Exploring the X

How artistic research and practices can inspire new experimental scientific methods and cognitive models

I am currently working on a book manuscript, entitled Exploring the X, which proposes an artistic research framework to inspire new methods of empirically investigating creative thinking, mind-wandering, and social emotions (e.g. empathy, intimacy). This manuscript is informed by my years of research and collaborations with artists in their studios and also as a lecturer in art and design universities in Europe and the United States. Through a series of interviews I unlock how artists approach themes such as control, connectivity, and resonance between psyche and design. I discuss with them their research methodologies and how these methods feed into creative ideation processes. This is a book to invoke new modes of creative thinking, of designing from a human-centered perspective, and to unveil the emotional and cognitive insights unique to artistic practices.

Related Links and Articles

Sharifi, M. (2025). Playing with Light. In S. Larsen (Ed.), Places of Longing. Berlin: DISTANZ Verlag. A neuroscience essay commissioned for the monograph of Danish architect Sigurd Larsen, exploring how light shapes brain development, circadian rhythm, emotion, and sensory perception.

Excursion to the Tomás Saraceno Spider Lab I organized for my Mindwandering seminar