Page contents
Areas of Focus
Artists
Edited: June 22, 2023
Nancy Diniz
Pronouns
She/her
Current location
London, UK and NYC
Year(s) of residency and/or fellowship
2015–16, Project Resident

Nancy Diniz is a registered architect, educator, and Co-Founder of bioMATTERS LLC, a company developing pioneering work with 3D-printed upcycled waste biomaterials in collaboration with different micro-organisms.

Diniz teaches a wide range of courses ranging from interdisciplinary design studios, bio-fabrication, and digital fabrication focusing on the integration of living systems and computational design, hands-on living systems lab experimental work, Biodesign theory seminars, and data visualization. In her teaching and practice, she has been developing design workflows that involve bio-computation and bio-fabrication techniques with the aim to develop innovative sustainable products.

Diniz curates exhibitions, symposia, and workshops internationally; some include ‘Artificial Realities: Virtual as an Aesthetic Medium in Architectural Ideation’ an exhibition and symposium for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2019, Lisbon and the “Data & Matter” exhibition at the GAA Foundation in Venice as a parallel event of the 2018 Venice Architecture Bienalle.

She has exhibited her work at London Design Biennale 2021, MAAT Museum Lisbon, The Venice Biennale, NYCxDesign 2019, The Today Art Museum, China, EYEBEAM NY, Architecture Triennale Lisbon, London Design Festival, 2016 Istanbul Design Biennale, and Milan EXPO 2015. Before her position at Central Saint Martin, she held academic positions in the US, China, UK, Italy, and Portugal. She is the author of the upcoming book ‘Unstable Matters: Co-designing with Living Organisms’ and has co-edited  “Data, Matter, Design: Strategies in Computational Design” with Frank Melendez and Marcella del Signore, Routledge 2020.

Diniz is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, namely the 2016 NYSCA New York State Council on the Arts award sponsored by Storefront NY, MacDowell Colony, EYEBEAM, Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, Korea, and The Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal.

Eyebeam Project Resident (2015- 2016): To Scale Project Residency

Embryonic Spaces (2016)

Biological materials (bacterial cellulose, coconut husk), sensors, 3D printed structures.

The Embryonic Spaces grows a series of ‘body architectures’ that while exploring the physical territory between the body and the environment while questioning the definition of ‘spatial skins’ that are designed from inside-out.

Exhibited at:
‘Future of Today’ Exhibition, the permanent collection at ‘The Today Art Museum’, Beijing China September 2018
‘To Scale’ EYEBEAM , Industry City, Brooklyn NY May 2016

Project supported by:
NYSCA New York State Council on the Arts Grant and STOREFRONT for Art and Architecture as fiscal sponsor 2017
Fellowship at EYEBEAM, NY 2015-2016

Read more about Embryonic Spaces here

More about Eyebeam’s “To Scale” Group Exhibition from 2016

This work was exhibited at Eyebeam’s former space in Industry City, in a group exhibition, titled “To Scale” from May 14th – 26th, 2016.

To Scale:

Eyebeam opened its studios to the public for a two-week show of recent projects exploring concepts of scale. These projects, the result of six months of research, share an ability to switch with ease from the view up close to the distant perspective.

Whether shifting scale through physical size, optical resolution, biological complexity or political organizing, they show that reality can seem totally different depending on context or even viewpoint. The world is not flat, but round like a lens.

Eyebeam models a new approach to artist-led creation for the public good; we are a non-profit that provides significant professional support and money to exceptional artists for the realization of important ideas that wouldn’t exist otherwise. Nobody else is doing this.

Support Our Work