Isadora Petrauskas is a multimedia artist, author, and academic working at the intersection of technology and art. Her research and creative practice engage with interactive media, sensory experience, design, and performance studies, informed by a background in theatre and ephemeral architectures. She holds a BA in Performing Arts, an MA in Design, and a PhD in Fine Arts.

Alongside her academic career, she has worked extensively in theatre and film, with experience as a stage manager, stage designer, lighting designer, and art director. She is also cofounder of award-nominated theatre and art collectives and has collaborated with artists across Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, with work presented internationally in festivals, exhibitions, and academic forums.

She is the author of the book Estados para a Tensão (Annablume, 2025) and the creator of the VR work Tongue-Tied, selected for Ars Electronica. At XJTLU, she leads the Interactive Media Pathway in the MSc Cultural and Creative Industries. Her current research explores embodied knowledge, speculative futures, future heritage, and the evolving relationship between language and technology. She is principal investigator on the three‑year funded project Possible Futures That Are Not the End of the World, which examines alternative ways of imagining and shaping what lies ahead.

External Links:

Portfolio

LinkedIn profile

Wikipedia profile

Technology and Art

Interactive Media

Sensory Experience

Performance Studies

Language and technology

Ephemeral Architectures

Speculative Futures

Cultural Studies

Future Heritage

Theatre and Design

Social Sciences

Cross-cultural Artistic Collaboration

Stage Manager – Opera House Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro (2010–2014)

Lecturer – School of Arts and Creative Industries at Edinburgh Napier University (2017–2022)


Selected authored works

2025

The Self as the Other: Embodied Contradictions in Caring for an Unfamiliar Body, International Conference in Gender Studies, London – Talk on embodiment in caregiving and interdisciplinary research.

Session Chair, Gender, Power, and Narrative Subversions, London – Chaired session on storytelling and authority.

2024

Interwoven Existences, Ars Electronica (Installation Art), Austria – Collaborative immersive installation on entanglement and collective memory.

Tongue-Tied, Ars Electronica (AR/VR), Austria – AR and VR artwork investigating language and fragmented identity.

Tied-Body, Hanshan Museum, Suzhou (Performance Art & Workshop), China – Workshop and performance on constraint and bodily resistance.

Performative Paradigms, Eduventure Conference – Presented research on performative dissemination in higher education.

Liminal Convergences, EIAP, Taicang, China – Co-organized and chaired session on ephemerality in art practices.

Being an Expert in the Field, XJTLU, Taicang, China – Panelist on theatre, transmedia, and immersive design.

2023

The Last Common Ancestor, various theatres (Theatre Piece), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Porto, Portugal  

A Ti Mesmo, Avesso Gallery (Installation Art and Performance), Porto and Lisbon, Portugal 

2022

About Connections, Avesso Gallery, Porto, Portugal – Interactive installation on sensory human connection.

Anamorphic Waves, Ugly Duck, London, UK – Artworks exploring distortion and perception.

Espaço de Pausa ou Realidade Sem Tempo, Maus Hábitos,Porto,  Portugal – Co-curated event on stillness in contemporary art.

2021

Exhibition of Installation Art, Ugly Duck, London, UK – Research-based show on the technological sublime and mediated perception.

Real Virtual, Ugly Duck,London, UK – Multimedia exhibition addressing boundaries between reality and virtuality.

Gilda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil –  short film focused on intimate storytelling.

2015, Best in Show for the School of Arts and Creative Industries for the Art installation Under Construction

2014, Yan Michalski prize (Category: Special Achievement ) for the Art Direction of the Theatre show Inside My Own House