Andres Villa Torres

I’m a Mexican designer, media-artist, researcher and software engineer based in Zurich since 2011. I'm active as a creative and work in the Swiss Civic Tech, Education and NPO sectors.

Projects

01EFS + A-IntAuditory Feedback for Robotic Gait TrainingFebruary 2012 – July 2015
02Digital Space(s)Electromagnetic and WiFi Radiation MonitoringNovember 2017 – October 2019
  1. 01 EFS + A-Int — Auditory Feedback for Robotic Gait Training
  2. 02 Digital Space(s) — Electromagnetic and WiFi Radiation Monitoring
  3. 03 Data Centers — Edges of a Wired Nation
  4. 04 Electrical Animal Plant — Kinetic and Sound Interactive Installation
  5. 05 Signal Topographies — 3D Electromagnetic and WiFi Radiation Mapping
  6. 06 Follow or be followed — Remote Embodied Interactions
  7. 07 Instant Favelas — A nomadic city made of street-found cardboard
  8. 08 LOVE — Sensual Installation
  9. 09 Fluorozoa — Fluorescent Water Installation
  10. 10 Odd Couplings — Group performance
  11. 11 SOLO — Immersive Light and Sound Installation
  12. 12 Narcissus — Machine learning from machine learning
  13. 13 Convoluted Alterity — Web Generative Sculpture
  14. 14 Unlocking Colonial Archive — Decolonisation of Cartography
  15. 15 GeoData Framework — Tangible Interface for Environmental Sciences
  16. 16 On Concave Mirrors — Essays on digital life
  17. 17 wooven.dev — A federated infrastructure for sovereign deployments
  18. 18 soil.d — An open data platform for plants and care bartering and soil health
  19. 19 Unfolding Algorithmic Agency — A workshop on the politics of algorithms
  20. 20 Public Property — A multimedia installation on control and transparency of digital data

CV

Plural AGTech Lead & Software EngineerApril 2025 – currentSooft StudioPreviously labor5020.ch, rebranded 2020Since 2015Agree / DezentrumTech Lead & Software EngineerAugust 2023 – September 2024EvulpoCTO & Software EngineerMay 2021 – June 2023ZHdK Interaction DesignResearch Associate & Teaching StaffFebruary 2012 – August 2015 & October 2019 – February 2021Collegium HelveticumResearch Associate in Fellowship Digital SpacesNovember 2017 – November 2019HSLU Digital IdeationTeaching AssistantMarch 2017 – August 2017Projektil GmbHVisual Artist & Creative CodingNovember 2011 – February 2012Esrawe StudioIndustrial Designer, Furniture & Interior ArchitectureSeptember 2008 – January 2010

Academic Education

UAM-XochimilcoLicenciatura in Industrial DesignMarch 2004 – September 2008
ZHdKMA Human Computer Interaction DesignJanuary 2011 – July 2012
ZHdK / HKB / HEADCAS in ResearchAugust 2012 – July 2013
HKB BernMA Contemporary Arts PracticeAugust 2015 – July 2017
University of BernMA Research on the Arts, FoE Social AnthropologySeptember 2017 – July 2019
University of Bern, GSAHPhD Digital Anthropology, pausedAugust 2019 – 2022
MIT Professional EducationCAS in Applied Data Science Program: Leveraging AI for Effective Decision-MakingDecember 2024 – April 2025

Awards

Plural AG
Gold Best of Swiss Web Public Value2026
Bronze Best of Swiss Web Category User Experience2026
Third Place Best of Swiss Web Master Category2026
Agree
Bronze Best of Swiss Web Category Technology2024
Evulpo
Gold Best of Swiss Web Category Public Value2024
Silver Best of Swiss Web Category Startup2022

Teaching & Workshops

Jurierung BA Diplomarbeiten. Digital Ideation, HSLU.2026
Case Study III. Tools für Interaction Design, SFGZ (Schule für Gestaltung Zürich).FS 2022
Embodied Interaction Advanced. IAD, ZHdK.HS 2020
Bits and Atoms. Geo Location and Geo Visualization, IAD, ZHdK.HS 2020
Bits and Atoms. Lectures on Web Technologies, IAD, ZHdK.March–May 2020
Bridging Material Science and Interaction Design. Lorentz Center, Leiden.January 2020
Sonic Interaction Design. BA course, ZHdK.January 2020
Reality Check. MA Design workshop, ZHdK.December 2019
Data, Self, and Bodies. BA workshop, IAD, ZHdK.November 2019
Unfolding Algorithmic Agency. Otherwise Festival, H0 Institute.March 2019
Introduction to the Web. BA Digital Ideation, HSLU.Spring 2017
Live Coding. N/O/D/E Lausanne, January 2016. FHNW Brugg, October 2015.Kassette Zürich, June 2014
Embodied Interaction Advanced. IAD, ZHdK.Autumn 2013 and 2014
normiCity. reART The URBAN, Zürich.October 2012
Supercollider Workshop. IAD, ZHdK.April 2012

Grants

Josy Areal, ERZ Stadt Zürich. soil.d — circular station for soil health and plant bartering2026–2027Pro Helvetia residency. Signal Topographies.September 2020 – January 2021
Pro Helvetia production. Signal Polarities.Summer 2019
Pro Helvetia production. Critical Mass.Summer 2018
Pro Helvetia production. Narcissus.Summer 2016Connecting Spaces. Odd Couplings.ZHdK, 2015CTI / Innosuisse. A-Int and EFS, with Ability GmbH and ZHdK.2013 and 2014Z+ funding. Instant Favelas.2011 and 2012
Gamil Stiftung. MA thesis, ZHdK.2011

Publications

Candela, Pereda, Sáez, Escobar, Sánchez, Villa Torres, Palacios, McDonough, Murrieta-Flores. An ontological approach for unlocking the Colonial Archive.ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 2023Villa Torres. Rituals of Extinction and Domestication. The Book of X, 2022.ISBN 978-989-9049-25-3Villa Torres. Convoluted Alterity. xCoAx . ISBN 978-989-746-266-5.2020Villa Torres. Algorithms: the dark constitution of the new world.Arts in Context, HKB, 2020Villa Torres. On Long Term Storage. In Data Centers, Edges of a Wired Nation.Lars Müller, 2020Villa Torres. Signal Polarities. xCoAx . ISBN 978-989-746-220-7.2019Franinovic, Franzke, Villa Torres, Wille. Interacting with Electroactive Polymers in Responsive Environments.TEI 2019Villa Torres. Critical Mass.xCoAx 2018Villa Torres and Danzinger. NarcissUs.xCoAx 2016Degara, Kuppanda, Neate, Yang, Villa Torres. Reproducible sonification for virtual navigation.IEEE SIVE, 2014Villa Torres, Kluckner, Franinovic. Development of a sonification method to enhance gait rehabilitation.ISon, 2013Avila, Baena, Leidescher, Velasco, Villa Torres. Instant Favelas.MIND THE GAP, 2013Villa Torres, Franinovic, Huggenberg. Auditory Feedback for Walking Rehabilitation.Swiss Design Network, 2012

Software, Instruments & Devices

wooven.dev — open infrastructures for sovereign web deploymentFoot-sensor plates, auditory feedback, and a therapy evaluation system for the Lyra gait robot. ZHdK, 2013–2015. Handed to Ability Switzerland for clinical trials with ZHAW.
Environmental monitoring instruments and data software for geolocated WiFi, electromagnetic, visual, and audible signals. Collegium Helveticum, 2017–2019. Handed to the UZH Dynamics of Healthy Aging group.

Exhibitions & Installations

LABOR — Digital Art. Kunsthalle Schaffhausen (Vebikus).August 2020
Fluorozoa and LOVE. Sensorium, Gucci Hub, Milano.July 2019
Signal Polarities. xCoAx, Careof, Milano.July 2019
Electric Animal Plant. TEI, Tempe, March 2019.Zurich Design Biennale, September 2017Fluorozoa. Lucerne Light Festival, January 2019.Temp Studio, Lisbon, November 2018
Critical Mass. xCoAx, Madrid, July 2018.PasquaArt, Biel, June 2017
On Concave Mirrors. Solo exhibition, Kulturfolger, Zürich.May 2018Public Property, with J. Huggenberg. Playground, London.2017
Silk Memory Garden. Zurich Design Biennale.September 2017
Narcissus. PasquaArt, Biel, June 2017.xCoAx, Bergamo, July 2016SOLO. Laokoon Festival, Zürich.November 2016
Sense, Regression, Transition. PasquArt, Biel.June 2016
Patterns of reconciliation. Kasko, Basel.March 2016
Instant Favelas. Zürich.2011–2013

Performances

Live coding.Kulturfolger, Zürich, March 2018
Live coding.Fábrica Digital El Rule, Mexico City, December 2017
Live coding.Centro Larva, Guadalajara, December 2017
Live coding.ICLC, CMMAS, Morelia, December 2017
Live coding.Galerie 5020, Salzburg, March 2016
Live coding.STEIM at Splendor, Amsterdam, February 2016
Live coding.N/O/D/E, Lausanne, January 2016
Live coding.FHNW, Brugg, October 2015
Live coding.Algorave tour, Fukuoka, Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, October 2015
Live coding.ICLC, Leeds, July 2015
Odd Couplings.ZHdK, Zürich, May 2015
Live coding.Ludicious, Zürich, September 2014
Live coding.Supercollider Talks, Berlin, July 2014
Live coding.Rote Fabrik, Zürich, June 2014

Art Residencies

ABA — AiR Berlin Alexanderplatz. Pro Helvetia. Signal Topographies.September 2020 – February 2021
Temp Studio #3, Lisbon.November 2018

Demos

Villa Torres and Danzinger. Narcissus.ISMAR 2015, Fukuoka
Villa Torres, Franinovic, Huggenberg. Adaptive Rhythmic Auditory Feedback through Walking Gestures.Swiss Design Network, Lugano, 2012