Diego S. Maranan

Associate Professor in Art, Media and Design

I am a transdisciplinary artist, educator, designer, and researcher whose work explores the intersections of embodiment, technology, ecology, and future imaginaries. My creative practice bridges digital media, biological systems, and somatic experience, often through installations, wearables, and participatory experiments that foreground human and more-than-human relationships. At UPOU, I have held leadership roles as Dean; the Chair of the Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Studies program; the Program Development Associate for Culture and the Arts; and the representative to the University of the Philippines President’s Committee for Culture and the Arts, among others. I am currently the Deputy Director for Research at the UP Intelligent Systems Center, where I drive support for research initiatives in artificial intelligence, data science, complex systems, and human-centered technologies for socioeconomic good. In this capacity, I advocate for national engagement within the arts and humanities with science, technology, and complex systems. My work has been exhibited internationally in festivals, museums, and artscience platforms in Europe, Asia, and North America. I am a co-founder of SEADS (Space Ecologies Art and Design), a global artscience collective engaged in creative prototyping of the future, and of Curiosity, a Philippine-based design research consultancy. Across these contexts, I engage in collaborative projects that are speculative, grounded, and pluridisciplinary.