Rashin Fahandej is an Iranian American immersive filmmaker, futurist, and cultural activist whose artistic initiatives are multiyear experimental laboratories for collective, radical reimaginings of social systems. Her projects utilize counter-narratives of care and community co-creation to design equitable futures, centering marginalized voices and exploring the role of media, technology, and public collaboration in fostering emotional connections that drive social change. A proponent of “Art as Ecosystem,” Fahandej describes her projects as “Poetic Cyber Movements for Social Justice,” using art to mobilize diverse voices by bridging public spaces and virtual environments. Her methodology merges emerging technologies with cross-sector collaborations, positioning artistic processes as catalysts for systemic transformation.
Fahandej is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards and residencies, including the Prix Ars Electronica Festival, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston Mayor’s Office Artist-in-Residence, Boston Center for the Arts, ThoughtWorks Arts, Mass Cultural Council, and a MassMoca residency.
Specializing in equity-based technology integration for system-level impact, she is a consultant in emergent media technology within institutional and community settings. She has led global instructional design initiatives incorporating cutting-edge technology and co-creation pedagogy, such as establishing the Future Inclusion Lab in Austria with ZERO1, Ars Electronica, and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Immersive Media and Co-Creation Lab at Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia with MIT.
As an assistant professor at Emerson College, she has launched a social impact XR production initiative based on her "Art as Ecosystem" model, enabling students and community members to utilize emerging technology and co-creation methodologies to address the racial disparities of the criminal justice system in the U.S. She provides mentorship in initiatives like the Indigenous Immersive Incubator and the Climate Future Worlding project at MIT's Co-Creation Studio, and as a Senior Co-Creation research practitioner at MIT Open Documentary Lab, she mentors international fellows. Fahandej actively contributes to projects focusing on access and disability innovation and the future of public spaces.
While at MacDowell they worked on “Embodied Resistance in the Digital Age,” an archive that uses technology as a medium for resistance and memory. This interactive art project leverages AI, AR, and VR to engage participants with the Woman, Life, Freedom (WLF) Archive.
Portrait by Lizandro Segura
