Biography

Mariana Pestana is an architect and researcher. She holds a PhD in Architectural Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture (2019) and an MA in Narrative Environments from Central Saint Martins, UAL, supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2010). She was formed in Architecture from FAUP, University of Porto (2006). She is an Invited Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and a researcher at ITI (Interactive Technologies Institute). She is Co-PI and Arts & Culture Coordinator on the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails project there. Through cultural programmes, exhibitions, installations and publications, she explores design’s critical role and fictional potential. Co-director of the interdisciplinary studio The Decorators, Mariana was the curator and author of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial titled Empathy Revisited: designs for more than one (Onomatopee, 2021), Fiction Practice, (Onomatopee, 2020), Eco-Visionaries, (MAAT, Lisbon, Matadero, Madrid and Royal Academy, London), The Future Starts Here (V&A, 2018). She worked as a curator at the Department of Architecture, Design and Digital at the V&A Museum. She lectured at Central Saint Martins Chelsea College of Arts, among other universities in the UK, Netherlands and Portugal.
Photo Credit: Sanda Vuckovic