Maja Petrić

Lumen Prize-winning artist Maja Petrić masterfully combines art, technology, and real-time data to depict nature's fragility. Her sculptural installation, Specimens of Time: Hoh Rain Forest (2025), is part of the Specimens of Time series. This dynamic work takes the form of a cube that pulses with light, channeling live climate data to evoke the delicate balance of the rainforest's vanishing ecosystem. By transforming ephemeral environmental trends into a tangible visual experience, Petrić's work offers a lasting impression and a poignant reminder of the interconnected continuum we inhabit, reflecting the convergence of nature, data, and human experience.

Maja Petric is an acclaimed artist who creates immersive light, optics, and data sculptures. Her work preserves the atmospheres of delicate ecosystems, transforming them into profound human experiences and embedding traces of human presence across time. Since 2001, Petric has collaborated with computer scientists to design custom systems that merge computer vision, machine learning, and real-time environmental data with traditional forms, turning industrial tools into multisensory worlds of light and presence.

At the heart of Petrić’s practice is the reclamation of technology from its industrial applications, reshaping it into an artistic medium capable of evoking unique connections and sensations. Algorithms designed for optimization, sensors for monitoring, and data streams for commerce are subverted into poetic instruments. Instead of driving consumption, these tools are recast to preserve endangered atmospheres, translate climate change into a viscerally felt experience, and inscribe human presence as constellations of light. Through this, Petrić explores how to take ownership of technology rather than passively consuming it, demonstrating that these systems can embody values of connection and imagination when recontextualized by art.

Petrić's art delves into the deep connection between humanity and nature. Her work often begins with the serene beauty of natural elements like skies, forests, and coral reefs, drawing viewers in with its aesthetic appeal and the powerful recognition of our intrinsic link to the natural world.

However, beneath the luminous surface, Petrić's art reveals deeper truths about mortality, interdependence, climate change, and our collective responsibility. She masterfully repurposes technology to reconnect us with the living world and with each other, fostering values rooted in care, empathy, and ecological imagination, moving away from concepts of extraction and control.

Petrić holds a Ph.D. in Digital Arts and Experimental Media from the University of Washington and a Master's in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University. She has taught at prestigious institutions including the University of Washington and the European Institute of Design. In 2016, she launched the "Creative Lighting" graduate program at the European Institute of Design in Madrid, Spain.

Her work has garnered international recognition, appearing in publications such as The New York Times, BBC, Fast Company, and The Seattle Times. Petrić is a recipient of numerous esteemed awards, including the Digital Art Award for Innovation, the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology, and the Microsoft Research Award.

Prominent organizations like National Geographic, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have commissioned her installations. Petrić's art has been showcased globally at venues such as Phillips Auction in London and Hong Kong, HOFA Gallery, Henry Art Gallery, and Landmark Hong Kong.