About

Irem Bugdayci is a London-based artist working at the intersection of technology, intelligence, and perception. Through generative AI, robotics, machine learning, and physics-based simulation, she creates moving images and interactive installations that explore how machines are reshaping the way we see and understand the world.

Bugdayci is particularly interested in perception as a predictive and constructed process—one that is increasingly co-authored by intelligent systems. Her works explore this idea by using tracking and computer vision algorithms to direct machine perception. These systems guide what the machine "sees" or prioritizes, creating environments where the line between sensory input and cognitive interpretation begins to dissolve. Landscapes melt, color stretches beyond its natural limits, and meaning flickers between sensation and expectation.

Resisting the grayscale aesthetics typically associated with computation, she embraces saturated color and dynamic transformation to evoke a more embodied, affective experience of technology. Her recent works include generative video series, robotic installations, and speculative interfaces that challenge passive observation and invite active reorientation.

Bugdayci’s work has been exhibited at the Barbican Centre, Ars Electronica, Istanbul Airport, and Scorpios Mykonos (with HOFA Gallery), among others. She holds a Master’s in Robotics from UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture—where she received the Best Thesis Prize—and a BA in Art History and Architecture from Tufts University. Her research has been published with SIGGRAPH and IEEE ICRA.

Selected Talks and Writings

Instruments of Vision: Eye Tracking as an Embodied Interface, ACM – A detailed exploration of eye-tracking systems as embodied interfaces in interactive art.

Instruments of Vision, SIGGRAPH 2021 – Presentation on the relationship between machine vision and perception in robotics.

Sentimental Machines, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation – Designing emotional encounters with machines as an alternative interface with intelligences.

Envisioning Machines, ArtBizTech, 2021 – A lecture on looking at our perception of machines and intelligence.

Your Eye's Motion by Luna, DigitalFUTURES Young: Interactive Design – Discussing the creation of Luna, a robot designed to engage with humans emotionally through eye-tracking.

Navigating Distance: Bodies and Spaces, So-Far, 2021 – Investigating spatial and digital boundaries in the era of remote communication.

Archives of Vision, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, 2021 – A lecture exploring the role of perception in robotics and interaction.

Selected Exhibitions, Commissions & Awards

Digital Art Awards by HOFA with PhillipsX, London, 2025

Ecologies of Vision, Istinye Park Art Collection, Istanbul, 2025

Frontiers, in collaboration with Lannka, curated by HOFA, and Scorpios Mykonos

Eskiden Piksele, Samsun, Turkey, 2024

Istanbul Digital Arts Festival, AKM, 2023

SOFT Publication, 2022

SIGGRAPH ACM, 2021

Somerset House, Makerversity Under 25 Programme, 2021

Bang Prix. Curious Minds of 2020 Award, 2020