Laura A Dima is a Romanian-born interdisciplinary artist who graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2015 with a degree in Inter-Architecture. She is currently based in Amsterdam, where she creates multimedia installations that combine performance, technology, and academic research. Dima's works explore cultural norms surrounding intimacy, touch, and privacy, with notable pieces including "The Finger Rub Rug," a sculpture in the shape of a mattress with 1300 silicone replicas of her partner's fingers placed in an isolated white room and accompanied by a spatial soundtrack, and "Future Affair," an interactive installation that allows participants to give and receive affective touch through a caressing robot and a control panel sculpture.
Dima has been curated at various events, given guest lectures and workshops at the crossroads of art, technology, and design, and exhibited in public and semi-public spaces. Some of these events include Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven), University of Technology Delft (TU Delft), University of Twente (UT), EDRi (European Digital Rights organisation Bruxelles), Sandberg Institute (Amsterdam), OPA (Ontwerp Platform Arnhem), Niet Normaal INT (Utrecht), ArtEZ (Arnhem), and CanHaptics (Canada).
In addition to her artistic practice, Dima directs a multidisciplinary team that includes engineers, craftspeople, and design specialists, all of whom contribute to the realisation of her creative vision. Her team is actively engaged in academic research, and has published research papers based on their projects, including two papers for WorldHaptics Conference 2021 in Vancouver, and has presented their work during the EuroHaptics 2022 conference hosted by the University of Technology in Hamburg.