Ali Phi

Biography

Ali Phi is an Iranian-born new media artist, transmedia creator, and creative technologist now based in Toronto, Canada. Born in 1987, he founded Nullsight Studio in 2013, a digital media lab and arts collective focused on interactive environments, generative design, and immersive audiovisual installations, and he continues to serve as its creative director. His practice blends computer programming and real-time algorithmic systems with an interest in architecture, ritual, and the physical experience of space, treating code and poetry, art and science, as complementary tools for shaping human perception. A recurring thread in Ali Phi's work is the encounter between ancient Persian culture and futuristic digital technology. His project QAL, also known as The Anti-Carpet, reimagines the traditional Persian carpet as an AI-driven, touch-sensitive digital projection, transforming a static cultural symbol into an evolving field that responds to the presence, movement, and gestures of viewers. Other major works, including AGNOSIA and ENFE'AL, extend this investigation into data, spatial perception, and uncertainty, using dynamic particle systems and point clouds that shift in response to light, sound, and the human body. Through these projects, Ali Phi builds installations that function less like fixed artworks and more like living environments, inviting audiences to physically participate in shaping the piece rather than observing it from a distance. His work has been presented at festivals, galleries, and academic contexts internationally, and has been discussed in publications examining the role of AI and interactivity in public and gallery-based art. Across his output, Ali Phi's consistent aim is to use emerging technology to give ancient forms, patterns, and rituals a new, responsive life within contemporary digital space.