Albena Todorova is currently at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia where an innovative semiotics offer includes courses on advertising & consumer culture. In 2009 she wrote a dissertation on Edgar Allan Poe in popular culture. Albena is now doing PhD research on Poe mythology & symbolism globally from Baudelaire through to Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Rampo, 60s horror movies, Lou Reed, Antony Hegarty, contemporary emo, manga & gaming subcultures and online interest groups.
Sofia, Bulgaria
Hyaesook works for Korean design and culture magazine 'Cabinet' as a London coordinator & Editor. She worked for 8 years as a designer at a design museum in Seoul, Korea. Hyaesook is interested in space 'imaging' and 'language’ as a research tool to understand tacit consensus. She is personally looking into the potential of design along with thoughtful design thinking to help create increasingly positive futures. She is also a co-facilitator of the Metadesigners Open Network.
Hyaesook studied on the visionary Design Futures MA at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
London, UK
A qualitative researcher and semiotician, Marina is interested in contemporary Russian culture’s myths and metaphors, She is completing a PhD on the ethical dimension of the language & semiotics of otherness. Inspired by Plato's dialogues and Beckett's plays, Marina dreams of transforming the focus group into a new genre of sociological theatre. By getting rid of the one-way mirror she aims to kill three birds with one stone, achieving the goals of aesthetic pleasure, consumer knowledge and transparency.
Moscow, Russia