Boaz Torfstein
- Research Fellow, Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning Technion, Haifa.
MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martin’s.University of the Arts London, London
BA Behavioural Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Be’er Sheva.
Research focus
Boaz Torfstein's research, titled "The Artist as an Alchemist: Developing a Framework for Micro, Local, Circular Urbanism," explores the potential of establishing a protocol for harnessing a creative community's symbiosis with industrial areas to promote well-balanced local and regional urban circularity. His interdisciplinary approach combines art, urban sociology, economy and anthropology to investigate how creative communities can play a pivotal role in achieving environmental, economic, and social sustainability in industrial manufacturing clusters. By examining the interplay between these elements and identifying the "alchemic" attributes of art in closing material loops, Boaz aims to create a protocol for circular urbanism, benefitting both industry and community and addressing the challenges of the circular economies.
His research involves conducting controlled living lab experiments in industrial areas, quantifying material efficiencies, assessing social disparities, and examining the artistic creative process's impact on waste transformation. Ultimately, Boaz's work aims to contribute to the development of models for local, micro circular economies, where art serves as a catalyst for positive disruption and reintegration, fostering sustainable practices and regional development.
Boaz Torfstein is a versatile professional with a notable presence as a visual artist, particularly known for his dedication to sustainability, having exhibited globally and extended his career to arts education and built environment sector project management.
The project titled "The Artist as an Alchemist: Developing a Framework for Micro, Local, Circular Urbanism" explores the potential of creating a protocol that harnesses the symbiotic relationship between creative communities and industrial areas to enhance local and regional urban circularity. This interdisciplinary study merges concepts from art, urban sociology, economics, and anthropology to explore how creative communities can significantly contribute to environmental, economic, and social sustainability within industrial manufacturing clusters. By analyzing the interactions between these elements and the transformative role of art in material loop closures, the project seeks to develop a protocol for circular urbanism that benefits both industry and community, effectively addressing the challenges of circular economies.
Research focus
Testing and articulating the role of experiential and somatic knowledge in democratizing immersive, data visualization-based environments of decision-making for urban strategy.
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Weiner is a maker and researcher of performance and political theory, specialising in the application of methodologies from theatre and performance in social research. In his first postdoctoral position at the Queen Mary University of London, Weiner worked with Dr James Eastwood to develop a gallery space as an engaging site for sharing and accumulation of community-based knowledge in research on histories of race and racialisation. He received his PhD from the Royal Holloway University of London, where his project explored the epistemologies of drag performance both as a phenomenological metaphor and as a research methodology of landscape and architecture. His MA project at Goldsmiths College studies dramaturgies of participation in performance. Weiner's work as a drag performer, actor, director, writer, and dramaturg features globally in various theatres, festivals, and performance venues.
