Tomas Laurenzo's life combines work and other activities which, through an ever-changing configuration of re-entrant processes of feedback and tension, aim to realise positive changes in the human condition.
Laurenzo's efforts are mainly organised through serving as Associate Professor of Critical Media Practices at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information, University of Colorado Boulder, often taking the form of academic research, artistic practice, public speaking and teaching.
His academic pursuits embrace various epistemological frameworks, enabling research in areas such as artificial intelligence, human–computer interaction, virtual reality, augmented reality, art theory, human perception, data visualisation, cognitive psychology, political science, philosophy, computer graphics, digital lutherie and aesthetics.
Resulting publications span book chapters, essays, processes and research papers. Some of them have been published by SIGGRAPH Asia, NIME, ISEA, NeurIPS, ECCV, Sónar+D, MUTEK and TEI.
A substantial portion of Laurenzo's life correlates with the execution of a multifaceted and extensive portfolio of artistic creations across diverse forms and media. This collection includes literary works of prose and poetry, music compositions, concerts and performances. His visual and interactive art explores installation, interactive art, video, live cinema and new musical instruments.
His designs span graphic, web, data visualisation and interaction design, further enhanced by work in virtual reality, augmented reality, net art, web art, mixed media, conceptual art and generative art. His filmmaking endeavours also contribute to this wide-ranging body of work.
Earlier tactics employed by Laurenzo in the orchestration of his efforts involved holding positions at the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Microsoft Research, Carnegie Mellon University, Brunel University, Ericsson, the University of Iowa, Stochastic Labs and INRIA, among others.
During his tenure as Associate Professor at Universidad de la República, Laurenzo founded and directed both the Engineering School's media lab and the university's research group on human–computer interaction.
Mostly due to geographic and temporal serendipity, Laurenzo's contributions in Uruguay have been considered groundbreaking, having led to the establishment of early academic units working on art and technology, undergraduate and graduate courses, and the mentoring of graduate students. Laurenzo's own studentship produced Uruguay's first PhD and MSc theses in new media art, marking pioneering efforts in Latin America.
While Laurenzo harbours deep gratitude towards everyone who has collaborated with his life, particular acknowledgement is extended to Alvaro Cassinelli of the University of Tokyo and Sergi Jordà of Universitat Pompeu Fabra for their valuable roles as advisers of his PhD and MSc in Computer Science, undertaken within Uruguay's Basic Sciences Development Programme, PEDECIBA.