Installation view, work by Nefeli Manoudaki

Nefeli Manoudaki is an architect-engineer and computational designer working toward a biodigital architecture. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Media Arts and Technology at UC Santa Barbara, and Co-Founder of Metaesthetica, a research-driven design collective.

Nefeli Manoudaki is an architect-engineer and computational designer working toward a biodigital architecture. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Media Arts and Technology at UC Santa Barbara, and Co-Founder of Metaesthetica, a research-driven design collective.

Nefeli Manoudaki is an architect-engineer and computational designer working toward a biodigital architecture. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Media Arts and Technology at UC Santa Barbara, and Co-Founder of Metaesthetica, a research-driven design collective.

Previously, she served as a researcher at the TUC TIE Lab in Greece, contributing to large-scale, nationally recognized projects. Her practice searches for the signals living systems already carry, the activity of brain organoids, the growth patterns of mycelium, and translates them into computational process: agent-based simulation, generative form, multisensory installation. The work moves across scales, from full-room environments down to material and object-level experiments, and she’s increasingly drawn to folding biological materials directly into her fabrication processes, letting the biological and the computational shape each other. She is an artist-in-residence at SBCAST (Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science & Technology). Her research has been published in venues including IJAC, IEEE VISAP, and SIGGRAPH, and her work has been exhibited at ISEA, Ars Electronica, the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, CURRENTS NEW MEDIA, IEEE VISAP, LOAD Gallery Barcelona, and the AI Art Biennale, with recognition from AI Art Magazine. She also serves as Co-Artistic Director and Lead for Urban Projection Mappings at Brave New Work, a conference featuring works by internationally recognized media artists in public spaces.

Exhibitions

2027

Montana State University, School of Architecture, Bozeman

Creative Direction

Invited solo gallery show with Metaesthetica (upcoming)

2026

SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, Los Angeles

Creative Direction

Simulacra Naturae

2026

CURRENTS New Media, Santa Fe

Creative Direction

Simulacra Naturae

2026

AI Art Biennale, Cogiteon, Kraków

Creative Direction

Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra

2026

LOAD Gallery, Barcelona

Creative Direction

Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra, Simulacra Naturae

2026

Brave New Work 2.0, 410 State Street, Santa Barbara

Creative Direction

Morphogenetic Ecologies, Simulacra Naturae

2026

MAT End of Year Show, UCSB

Creative Direction

Stochastic Jué (觉)

2025

Brave New Work, La Arcada Plaza, CNSI and SBCAST, Santa Barbara

Creative Direction

Co-Artistic Director and Lead for Urban Projection Mappings

2025

ISEA 2025, Art Center Nabi, Seoul

Creative Direction

Organoid Protonoesis II

2025

IEEE VISAP, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien

Creative Direction

Simulacra Naturae

2025

Charles Street Video, Toronto

Creative Direction

Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra

2025

transLAB, CNSI Elings Hall, Santa Barbara

Creative Direction

Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra

2025

St. Kliment Ohridski Base, Livingston Island, Antarctica

Creative Direction

Emotional Landscapes

2025

Berggruen Institute workshop, Elings Hall, UCSB

Creative Direction

Nested Observer Window

2024

Ars Electronica, Linz

Creative Direction

Microbial Mindscapes

2024

SBCAST, Santa Barbara

Creative Direction

Microbial Mindscapes

2024

Unite to Light the Night, CAW, Santa Barbara

Creative Direction

Organoid Protonoesis, Osmosis

2024

MAT End of Year Show, SBCAST and CNSI Elings Hall

Creative Direction

Organoid Protonoesis

2023

ACM SIGGRAPH 2023, Los Angeles Convention Center

Creative Direction

Synaptic Time Tunnel

2023

EMPAC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy

Creative Direction

Synaptic Time Tunnel

2023

MAT End of Year Show, CNSI and SBCAST

Creative Direction

Synaptic Time Tunnel, Osmosis

2022

MAT End of Year Show, SBCAST and CNSI Elings Hall

Creative Direction

Alloplex BioAffective Worlds XR: Hydnum

2021

GREECE 2021, 18 historic buildings in 18 Greek cities

Creative Direction

Desire for Freedom

Publications

2025

Simulacra Naturae: Generative Ecosystem driven by Agent-Based Simulations and Brain Organoid Collective Intelligence

Creative Direction

N. Manoudaki, M. Toka, I. Paterakis, D. Flatley. IEEE VISAP, Vienna

2025

Composing Complexity: A Case Study of Integrating Multi-Layered Audio-Visual Systems in Large-Scale Interactive Installations

Creative Direction

N. Manoudaki, I. Paterakis, G. Wakefield, H. Ji, D. Flatley, R. Millett, W. Qiu, M. Novak. ISEA, Seoul

2025

Exploring Human Emotional Perception Through Biological Signals

Creative Direction

S. Hyaju Ahn, N. Manoudaki, R. Millett, I. Paterakis, Y. Oh. ISEA, Seoul

2025

Digital morphogenesis and bioAffective data: A computational framework for multisensory design

Creative Direction

N. Manoudaki, I. Paterakis, D. Flatley, M. Novak. IJAC, SAGE Journals

2025

Osmosis: Generative AI and XR for the real-time transformation of urban architectural environments

Creative Direction

I. Paterakis, N. Manoudaki. IJAC, SAGE Journals

2024

Osmosis: Designing immersive urban environments using generative Artificial Intelligence

Creative Direction

I. Paterakis, N. Manoudaki. SIGraDi, Barcelona

2024

Alloplex BioAffective Worlds XR; Hydnum

Creative Direction

N. Manoudaki, I. Paterakis, D. Flatley, M. Novak. SIGraDi, Barcelona

2024

Hybrid Environmental Projection Platform (HEPP)

Creative Direction

M. Christoulakis, N. Manoudaki, I. Paterakis, M. Liapi, K.A. Oungrinis. AMPS, Barcelona

Talks

2027

Montana State University, School of Architecture

Creative Direction

Invited speaker on computational architecture and urban environments (upcoming)

2026

AI Art Magazine, Golden Ticket Conversation

Creative Direction

Invited speaker on the Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra

2026

San Diego State University, C-MAR Lecture Series

Creative Direction

Invited speaker, Artificial Intelligence for Architectural Design and Practice

2024

Unite to Light, Community Showcase

Creative Direction

Invited speaker, public talk on light and art

2022

ACM SIGGRAPH, SPARKS

Creative Direction

Panelist with UCSB MAT transLAB

2022

Onassis Foundation, Erasmus XR Symposium

Creative Direction

Invited keynote speaker with UCSB MAT transLAB

2022

University of Peloponnese, Dept. of Performing and Digital Arts

Creative Direction

Invited speaker and workshop moderator: Animation, Body, Space

NEFELI MANOUDAKI

Architect-Engineer &
Creative Technologist

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