LAUREN McCARTHY

  • Bio

    • Lauren McCarthy is a designer, artist, and programmer. She has received an MFA from UCLA and a BS in Computer Science and a BS in Art and Design from MIT. Her work explores the structures and systems of social interactions, identity, and self-representation, and the potential for technology to mediate, manipulate, and evolve these interactions. She is interested in the slightly uncomfortable moments when patterns are shifted, expectations are broken, and participants become aware of the system.

      Currently at Sosolimited, and formerly at Small Design Firm, Lauren has worked on installations for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, IBM, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello. She has also worked at Oblong Industries in Los Angeles, creating gestural interface systems, and at Continuum and the MIT Media Lab.

      Her artwork has been shown in a variety of contexts, including the Conflux Festival, SIGGRAPH, LACMA, the Japan Media Arts Festival, the File Festival, and the WIRED Store.

  • Education

    • University of California, Los Angeles 2011
      MFA Design | Media Arts (Advisor: Casey Reas)

      Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2008
      BS Art and Design (Advisor: Ute Meta Bauer)
      BS Computer Science and Engineering

  • Work

    • Sosolimited, Boston, MA
      Designer/Programmer, 2011 - Present
      Design and implementation of interactive environments, applications, and artworks.
      sosolimited.com

      Oblong Industries, Los Angeles, CA
      Design/Software Intern, 2010
      Design and implementation of visual feedback and interface for gesture interaction, with C++ and OpenGL.
      oblong.com

      UCLA Design | Media Arts Program, Los Angeles, CA
      Instructor, Performance and Technology Lab, 2011
      Teaching Assistant, Interactivity (Prof. Casey Reas), 2009-11
      Teaching Assistant, Video (Prof. Christian Moeller), 2010-11
      Teaching Assistant, Type in Motion (Rafael Macho), 2010

      Small Design Firm, Cambridge, MA
      Designer/Programmer, June 2008 - August 2009
      Design and implementation of interactive installations for museums, galleries, and institutions.
      www.smalldesignfirm.com

      MIT Visual Arts Program, Cambridge, MA
      Zones of Emergency Blog Developer, 2008
      Worked on design and building of public facing blog (zonesofemergency.net) to publicize and document the MIT Visual Arts Program “Zones of Emergency” Lecture Series.

      Continuum, West Newton, MA
      Brand Environments Intern, 2007
      Worked with team on research, concept generation and production of experience design projects.
      Organized and maintained materials library.
      Independently carried out internal concept project, redesigning music store experienc from research to design and final proposal presntation.
      www.dcontinuum.com

      MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA
      Context Aware Computing Group Research Assistant, 2006
      Worked on PlaceMap Project to create a user-centered interactive map.
      Developed interactive visual display to introduce PlaceMap project to the public using Flash, Actionscript, C#, and HTML.

      MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Cambridge, MA
      Research Assistant, 2005
      Worked with research team to investigate and implement a failure-oblivious strategy of computing.
      Categorized, classified, and analyzed patterns of software bugs to identify predictors of software failure.

  • Exhibitions/Awards

    • 2012
      Northern Spark Festival Commission, Minneapolis, MN
      WHAT IF? Hartford New Music Festival, Hartford, CT

      2011
      Elsewhere Residency, Greensboro, NC
      FILE Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil
      Anatomy Riot: Performances Inspired by Machines, Los Angeles, CA (co-curator with Megan May Daalder)
      Impractically, Practical, Los Angeles, CA
      Tell Them Nothing of the Things I Thought About and Created While I Was Sleeping, Los Angeles, CA
      Mindshare, Los Angeles, CA
      Japan Media Arts Festival, Tokyo, Japan

      2010
      Jury Recommended Work, Japan Media Arts Festival
      LACMA Muse, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
      WIRED Store, New York, NY
      Provocative Objects, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
      #TheSocialGraph, Outpost, Brooklyn, NY
      I Am Here Now, New Wight Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
      Conflux Festival, New York, NY
      SIGGRAPH 2010 Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
      (Re)Mapping the Museum Workshop, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (collaboration with Sara Wookey)
      Interaction10, IxDA Conference, SCAD, Savannah, GA
      NC State College of Design Biennial Graduate Symposium, Raleigh, NC
      GADGET OK!, Art | Sci Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
      TINT Arts Lab Residency
      University Fellowship, UCLA
      Dean's Scholarship, UCLA
      Awesome Foundation Fellowship Grant, Boston, MA

      2009

      Good News/Bad News, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
      1stfans Twitter Artist of the Month, Brooklyn Art Museum, Brooklyn, NY
      New England WHAT IF? 60x60x60 Project (online)
      Overhere, Gershwin Hotel, New York, NY (commissioned by a canary torsi)
      American Wing Interactive Displays and Wayshowing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (SDF)
      Monticello Visitor Center, Charlottesville, VA (SDF)
      US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC (SDF)
      The Politics of Shoes, Mobius, Boston, MA
      Typos in the Writing on the Wall Edition 01 (online) Sarai Media Lab, New Delhi, India
      University Fellowship, UCLA
      Non-Resident Tuition Grant, UCLA

      2008
      Zones of Emergency Show, MIT, Cambridge, MA
      Unfold: Advanced Visual Arts Show, MIT, Cambridge, MA
      NETWORKOUT: Senior Thesis Show (solo), MIT, Cambridge, MA

      2007
      Photography and the Brain Show, McGovern & Picower Institute, MIT, Cambridge, MA
      Placemap Project, Pixelspaces, Ars Electronica, Austria, Linz


  • Teaching

    • 2012, Instructor, Visual Hacktivism, NuVu Studio, Cambridge, MA
      2012, Instructor, ICA Teens Workshop, Boston, MA
      2012, Thesis Committee Member, David Wicks, Gabriel Noguez, UCLA
      2011, Instructor, Performance and Technology Lab, UCLA
      2009-2011, Teaching Assistant, Interactivity (Prof. Casey Reas), UCLA
      2010, Teaching Assistant, Video (Prof. Christian Moeller), UCLA
      2009, Teaching Assistant, Type in Motion (Lec: Rafael Macho), UCLA

  • Skills

    • Software development, graphics, interactivity, and web programming (Java, C++, OpenGL, openFrameworks, Processing, Python, C#, Objective-C, Scheme, Matlab, HTML, Javascript, PHP, MySQL, Flash, ActionScript). Experience with Agile and Scrum development. Web, print, experience, and interaction design knowledge. Proficient with design software including Adobe CS, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, AutoCAD, Max 3DS, Lightscape. Electronics/physical computing experience. Fabrication skills, including metalworking, woodworking, casting.