Luther Thie
Luther Thie is an artist, critical designer and co-founding partner of Acclair, a project that originated from attending the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, in 2004. He shared the Emerging Artist award at 01SJ biennial 2006 with Eyal Fried, Acclair partner. He was born and raised in California, graduating from UCLA and San Francisco State University and living in the Bay Area for the past 19 years. He recently completed and exhibited the prototype stage of LA Interchange, a real-time memorial proposed for a freeway intersection in downtown Los Angeles. Besides creating a variety of interactive and other media artworks, he has worked with a variety of commercial brands to promote products and services in the digital space. He is keen on developing brain-related valuation services through the Acclair consultancy, while facilitating an open platform for discussion of the present and future of brain-related products and services.
Eyal Fried
Eyal Fried is a Cognitive researcher and an Interaction Designer. In 2004 he co-founded Acclair, a research venture exploring non-medical applications of neuroscience. Eyal’s research focuses on bridging neuroscience and design. He is developing methodologies, technologies and theoretical models applying knowledge from pure brain research to “real world”, everyday situations. Eyal’s academic background includes a BA in psychology and communication (Haifa University, Israel), MCIS in Information Systems (Rutgers University, US) and MA in Interaction Design (IDII, Italy). In his professional past he has done web development work in New York, research with the PLAY research studio of the Interactive Institute in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Human-Computer Interaction design for MAX Interactive in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Eyal is currently involved in several research and commercial start-ups, and is teaching technology and design at the Bezalel Academy for Art and Design and is part of the game development program at Sehnkar College of Engineering and Design.