Bio:

Bahaar Esfahani is a first-generation Iranian-American video/media designer. As the daughter of Middle Eastern immigrants raised in a freshly post-9/11 world, her childhood shaped her experience and perspective in ways that she brings into every problem she tackles — patience, understanding, and tolerance come above all.

Bahaar embraces the weird and the strange in her designs, and she especially loves implementing interactivity and code wherever she can in her art. Her recent credits include the play A Hit Dog Will Holler where she coded an interactive website for the audience to use during the performance and the installation Underground Karaoke where she automated a receipt printer to print a photo at the end of each user’s session.

This year, Bahaar has further explored her love for sports and live television by working in the control room of the sports broadcasting department at the University of Pittsburgh. Catch her work next time you watch ESPN!

In her free time, Bahaar enjoys all things analog and collecting/digitizing old VHS tapes she finds at thrift stores (old commercials are such a blast to salvage and watch)! She loves creating games through art and code, like Rockagotchi, a game where you customize and adopt a pet rock you have to take care of, a silly homage to the Tamagotchis of the 90s and the Pet Rocks of the 70s. She has also recently rediscovered her passion for writing, something she hopes will continue to blossom wherever she goes!