Mona Kasra is a media artist, projection designer, and interdisciplinary scholar. She is Associate Professor of Digital Media Design at the University of Virginia.[1]
Personal life
An Iranian-American,[2] Kasra was born and raised in Tehran. Kasra was involved with the Iranian Women's Right's Movement (Campaign of One Million Signatures) in 2006.[citation needed]
She holds a PhD in Arts and Technology from the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as an MFA in Video/Digital art and a BA in Graphic Design.[3]
Kasra's research involves exploring the confluence of media technologies, art, and culture; reflecting on the impact of emerging media on personal, political, and creative expression; and experimenting with affordances of such media for artistic practices of performance and installation.[6]
Kasra's artwork has been exhibited in galleries and film festivals across the US and worldwide, and she has juried, curated, and programmed for many exhibitions, film festivals, and conferences.[7] She regularly presents at national and international conferences and her publications can be found in several journals including New Media & Society,[8]The Communication Review,[9] and Media and Communication.[10]
Kasra served as Conference Chair for ACM SIGGRAPH in 2016, [11] and Art Gallery Chair for ACM SIGGRAPH Conference in 2011. [12] In 2019, she was elected to serve on the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee as director at large.[13] In 2023 and 2024 she served as the Chair of the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee[14]
Collectives
The DWZ
Kasra is an active member of the DWZ (standing for Dead White Zombies), which is a Dallas-based artist collective of 43 artists that formed in 2011.[15] Kasra took part in the projects Flesh World, (w)hole, T.N.B., and Karaoke Motel by creating video content.[15]
Collage Ensemble
Kasra joined the Collage Ensemble in 2005, “a Los Angeles Arts Collective of inter-disciplinary artists collaborating on multi-media artwork related to urban life and inter-ethnic experiences.” Collage Ensemble Inc. lasted from 1984 to 2015.[16]