Philosophy Machines is the research practice of Despina Papadopoulos and Kevin Walker. We think through making – objects and systems that act as prompts or provocations for considering and communicating concepts, like artificiality, intelligence, and love.
brings philosophy, technology, and making together to tackle problems that resist single-discipline solutions. Her practice combines expansive, systemic thinking with hands-on experimentation, moving between engineering, science, psychology, design, and the arts to find new ways of seeing and make ideas manifest.
For more than three decades, she has used technology as a mode of inquiry, from pioneering wearable technologies in the 1990s to contemporary work with AI, robotics, and material systems. A former fellow at Paul Allen’s Interval Research Lab, she has led innovation at NCR’s Knowledge Lab and IBM’s Innovation Center, holds multiple patents in wearable and tangible interface design, and has developed innovation strategies for Ralph Lauren, DuPont, UNESCO, Christie’s, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Beiersdorf/Nivea.
She holds degrees in Philosophy and Interactive Telecommunications, and a practice-led PhD from the Royal College of Art exploring AI as material infrastructure. She is co-author, with Caterina Moruzzi, of Material Encounters: Creativity in the Times of AI (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
Find her work and CV here.
is an experienced leader in arts and technology, having led an AI research group, an award-winning software development team, and two technology-focused graduate programs in top arts universities. He has supervised and mentored more than 300 Masters and PhD students in the arts, and his own work in sound, video and installations has been exhibited and commissioned internationally
He led the research group 'AI and Algorithmic Cultures' at Coventry University, launched and led the Information Experience Design programme at the Royal College of Art in London. He has created award-winning web sites and installations, and worked with organisations including Centre Pompidou, CNBC, Samsung, Serpentine. His work has been deployed and exhibited internationally, he is a frequent invited speaker, and he has published and taught in art and design. His books include AI and Algorithmic Aesthetics (forthcoming) and Interior Futures (2019).
Find his work and CV here.
"Technology at present is covert philosophy; the point is to make it overtly philosophical." — Philip Agre, 1997
