Ala Roushan

Ala Roushan is an Associate Professor in the Digital Futures and Environmental Design programs at OCAD University. Her practice explores artificial environments at the intersection of art, architecture, and technology, with a particular focus on emerging technologies that intervene in natural systems.

Her project Shaping Atmospheres, presented as an exhibition and symposium, examined contemporary solar politics and speculations on solar geoengineering. Most recently, she co-directed A Shroud Woven of Solar Threads, a film commissioned by mudac Museum, Lausanne, in 2025—returning to the ancient Sun worship of Mitra thousands of years ago during a climate crisis.

Previously, she produced BREATHLESS at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, a multifaceted project on the paradoxes of air and breathing. She was also co-director and curator of SUGAR, a curatorial platform exploring new trajectories in site-responsive public art in Toronto. This followed her role as co-founder and curator of Flip Project Space, a nonprofit contemporary art initiative in Naples.

In 2023, Roushan held a research position at the University of Tokyo. From 2022 to 2025, she served as principal investigator of a research-creation project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.