Biography
Martín Tironi is an Associate Professor at the School of Design of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Director of the Millennium Nucleus Futures of Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR). He holds a BA in Sociology from PUC Chile, an MA in Sociology from Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris V), and a PhD in Sociology from the Centre de Sociologie de l’Innovation at École des Mines de Paris, where he also conducted his postdoctoral research. In 2018, he was a Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London.
His research, creative practice, and teaching focus on two main areas: (1) the analysis of the impacts of digital designs and devices, with an emphasis on the use of artificial intelligence; and (2) the anthropology of design, focused on non-anthropocentric perspectives and oriented toward planetary sustainability. He teaches at both undergraduate and graduate levels and supervises theses at undergraduate and doctoral levels.
Tironi has served as Principal Investigator on several Fondecyt-funded projects, including: Digital Technologies for Climate Change: Exploring the Designs, Uses, and Effects of Digital Technologies for the Ecological Transition in Chile (2025–2028); Designing Futures in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Prediction: Problematizing the Construction of Technological Futures in the Chilean Context (No. 1210006, 2021–2023); Datafication of Urban Environments and Individuals: An Analysis of the Designs, Practices, and Discourses of Digital Data Production and Management in Chile (No. 1210006, 2021–2023); and Configuring Smart Spaces and Users: A Socio-Technical Study of the Practices, Devices, and Discourses of ‘Smart Cities’ in Chile (No. 11140042, 2015–2018).
He is co-editor of the book Design for More-Than-Human Futures: Towards Post-Anthropocentric Worlding (Routledge, 2023). In the field of research-creation, he was part of the curatorial team that won the Gold Medal at the London Design Biennale (2021) with the pavilion Tectonic Resonance: From User-Centered Design to Planet-Oriented Design. Together with Manuela Garretón, he is the creator of the installations Hybrid Ecologies: Visualizing the Terrestrial Footprint of Artificial Intelligence (Centro Cultural La Moneda, Chile) and Generative Devastations (Galería Lo Contador).
Tironi is a member of the International Advisory Board of the series Dis-positions: Troubling Methods and Theory in STS (Bristol University Press), and serves on the editorial boards of Revista 180 (UDP) and Revista Diseña (UC).
Frequent collaborators
This section brings together frequent collaborators who actively participate in the projects, research, and creative processes associated with initiatives led by Martin Tironi.
Manuela Garretón
PhD in Engineering (Computer Science) from UC, Master’s in Interactive Telecommunications (NYU), and designer from UC. She is an Assistant Professor in Design at UC, an Associate Researcher at the Millennium Nucleus FAIR, and affiliated with the Urban Complexity Lab (University of Applied Sciences Potsdam).
Pablo Hermansen
Designer in the UC Interaction Design Lab team and PhD in Architecture and Urban Studies from UC. His research explores the role of photography in qualitative research, cosmopolitical prototypes, and digitally augmented public demonstrations, as well as action research in public health.
Diego Rivera
He holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Chile and an MSc in Digital Society from the University of Edinburgh, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Sciences at the University of Chile. His research focuses on digital labor, processes of subjectivation on the internet, and the governmental rationalities associated with these processes.
Matías Valderrama
Sociologist. Master’s in Sociology (UC) and in Social Science Research (University of Warwick). PhD from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (Warwick), funded by ESRC. He has participated in Fondecyt projects and research with the NGO Derechos Digitales on the social impacts of digital technologies in Chile.
Camila Albornoz
Social anthropologist and Master’s in Urban Development from UC. Her research focuses on new materialisms, science and technology studies, and sustainability transitions. She has worked as a research assistant in Fondecyt projects and as an adjunct lecturer in “Critical Design” at UC Design.