Zenovia Toloudi

Zenovia Toloudi is an architect, theorist, and educator and currently a Research Affiliate at MIT Art, Culture and Technology, Dept. of Architecture. Zenovia holds a Doctorate from Harvard University GSD, a Master of Architecture as a Fulbright Fellow at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago and a professional diploma in Architecture Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh).

Small and big scale examples of Zenovia’s work can be seen in Thessaloniki, where she designed and constructed The Cage pavilion, now part of AUTh’s sculptural museum permanent collection; and in downtown Chicago, where she worked on The Wit, a design-build hotel skyscraper as part of KOO and associates. She has taught studios and seminars at Harvard, IIT, WIT, AUTh, and BAC.

Zenovia’s research focuses on the understanding and making of space inseparably to one’s own preferences, tastes and emotions. At Harvard she developed a theory on architectural taste and identity by initiating a social language of form, collectively constructed by architects, critics and simple people. Her form-taste experimentations range from online interactive games like PICANICO, to spatial adaptive installations like MCUS, and zitofos. Zenovia has been awarded the Scientist of the year 2009 title by the Greek newspaper Gnomi for her adaptive sensorial urban interventions.

Zenovia was invited at Venice Biennale 2006 to present the main stage of the Greek participation on Metapolis. The Greek Ministry of Civilization sponsored her to represent Oktana utopian city and Athens Byzantine Museum together with non-profit SARCHA selected her to exhibit in Un-built. She collaborated to construct 8 perspectives of Chicago in Arch-city-art and to create the multidisciplinary SWANday (Support Women Artists Now) art event in Boston. As part of Project on Spatial Sciences research initiative was invited to exhibit 3 States of Hors d’Oeuvres at The Lab at Harvard. Zenovia has initiated Brain.Storms lecture series, organized Critical Digital Conferences and lectures for Art, Design and The Public Domain, and moderated panel discussions in collaboration with Ecological Urbanism, Harvard Kennedy School, Sun Publishers and MIT.

EXHIBITIONS

2011

Garden Lab, Brant Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA [expected]

2010

13.3 Percent, Los Angeles, CA
The Lab at Harvard 2010/11 Opening Celebration, Cambridge, MA
Artrages: Surrealestate Exhibition, East Boston, MA
SWANDAY 2010 [Support Women Artists Now], Cambridge, MA

2009

Video Art Festival Miden 2009: Urban [R]evolutions, Kalamata, Greece

2008

Un-built, The Athens Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens, Greece

2007

1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art: Other places, Thessaloniki, Greece
arch.city.art, Chicago, IL

2006

Venice Biennale 2006: Cities. Architecture & Society, Venice, Italy

2004

Vagabond: Art in Action, Thessaloniki, Greece

2001

Amour Amour: Oktana, the utopian city, Technopolis – Gazi, Athens, Greece

2000

Big Torino 2000, Biennale Arte Emergente, Torino, Italy

awards

2010: Best scientist of 2009 award by Newspaper Gnomi, Alexandroupolis, Greece
2008: Gerondelis Scholarship for Graduate Studies at Harvard
2007: Harvard Graduate School of Design Scholarship
2006: 1st prize in the competition Architect’s Office for the Future, IIT
2005: 1st prize in the workshop competition [directed by Jeanne Gang], Sao Paulo Studio, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2004: 1st prize in Greek State Scholarships Foundation [IKY]
2004: Fulbright Scholarship
2004: IIT Graduate Scholarship
2004: 1st prize in the competition for Redesigning the Old Prefecture. Municipality of Alexandroupolis Greece. With: George Toloudis
2002: 1st prize in the workshop competition, Socrates workshop, Budapest, Hungary