March 20, 2024
An Albanian-born artist and engineer, I am deeply interested in New York City – my home, which defines my work. I explored its history and streets for years as a journalist, commissioned to write my experiences for the non-profit publisher, Newest York. Along the way, I started to collect litter, repurposing scraps for art and utility. Through imagination, improvisation, and engineering, I want to address the questions: How will we come together, and what spaces will define our community? What objects will we meet? What and how will we make?
My work across several industries* has refined my current direction, a sweet spot which I push into ecstatically. It’s a sunny spot I am standing on, at the confluence of solar energy, reclaimed materials, and sustainable urban futures.
* I have experience in community planning, hackathon organizing, and writing. My writing has been published in VICE, BULLETT Media, Milky Magazine, Clog Magazine, Mask Magazine, and I am a Contributing Editor for Newest York—a nonprofit showcasing NYC stories; I have been an intern and a French interpreter for The New Yorker; a copywriter at Bloomingdale’s; I have modeled for Nike with my basketball team; I organized a fundraiser for The Waterfront Barge Museum; I worked on event ideation and production for STEM nonprofit, Guerilla Science; I bartended @ H0L0, worked the call center for The Metropolitan Opera; and I drove the makeup artists for Project Runway in a white van, and yes, I did scare them.
March 20, 2024
An Albanian-born artist and engineer, I am deeply interested in New York City – my home, which defines my work. I explored its history and streets for years as a journalist, commissioned to write my experiences for the non-profit publisher, Newest York. Along the way, I started to collect litter, repurposing scraps for art and utility. Through imagination, improvisation, and engineering, I want to address the questions: How will we come together, and what spaces will define our community? What objects will we meet? What and how will we make?
My work across several industries* has refined my current direction, a sweet spot which I push into ecstatically. It’s a sunny spot I am standing on, at the confluence of solar energy, reclaimed materials, and sustainable urban futures.
* I have experience in community planning, hackathon organizing, and writing. My writing has been published in VICE, BULLETT Media, Milky Magazine, Clog Magazine, Mask Magazine, and I am a Contributing Editor for Newest York—a nonprofit showcasing NYC stories; I have been an intern and a French interpreter for The New Yorker; a copywriter at Bloomingdale’s; I have modeled for Nike with my basketball team; I organized a fundraiser for The Waterfront Barge Museum; I worked on event ideation and production for STEM nonprofit, Guerilla Science; I bartended @ H0L0, worked the call center for The Metropolitan Opera; and I drove the makeup artists for Project Runway in a white van, and yes, I did scare them.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events
SOLAR POWER PICNIC
HELIOSTAT #1
2020 – 2023 I designed and built Heliostat, a solar-tracking device that redirects sunlight using a dual-axis motor system controlled by an Arduino microcontroller. The X-axis motor aligns the device with the sun by processing data from the Julian Date API as the Y-axis motor tilts the array of mirrors to achieve the desired angle, directing sunlight into my bedroom. Constructed from repurposed and found objects (car parts), the completed kinetic sculpture sits on my windowsill, clanging like a chariot in motion. In November 2023, I revisited my research on New York City’s daylight zoning laws to present at NYU’s Environmental and Racial Justice Network (ERJN) on the topic of PUSHING DAYLIGHT.
