Soomi Park
Staff details
Soomi’s work discusses the complex relationship between emerging technologies and human desires.
Soomi is a London-based designer and researcher. Her research crosses the boundaries between design, fiction and cognitive psychology. Through the lens of her research background, her work discusses the complex relationship between emerging technologies and human desires. Her practice encompasses a wide range of mediums, including speculative objects, film, photography, performance, interactive installations and wearables.
Her work has been featured in global media outlets including The New York Times, Vogue Paris, Frame Magazine, The Guardian, Wired UK, and etc. She was a Designer in Residence at the Design Museum in London in 2017. She awarded her PhD (thesis titled “Should Robots Blush?”), which focused on using speculative design to research the relationship between social psychology and robotics at the Queen Mary University of London (funded by EPSRC). She holds her MA in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art in London.
Academic qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy in Media and Arts Technology, Queen Mary University of London 2024
- MA in Design Interactions, Royal College of Art 2013
- MA in Digital Media Design, Hongik University (IDAS) 2007
- BA in Multimedia and Animation/ Visual Communication, Sookmyung Women's University 2005
Teaching and supervision
BA Design Year 1 Lead
BA Design Year 1 Studio Project module convener
BA Design Year 3 Studio Project mentor
Grants and awards
2017:
Centre for Public Engagement Small Grant Award
Grant awarded for Embarrassed Robots project from Queen Mary University of London
2017:
Designers in Residence of the Design Museum
Embarrassed Robots project
2016:
Global Design Leader of Korea Institute of Design Promotion(KIDP), South Korea
Transitive Wearable study
Publications and research outputs
Article
- Should Robots Blush? Park, Soomi; Healey, Patrick G. T. and Kaniadakis, Antonios. 2021. Should Robots Blush? CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems(14), 717.
Audio
- The Art in STEAM (Femmes Designers Podcasts): Design Fiction, robotics, and Speculating about the future (episode 4) Yunes, Nour Diab and Park, Soomi. 2023. The Art in STEAM (Femmes Designers Podcasts): Design Fiction, robotics, and Speculating about the future (episode 4).
- Disegno Podcasts: Conversations with Map Project Office. Episode 5: Where Next? Should we make friends with tech? Stratford, Oli; Park, Soomi; Lebeau, Laura; Schladow, Zoe and van de Poel, Bas. 2023. Disegno Podcasts: Conversations with Map Project Office. Episode 5: Where Next? Should we make friends with tech?.
Book Section
- Soomi Park & Owen Wells: Between Digital Interaction and Cognitive Psychology Park, Soomi and Wells, Owen. 2022. Soomi Park & Owen Wells: Between Digital Interaction and Cognitive Psychology. In: Hong Juhee and Kim Hyesu, eds. Lucid Dream: Transdisciplinary Creators. Seoul: Diagrama, pp. 61-68. ISBN 9791198040008
- Bright Ideas Park, Soomi. 2014. Bright Ideas. In: Garry E. Knell; John M. Fahey; Declan Moore and Melina Gerosa Bellows, eds. Weird But True! Ripped from the Headlines. 1 Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, pp. 60-61. ISBN 9781426315152
- LED Eyelashes, Soomi Park Park, Soomi. 2014. LED Eyelashes, Soomi Park. In: , ed. Highlike. São Paulo, Brazil: SESI-SP Editora, p. 42. ISBN 9788582052976
Conference or Workshop Item
- ICA Panel Discussion: Machine Futurisms Park, Soomi; Moravec, Lisa and Brown, Kate. 2024. 'ICA Panel Discussion: Machine Futurisms'. In: Panel Discussion: Machine Futurisms. Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), United Kingdom 27 November 2024.
- HCI Research Group Presentation: Dr. Soomi Park - Should Robots Blush? Park, Soomi. 2024. 'HCI Research Group Presentation: Dr. Soomi Park - Should Robots Blush?'. In: HCI Research Group seminar. Brunel University London, United Kingdom 29 May 2024.
- Should Robots Blush? Park, Soomi; Healey, Patrick G. T. and Kaniadakis, Antonios. 2021. 'Should Robots Blush?'. In: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’21). Yokohama, Japan 8 - 13 May 2021.
Design
- Embarrassed Robots: Robot Prototype Park, Soomi. 2017. Embarrassed Robots: Robot Prototype.
Film/Video
- Embarrassed Robots: Film Park, Soomi. 2017. Embarrassed Robots: Film.
Professional Activity
- SPACE studio/ London Creative Network: Artists Final Presentation (Invited review panel) Park, Soomi; Britton Newell, Laurie; Lie, Ruth and Davies, Karen. 2021. SPACE studio/ London Creative Network: Artists Final Presentation (Invited review panel).
- Prototyping Bodies (Special Topic Design Studio), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD): Final Project presentation (External Review Panel) Park, Soomi; Peacock, Adam and Haines, Agatha. 2020. Prototyping Bodies (Special Topic Design Studio), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD): Final Project presentation (External Review Panel).
- Designers in Residence 2017: the Design Museum Park, Soomi; Hildrey, Chris; Danmole, Yinka; Ayaskan, Begum and Ayaskan, Bike. 2017. Designers in Residence 2017: the Design Museum.
Project
- Seminar Series: Design Department Buffets (DDB) Park, Soomi; May, Katherine; Haines, Agatha and Rigby, Bethany. 2024. Seminar Series: Design Department Buffets (DDB).
- Between Dreamy and Dreary Park, Soomi and Wells, Owen. 2018. Between Dreamy and Dreary.
- Should Robots Blush?: Embarrassed Robots Park, Soomi. 2018. Should Robots Blush?: Embarrassed Robots.
Show/Exhibition
- Embarrassed Robots Park, Soomi. 2023. Embarrassed Robots. In: "Femmes Designers - Through Her Lens: Testing boundaries in STEAM", Shoreditch Arts Club, United Kingdom, 19 October 2023.
- Between Dreamy and Dreary: Fiction in Design Park, Soomi and Wells, Owen. 2020. Between Dreamy and Dreary: Fiction in Design. In: "Between Dreamy and Dreary: Fiction in Design", Celine Park Gallery, Korea, Republic of, 21 Aug – 21 Nov 2020.
- The Republic of Privacy Park, Soomi. 2019. The Republic of Privacy. In: "The Paradox Of Privacy", Accenture The Dock, Dublin, Ireland, 8 July - 9 September 2019.
Thesis
- Should Robots Blush? Park, Soomi. 2024. Should Robots Blush?. Doctoral thesis, Queen Mary University of London
Other
- Femmes Designers Yunes, Nour Diab; Varelidi, Chloe; Cantera, Ana Laura; Hui, Angela Wei Nok; Park, Soomi; Hage, Nour; Tanaka, Kaoru; Richter-Lunn, Katharina; Zhang, Weidi; Estarita-Guerrero, Ana Carolina; Li, Jiabao; Petric, Maja; Tan, Ling; Soula, Noemie; Zeng, Jiani; Zacharias, Maroula and Yan, Shao. 2023. Femmes Designers. Femmes Designers Ltd..
- Jeunes Talents: Les robots sensible de Soomi Park Mallet, Élodie and Park, Soomi. 2019. Jeunes Talents: Les robots sensible de Soomi Park. Intramuros, Paris.
- Playing with the future Beckett, Kathleen; Park, Soomi; Hildrey, Chris; Danmole, Yinka; Ayaskan, Bike and Ayaskan, Begum. 2017. Playing with the future. The New York Times, New York.