Behnaz Farahi is an interaction designer, architect, Annenberg Fellow and PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Media Arts and Practice at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she is exploring the potential of interactive systems using advanced computational technologies.  She is interested in the exploration of the potential of interactive environments and their relation to the movement of the human body. In particular she is interested in the integrated application of material behavior, and implementation of emerging technologies in contemporary art/architecture practice.( http://www.behnazfarahi.com/)

Behnaz did the project “Camouflage : Prosthetic Extension” in 2014. It is designed for a vast fictional world Rilao, which USC World Building Media Lab and world building classes at USC Cinematic Arts, Media Arts and Practice. In that world artists and architects redefined the culture history, technology and landscape. By using shape memory alloy springs and tensegrity structure as an “exoskeleton” Behnaz extend the human body and shaped it with the environment around the wearers. The robotic piece may change the social behavior of RILAO who lived in that fictional world and allowed them be in public spaces.

Based on the interests of environment and body movement, Ruff is one of the Behnaz’s project collaborate with designer Pauline Van Dongen and help of 3Dsystems, will.i.am , Crafting Wearables, USC. They used 3D printing materials and nitinol springs to create a wearable Ruff which can respond the wearers’ movement or dynamic environment around them.

We defined the world by the ability of our own body, what will happen if we upgraded our body, for instance, everyone get an exoskeleton? Or a prosthesis? The physical world around us and the social life will be redefined.Behnaz gave us some examples and is there any other possibility? We may got another understanding of define the world in project” Polymelia”