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

SOLO, light installation at Laokoon Festival
01 SOLO Electroactive polymers and light installation Laokoon Festival, Gessnerallee, ZHdK November 2016
Odd Couplings, group performance at ZHdK
02 Odd Couplings Group performance ZHdK, Zürich May 2015
  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 LOVE — Sensual Installation
  8. 08 Fluorozoa — Fluorescent Water Installation
  9. 09 SOLO — Immersive Light and Sound Installation
  10. 10 Narcissus — Machine learning from machine learning
  11. 11 Convoluted Alterity — Web Generative Sculpture
  12. 12 Unlocking Colonial Archive — Decolonisation of Cartography
  13. 13 GeoData Framework — Tangible Interface for Environmental Sciences

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 ValueBronze Best of Swiss Web Category User ExperienceThird Place Best of Swiss Web Master Category
202620262026
Agree
Bronze Best of Swiss Web User Experience
2024
Evulpo
Gold Best of Swiss Web Category Public ValueSilver Best of Swiss Web Category Startup
20242022

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 bartering2026–2027
Pro 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 2016
Connecting Spaces. Odd Couplings.ZHdK, 2015
CTI / Innosuisse. A-Int and EFS, with Ability GmbH and ZHdK.2013 and 2014
Z+ funding. Instant Favelas.2011 and 2012
Gamil Stiftung. MA thesis, ZHdK.2011

Publications

Pereda, Murrieta-Flores, Villa Torres. 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.TEI 2019Villa Torres. Critical Mass.xCoAx 2018Villa Torres and Danzinger. NarcissUs.xCoAx 2016Kuppanda, Neate, Yang, Torres. Reproducible sonification for virtual navigation.IEEE SIVE, 2014Villa Torres, Kluckner, Franinovic. Sonification for 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 2020Fluorozoa and LOVE. Sensorium, Gucci Hub, Milano.July 2019Signal Polarities. xCoAx, Careof, Milano.July 2019Electric Animal Plant. TEI, Tempe, March 2019.Zurich Design Biennale, September 2017Fluorozoa. Lucerne Light Festival, January 2019.Temp Studio, Lisbon, November 2018Critical Mass. xCoAx, Madrid, July 2018.PasquaArt, Biel, June 2017On Concave Mirrors. Solo exhibition, Kulturfolger, Zürich.May 2018Public Property, with J. Huggenberg. Playground, London.2017Silk Memory Garden. Zurich Design Biennale.September 2017Narcissus. PasquaArt, Biel, June 2017.xCoAx, Bergamo, July 2016SOLO. Laokoon Festival, Zürich.November 2016Sense, Regression, Transition. PasquArt, Biel.June 2016Patterns of reconciliation. Kasko, Basel.March 2016Instant 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 2021Temp Studio #3, Lisbon.November 2018

Demos

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