About

Puneet is an engineer/artist working at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), eXtended Reality (XR), Critical Design, and Disability Studies. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada under the supervision of Artist/Researcher Dr. Christopher Salter, Anthropologist Dr. David Howes, and Artist/Researcher Dr. Alice Jarry. Puneet’s PhD is also supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) where he is a research associate on the project titled ‘Probing XR Futures’ at Zurich University of Arts (ZHdK), Switzerland.

During his PhD, Puneet’s artistic-research practice investigates how technologies of XR (umbrella term for Virtual/Augmented Reality and body-worn interfaces) can be made accessible for the disabled communities (particularly people with quadriplegia/paraplegia). Concretely, opening the platform of XR for (and with) the disabled communities, developing artistic XR interventions that re-shapes, re-imagines, and provokes the common misconceptions around sensorimotor disabilities.

He did his masters (by research) in Computation and Data Sciences from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India (2014-2016). His research thesis was in the area of Numerical Linear Algebra where he investigated error estimators for iterative algorithms like Bi-Conjugate Gradient to speed up the calculations and improve accuracy in the error estimations. He also worked as a Data Scientist at SAP Labs from 2016-2018 engaging with customers in automotive industries. After working in Industry he worked as a Research Fellow in IISc at the Interaction Design Lab working in the area of Human Computer Interaction. His latest work at the Lab is an adaptive eye-gaze controlled virtual keyboard for people with speech and motor impairment in collaboration with Microsoft Research, India.

Puneet’s work has been showcased both in India (from where his roots emerge) and internationally at venues such Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), ISEA (Barcelona, Spain), xCoAx (Treviso, Italy), Electronic Literature Organization (Florida, USA), KunstFest (Weimar, Germany) etc.

Overall, genealogy of Puneet’s work could be seen as an investigation in researching alternate forms of interventions between the human and the non-human (a machine, an algorithm, a plant, or sometimes even a slime mould) in a digital space. He follows both research based and an artistic approach for the creation of interfaces to open a critical dialogue between the human and non-human within the digital - questioning how sensory perceptions are morphed, enhanced, and augmented in such a technological manifold.

Upcoming Talks/Residencies/Panel

• Talk at Zip-Scene Conference, Prague, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art (17th - 19th October, 2024)
• Bodies, Machines, Publics Residency at Khoj Studios, New Delhi (21st October, 2024 - 13th December, 2024)
• Talk at Disability, Technology and Change: Adjusting, hacking, and repairing as practices of inventing Workshop, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (15th - 16th November, 2024)
• Talk at ‘Symposium in Time’ at Zurich University of Arts, Switzerland (29th - 30th November, 2024)
• Panel discusstion at College of Art Association, Conference, New York, USA (14th - 15th February, 202)

Past Experience

• Spring Term Student at IT:U in Linz, Austria (2024)
• FOUNDING LAB student at IT:U * Ars Electronica (2023-2024).
• VR/AR Researcher at Zurich University of Arts, Swtizerland (2023).
• VR Researcher at Zu, Montreal, Canada (2021).
• Guest Faculty at National Institute for Fashion and Technology (NIFT), Bangalore, India (2020)
• Research Fellow at Interaction Design Lab, CPDM, IISc, Bangalore, India (2018-2020).
• Associate Data Scientist at SAP Labs, Bangalore, India (2016-2018).

Education

• Pursuing PhD in Arts, Culture, and Technology at Mileux Institute, Concordia University, Canada (2021-).
• MSc Engg (by research) in Computation and Data Sciences, IISc, Bangalore, India (2014-2016).
• Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering, JSS, NOIDA, India (2009-2013).