I am a designer-researcher whose work explores ways that technologies construct knowledge and produce power, shaping the socio-economic landscapes within which they are embedded. As an interdisciplinary researcher, I draw upon technological cultures, media philosophy, and histories of design. Committed to practices that engage publics directly, my work moves between curatorial projects, documentary films, and written works.

In 2025 I co-curated transmediale, the Berlin-based festival for arts and digital culture that brings together international artists, researchers, activists, and thinkers with the goal of developing new outlooks on our technological era. Prior to directing the 2025 edition, I held the position of curator at the festival (2020-2023). My films have exhibited at galleries including MoMA New York and the Design Museum London and screened at festivals including Visions du Réel, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Sheffield Doc Fest. I am a Deputy Course Director at The School of Communication at Falmouth University and hold a PhD from the University of Sunderland. My latest peer reviewed paper, A Geography of the Screen, can be read here. Adjunct to my research, I work as an exhibition architect and have collaborated with artists and curators at institutions including Akademie der Künste in Berlin, ACCA in Melbourne, the Ford Foundation in New York, and Mass MoCA in Massachusetts.

I currently work between Cornwall, UK and Vancouver, Canada on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ Nations.

@benevansjames
ben [at] benevansjames [dotcom]