mellon University as a Visiting Scholar, Brunel University as a Guest Lecturer, Ericsson as a Visiting Researcher, University of Iowa as a Visiting Artist , Stochastic Labs as an Artist in Residence, and INRIA as a Research Intern, among others. 
Over the course of the past fifteen years, Dr. Laurenzo has emerged as an academic leader and strategic thinker, demonstrating expertise in interdisciplinary approaches and fostering successful collaborations. Notably, during his tenure as Associate Professor at the University of the Republic in Uruguay, he founded the country's first research group in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and new media art. Through this initiative, he achieved significant advancements in research and production.
One notable accomplishment was his leadership in the development of alternative interaction methods for the computers utilized in the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. By incorporating computer vision, augmented reality, and interactive narrative, Dr. Laurenzo's designs facilitated access to Uruguay's widespread OLPC infrastructure for children with disabilities. This pioneering work aimed to empower and support their participation in educational activities.
Furthermore, he spearheaded the development of interactive tools designed to provide cognitive stimulation for children with cognitive disabilities. These tools aimed to enhance their cognitive abilities and provide them with engaging learning experiences.
Dr. Laurenzo's contributions exemplify his dedication to utilizing technology and innovative approaches to address societal needs, particularly in the realm of education and inclusivity. His interdisciplinary achievements showcase his commitment to research, collaboration, and the development of practical solutions for the betterment of individuals with diverse abilities.His research focuses on the following three aspects: 
1) Foregrounding the social aspects and
consequences of machine learning technologies; 
2) Producing artistic work that experiments
with aspects of machine learning that are often blackboxed; 
3) Designing new modes of interaction that incorporate machine learning as a core component.
Within these objectives he has produced several artworks and writings. His works Memoirs of the Blind, BOX, DOOR, and Traces showcase possible uses of machine intelligence, while explicit exploring their social significance. Memoirs of the Blind and Traces focus on surveillance and machine-time, while BOX and DOOR center on ethnicity prediction. Tomas' scholarly output includes the book chapter Notes on AI and Big Data exploring the technical aspects of socially relevant machine learning, while the published papers on Memoirs of the Blind, BOX, and DOOR discuss the artworks and their showcasing of socially engaged artificial intelligence.
==Publications==
* A. Martín, G. Armagno, T. Laurenzo. An interdisciplinary education space for tackling accessibility problems of the One Laptop Per Child program. Journal Unam.MX. Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico, May 2012. 
* T. Laurenzo. Decoupling and context in new media art, PhD Thesis. PEDECIBA/UDELAR. Montevideo, Uruguay, October, 2013.
* C. Clark, T. Laurenzo. Celebra, Proceedings of International Symposium on Electronic Art, ISEA 2013. Sydney, Australia. July 2013.
* T. Laurenzo Coronel. Geopolitical Subjectivity. Proceedings of the 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art, Vancouver, Canada, 2015.
* T. Laurenzo Coronel and J. Baliosian de Lazzari. Augmented dérive and City visualisation. AUSART, vol. 4, no. 1. UPV/EHU Press, pp. 217–226 - 2016.
* T. Laurenzo. Media appropriation and explicitation, JSTA, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 27-36, Jul. 2016.
* T. Laurenzo. Ekphrasis (extended). Journal Technoetics Arts, a Journal of Speculative Research (15.2) 2017. ISSN 1477-965X. Publisher Intellect LTD, Parnall Road, Fishponds BS16RJG, UK.
* T. Laurenzo. Ekphrasis. Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary Conference Taboo, Transgression and Transcendence in Art & Science. TTT 2017. Ionian University, Corfu Greece.
* T. Laurenzo. The user-programmer continuum. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Electronic Arts, ISEA 2017, Manizales, Colombia.
* J. Jaramillo Arango , J. Bejarano Barco, T. Laurenzo , J. Llorca, E. L. Ramírez, A. M. Romano, Panel on Sonology: sonifying the conflict. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Electronic Arts, ISEA 2017, Manizales, Colombia.
* T. Laurenzo. Notes on AI and big data. Cyberpolitics, La Diaria (ed). Montevideo, Uruguay. 2018. (in Spanish)
* T. Laurenzo and K. Vega. DOOR. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction. ACM, Mar. 17, 2019. doi: 10.1145/3294109.3301262.
* T. Laurenzo, A. Rodríguez, and T. Kudinova. Extraordinary Accident: An Immersive Metaphor of Hong Kong. Proceedings of the 12th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia-Pacific, November 2019, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 1-7
* T. Laurenzo El arte como Resistencia (Art as a Form of Resistance). Book chapter to appear in the book “ArtFutura Latinoamérica: Nuevas Configuraciones de una Tecnología Humanizada”. Published by ArtFutura. Montevideo, Uruguay.
* T. Laurenzo, Memoirs of the blind: surveillance, speed, and interaction. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Electronic Arts, ISEA 2019, GwangJu, South Korea.
* A. Rodríguez, T. Laurenzo. Privacy in the Age of Mobile XR. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Electronic Arts, ISEA 2019, GwangJu, South Korea.
* T. Laurenzo and K. Vega. Exploring AI Ethics Through Intelligent Everyday Objects. Proceedings of the 21st International Symposium on Electronic Arts, ISEA 2020, 2020, Montreal, Canada.
* T. Laurenzo, B. D. Campbell and F. Samsel, "Tomás Laurenzo: Pushing Back on Colonization," in IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 118-124, 1 July-Aug. 2021, doi: 10.1109/MCG.2021.3081835.
==Artworks Exhibited==
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Smile. Interactive Installation.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Be Water. Interactive Installation.
* Laurenzo, Tomás and Katia Vega BOX. Interactive Installation.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Extraordinary Accident. Virtual Reality Installation.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Memoirs of the Blind. Interactive Installation.https://www.drha.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DRHA2019_ConferenceProceedings_compressed-1-1.pdf
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Ekphrasis. Kinetic Installation.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Traces. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Simple Background Noise: Movement and Stillness. Sound art.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. ELLOS. Audio-visual performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Homs. Installation.
* Laurenzo, Tomás, Tobias Klein and Christian Clark. The Blind Spot. Virtual reality performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás and Tobias Klein. The Vision Machine. Audio-visual and mixed reality performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Two Systems. Interactive Installation. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás, Christian Clark, Tatjana Kudinova et al. Barcelona.
* Laurenzo, Tomás, Tobias Klein and Christian Clark. Awkward Consequence. Virtual reality performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Walrus. Interactive Installation.
* Laurenzo, Tomás and Tony Tackling. Elephant. Audio-visual performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. 5500. Audio-visual performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Foreign Helpers. Interactive Installation. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás et al. Lituania Lituania. Audio-visual performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás, Christian Clark, et al. Celebra. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás, Roger Dannenberg, and Adeline Lecce. Critical Point. Audio-visual performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Son. Interactive Installation.
* Laurenzo, Tomás et al. Aragón. Interactive Installation. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás and Christian Clark. Programmed Video. Short film. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás, Christian Clark, and Guillermo Berta. Net. Audio-visual performance. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás, Marcelo Vidal, and Renaud Blanch. Ilumina. Interactive Installation.https://narkolepsy.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/0/5/15058708/nk_bilan_playin_2011.pdf
* Laurenzo, Tomás. OpenPark. Audio-visual performance. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás, Guillermo Berta, and Christian Clark. VideoMapping. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Sinatras. Audio-visual performance. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás. 10’. Audio-visual performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Chicas Japonesas. Audio-visual performance.
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Ribbons 2.0. Audio-visual performance. 
* Laurenzo, Tomás. Sino. Installation. 
Category:1977 births
Category:Uruguayan people
Category:Alumni of Universidad de la República	
Category:Artists
Category:Engineers
Category:Academics
Category:Designers