Address
209 Drama Bldg.
Charlottesville, VA

Biography

Mona Kasra is an Iranian American new media artist, designer, and interdisciplinary scholar. Her research investigates the political and theoretical implications of visual media technologies within our culture and cross-culturally. Her creative practice experiments with the affordances of media technologies within artistic forms and in a variety of improvisational framings. She frequently collaborates with artists, musicians, choreographers, and theater-makers to explore the confluence between performance and new media, particularly the emerging aesthetic possibilities for enriching narrative and enhancing audience immersion in live events. Much of her work in this area is motivated by the exploration of digital performance and experimental theater that defy the constructs of traditional theatrical performance. 

Mona designs projections and interactive media installations and has received two Helen Hayes Award nominations for her media design work for live performances. Her artwork has been exhibited widely in galleries and film festivals across the US and worldwide, and she has juried, curated, and programmed for many exhibitions, film festivals, and conferences. Mona’s publications can be found in several journals including New Media & Society, The Communication Review, Journal of Dance Education, and Media and Communication. 

At the University of Virginia, Mona lectures and teaches courses on digital art, projection design, projections mapping, integrated interactive media, and immersive media. She is a faculty co-lead at the Karsh Institute’s Digital Technology for Democracy Lab. She was previously a faculty fellow at the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) as well as the New College Curriculum. In 2023, she completed the semester-long leadership development program at UVA called Leadership in Academic Matters (LAM), which focuses on recognizing, supporting, and nurturing those with demonstrated leadership characteristics and future potential across various roles. Currently, Mona holds leadership roles as an elected member of the executive committee (2019-2025), Chair of ACM SIGGRAPH (2023-2024), and a board member for the New Media Caucus.

She holds a Ph.D. in Arts & Technology from the University of Texas-Dallas, an M.F.A. in Video/Digital Art from California State University Northridge, and a B.A. in Graphic Design and Visual Communication from the Art University of Tehran.

She is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829.

More information at www.monakasra.com