Benjamin Hooker

Benjamin Hooker serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor and core faculty member in the Media Design Practices graduate program. He is also a partner at the design studio Hooker&Kitchen. His prior appointments include visiting faculty and 'designer in residence' at Intel Research (Berkeley), research fellow at the Royal College of Art's School of Architecture and Design, and final-year tutor in Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins College (London).

His academic credentials include a Master of Arts (MA) from the Royal College of Art (RCA).

Hooker's research critically investigates Digital Media, Interaction Design, and Urban/Domestic Computing through Critical Design methodologies. His work interrogates labor in digital economies, materiality of computational systems, and sociotechnical entanglements in everyday life, often employing speculative frameworks to challenge normative technological trajectories. Key themes include political economy of technology, feminist technoscience, and grotesque aesthetics in interface design.

Analysis of his 15 most recent creative works (2025-2012) reveals consistent engagement with critical examinations of digital infrastructure, labor, and materiality. Projects like WORK UNDER OUR LABOUR GROWS (2025) and THE LOGISTICAL BAROQUE (2017) explore labor and logistics, while GROTESQUE INTERFACES (2017) and DWELLING MACHINE (2012) dissect domestic technology through critical and speculative lenses. His portfolio bridges art, design theory, and critical technical practice to address societal implications of emerging technologies.

No scientific awards were documented in the source material.

Information regarding student advising and research grants was not provided in the available text. His teaching responsibilities encompass graduate courses including Thesis Continuation (GMDP-699-01), Post-Grad MDP Research (GMDP-799-01), and Development Studio 3 (GMDP-548A-01).

Hooker co-founded the collaborative design studio Hooker&Kitchen, which functions as a primary research and production platform for his internationally exhibited works. The studio's output critically examines technology's societal impacts through experimental installations, speculative objects, and critical interventions in urban/domestic contexts.