Anitra Lourie

Anitra Lourie is a fourth-year PhD candidate at the University of Paris 1 PanthéonSorbonne in co-direction with Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris. After earning her MA in Aesthetics at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne she now specializes in Design, Art and Media. She is affiliated with Sorbonne’s Lab ACTE, Axe: Design – Art – Media and Telecom’s CoDesign Lab. Her dissertation, “Framing Network Narratives: Reflexive Artistic Identities” examines the reappropriation of social media networks in contemporary art. Her focus is exploring how contemporary artists challenge new media affordances and narrative techniques to create critical and reflexive identities, (re)constructing the intentions and potentials of both technology and narrative concepts.

Over the past three years Anitra has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in Philosophy of Art; Design, Art and Media; and Art History and Digital Humanities, at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Sorbonne Nouvelle, and University of Rouen Normandy. She is currently working on a collaborative anthology with the Lab ACTE and on articles for publication in Sorbonne’s journal Design, Art, Media and the Canadian review Sens Public. She has participated in multiple national and international academic conferences and workshops, most recently presenting at The Design Society’s 15th International Special Interest Group on Design Theory, hosted by Polytechnique.

Prior to her move to Paris in 2016, Anitra lived in New York City where she pursued an MA in Media Studies at the New School while working at The Museum of Modern art as manager of the department of Visitor Experience. At MoMA she was also a member of the PopRally Committee, an interdepartmental program that organizes events to engage young, diverse audiences, increase access to established artists, and showcase emerging artists. Through this experience, she had the opportunity to collaborate on events with artists such as, Awol Erizku, Little Jake, Matthew Brandt, or Yoko Ono.

Raised by multi-national parents, Anitra grew up between Israel and the United States speaking a mixture of Russian, Hebrew, and English. This led her to split her undergraduate degree between the University of Vermont and the University of Haifa, where she received her BA in Anthropology and Sociology in 2012. She has maintained this multi-cultural appreciation as her academic path has led her to study in three different continents and languages. International collaboration and exchange remain a core value of her work as she continues onto the next steps of her career.