Research
Computational iconology, embodied spatial interfaces, and the survival of visual patterns
Visual pattern analysis. Embodied experience. Human-AI systems. Three axes, one conviction: scholarship and practice inform one another.
Research Axes
Visual Pattern Analysis
Investigating how visual patterns carry meaning across time and media, from art historical survival in AI-generated imagery to cinematic representations of power and resistance.
Embodied Spatial Interfaces
Developing VR installations that transform abstract data into navigable space, where bodily movement generates understanding.
Human-AI Systems & Knowledge Production
Designing frameworks for human-AI collaboration and examining how knowledge flows shape innovation, from creative pedagogy to bibliometric analysis of technological asymmetries.
Current Research
Active projects across 3 research axes, from early concept to publication.
Visual Pattern Analysis
Nachleben Computacional
Pathosformeln in Latent Space
Nachleben Computacional
Pathosformeln in Latent Space
Can emotional gestures that survived millennia of art history (Warburg's Pathosformeln) reappear in AI-generated images? This project investigates the computational survival (Nachleben) of gestural patterns in diffusion models, testing whether historically recurrent configurations emerge preferentially when models are prompted to represent intense emotional states.
Target: Leonardo (MIT Press)
Hypotheses
- H1: High-affective gestural configurations (Pathosformeln) appear disproportionately in generative model output when prompted for emotional representations.
- H2: Poses generated by contemporary models converge toward configurations documented in historical art (WikiArt, Web Gallery of Art).
- H3: The same Pathosformel appears in model output regardless of stylistic markers in the prompt.
- H4: Pathosformeln maintain their emotional valence (Warburg's antithetical principle) in generated images.
Methodology
Model: Stable Diffusion 1.5
Pose Extraction: MediaPipe
Beyond the Black Box
Ontogenesis of AI-Generated Images via Simondon
Beyond the Black Box
Ontogenesis of AI-Generated Images via Simondon
This paper develops a novel framework for understanding AI-generated images through Gilbert Simondon's philosophy of individuation. Combining computational experiments with artistic case studies (Refik Anadol, Sougwen Chung, Holly Herndon), we demonstrate how latent space functions as a preindividual field and reconceptualize 'hallucinations' as alternative individuations.
Status: Under Review
Target: Philosophy & Technology
Methodology
Model: Stable Diffusion 2.1
- Latent Space Analysis (10,000 vectors)
- Denoising Trajectory Analysis (500 runs)
- Variation Analysis (100 images × 15 prompts)
Key Findings
- Effective dimensionality ~127 vs 16,384 nominal
- Phase transitions at 20%, 50%, 80% of denoising
- Semantic coherence 0.847 within prompt variations
Archaeology of Latent Space
Visual Patterns in Generative Model Outputs
Archaeology of Latent Space
Visual Patterns in Generative Model Outputs
Building on the Nachleben Computacional findings, this project extends computational iconology to analyze broader patterns of visual culture encoded in generative models. Depends on completion of Nachleben for methodological foundation.
Target: TBD
The Colonial Situation in Collapse
Balandier, Fanon, and the Anthropology of Power in The Battle of Algiers
The Colonial Situation in Collapse
Balandier, Fanon, and the Anthropology of Power in The Battle of Algiers
An anthropological analysis of Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966) through two theoretical frameworks central to the political anthropology of colonialism: Georges Balandier's concept of the 'colonial situation' and Frantz Fanon's theory of decolonizing violence. The article establishes a dialogue with African and Afro-Brazilian studies, drawing on Kabengele Munanga's contributions on negritude and Clóvis Moura's work on resistance.
Status: Submitted
Target: Afro-Ásia (UFBA)
Embodied Spatial Interfaces
Inside Sound
Embodied Navigation Through Timbral Constellations
Inside Sound
Embodied Navigation Through Timbral Constellations
A room-scale VR installation transforming spectral audio analysis into navigable three-dimensional space. Proposes 'navigational listening' as a distinct epistemic mode where physical locomotion through timbral data creates embodied understanding of acoustic properties typically inaccessible to non-expert listeners.
Status: ACAH: Accepted (Tokyo, May 2026) / ISEA: Submitted
Target: ACAH 2026 / ISEA 2026
Data Constellations
Navigating Extinction Through Embodied Spatial Memory
Data Constellations
Navigating Extinction Through Embodied Spatial Memory
A VR installation that transforms ecological loss into navigable virtual space, positioning extinct species as luminous points in an immersive constellation that viewers traverse with their bodies. Drawing on Indigenous wayfinding traditions and embodied cognition theory, the work frames navigation as an epistemological act: making knowledge through movement rather than simply accessing information.
Status: Submitted
Target: ISEA 2026 (Dubai)
Hẻm: Three Generations
VR Heritage Documentation in Vietnamese Alleys
Hẻm: Three Generations
VR Heritage Documentation in Vietnamese Alleys
An immersive VR experience documenting the endangered cultural heritage of Vietnamese hẻm (alleyways) across three generations. Combines photogrammetry, oral history, and spatial storytelling to preserve disappearing urban landscapes.
Status: Seeking Funding
Target: TBD
Cartographies of Refusal
When Colonial Archives Look Back
Cartographies of Refusal
When Colonial Archives Look Back
A room-scale VR installation transforming French Indochina colonial photographs into active agents that resist viewer engagement through algorithmically determined refusal behaviors. Positioning 50–100 colonial-era images as a navigable three-dimensional constellation, the work spatializes each photograph according to temporal, geographic, and violence indices, literalizing the concept of 'ethnographic refusal' through embodied interaction. Created and situated in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly colonial Saigon), the project enacts geographic reversal: the archive looks back from the colonized territory.
Status: Abstract Submitted
Target: Arts (MDPI) — Special Issue: Performative Imaging
Human-AI Systems & Knowledge Production
Sympoietic Pedagogy
Human-AI Co-Creation in Creative Education
Sympoietic Pedagogy
Human-AI Co-Creation in Creative Education
Drawing on Haraway's sympoiesis, postdigital theory, and decolonial computing, this paper proposes five principles for creative pedagogy in the age of generative AI: relational creativity, situated technology, epistemic justice, productive friction, and reflexive practice.
Status: Revised (v2)
Target: Postdigital Science and Education
SBBrasil TrainSheets
Human-in-the-Loop Dental Imaging Pipeline
SBBrasil TrainSheets
Human-in-the-Loop Dental Imaging Pipeline
A reproducible pipeline transforming public PDF manuals from Brazil's national oral health program into structured image datasets for computer vision research. Achieves 96.4% accuracy on dental view classification using lightweight methods with human-in-the-loop refinement.
Status: Submitted
Target: IEEE Access
Capturing the Immersive
Knowledge Flows and Innovation Asymmetries in VR/XR Technology (2010–2024)
Capturing the Immersive
Knowledge Flows and Innovation Asymmetries in VR/XR Technology (2010–2024)
A bibliometric study examining global knowledge flows and innovation asymmetries in Virtual Reality and Extended Reality technologies. Introduces the DICE Framework (Dependency Ratio, Integration Index, Innovation Capture Index, and Efficiency Ratio) to quantify asymmetries in knowledge production and appropriation between regions.
Status: Data Collection
Target: Scientometrics
Methodology
Progress Phases
Book in Progress
From Caravaggio to Cyberpunk
Art History for Game Artists
A comprehensive visual guide connecting 600 years of art history to contemporary game design. From Medieval illuminations to Hyperrealism, each chapter pairs canonical artists with iconic games, demonstrating how historical techniques inform modern concept art, environment design, and visual storytelling.
Table of Contents
01 Medieval and Gothic Art Bestiaries, Cathedrals and the Aesthetics of the Fantastic
Explores the art of the 5th to 15th centuries as a symbolic and theological system. Analyzes illuminations, Gothic architecture, bestiaries and religious iconography, highlighting how the absence of linear perspective created symbolic rather than physical spaces.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
02 Renaissance Perspective, Anatomy and the Construction of the Gaze
Investigates the visual revolution of the Italian Quattrocento and Cinquecento, focusing on the invention of linear perspective by Brunelleschi and its codification by Alberti. Examines how the anatomical studies of Leonardo and Michelangelo established standards that still inform character design.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
03 Baroque Drama, Light and the Theater of Emotions
Analyzes Counter-Reformation art as emotional propaganda, focusing on Caravaggio's tenebrism and theatricality as a persuasion strategy. Explores the use of diagonals, spirals and unstable compositions, along with architectural illusionism (trompe-l'œil).
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
04 Rococo and Neoclassicism Between Elegance and Reason
Contrasts two opposing movements of the eighteenth century: the ornamental lightness of Rococo and the moral austerity of Neoclassicism. Introduces Edmund Burke's concept of the Sublime as a bridge between the two.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
05 Romanticism Nature, Emotion, and Ruins
Explores the reaction to Enlightenment rationalism and industrialization, focusing on nature as a secular cathedral and the artist as a solitary genius. Analyzes the iconography of ruins, cemeteries, and storms as expressions of melancholy and transcendence.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
06 Realism and Naturalism The World Without Idealization
Investigates art that 'comes down from the pedestal' after the 1848 revolutions, focusing on everyday themes and the rejection of idealization. Analyzes how Courbet painted peasants and workers with the same dignity reserved for kings.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
07 Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Light, Color and the Liberation of Vision
Analyzes the break with the Academy through the Salon des Refusés and plein air painting. Examines complementary color techniques, dissolution of contour and series as method. Explores the transition to Post-Impressionism: Seurat's pointillism, Cézanne's geometry, Van Gogh's emotional expression.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
08 Modernisms Fragmentation, Dream and the Destruction of Rules
Maps the simultaneous ruptures of the early twentieth century: Cubism (multiple viewpoints), Futurism (speed and machine), Dadaism (against art), Surrealism (access to the unconscious). Analyzes Picasso's spatial fragmentation and Dalí's paranoiac-critical method.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
09 Contemporary Art Pop, Minimalism and the Street as Gallery
Examines the dissolution between high and low culture in the postwar era. Analyzes Pop Art (mass culture as raw material), Minimalism (reduction to essentials) and Street Art (city as canvas).
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
10 Hyperrealism and Digital Realism The Aesthetics of Simulation
Investigates the pursuit of perfect illusion, from Photorealism to contemporary Hyperrealism. Introduces the concepts of simulacrum (Baudrillard) and uncanny valley (Mori). Analyzes PBR techniques, subsurface scattering, ray tracing, and facial capture.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
11 Global Visual Traditions Beyond the Western Canon
Expands the repertoire beyond Europe, addressing responsibility in cultural representation. Examines Japanese art (ukiyo-e, sumi-e), Islamic art (arabesques, infinite geometry), African art (masks, rhythmic abstraction), and pre-Columbian art (cosmological iconography).
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
12 Concept Art and the Creative Process From Idea to Image
Defines concept art as a communication language between departments, distinct from final illustration. Examines the process: thumbnails, silhouettes, rapid iteration, color keys, mood boards. Analyzes masters of visual design.
Artists Studied
Games Analyzed
Publications
Under Review / Submitted
Beyond the Black Box: Mapping the Ontogenesis of AI-Generated Images Through Latent Space Analysis
Philosophy & Technology · 2025
Under Review
Sympoietic Pedagogy: Toward a Framework for Human-AI Co-Creation in Creative Education
Postdigital Science and Education · 2025
Under Review
Navigating Timbre: Locomotion as Epistemic Practice in Immersive Acoustic Environments
ACAH 2026 — Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities (IAFOR) · 2026
Accepted — to be presented in Tokyo, Japan, May 2026
Inside Sound: Embodied Navigation Through Timbral Constellations in Virtual Reality
ISEA 2026 — International Symposium on Electronic Art (Dubai) · 2026
Submitted
Data Constellations: Navigating Extinction Through Embodied Spatial Memory in Virtual Reality
ISEA 2026 — International Symposium on Electronic Art (Dubai) · 2026
Submitted
A situação colonial em colapso: Balandier, Fanon e a antropologia do poder em A Batalha de Argel
Afro-Ásia (UFBA) · 2025
Submitted
SBBrasil TrainSheets: From PDF Records to Dental View Classification with a Human-in-the-Loop Imaging Pipeline
IEEE Access · 2025
Submitted
Published
Zero-Shot Video Anomaly Detection via Cross-Modal Vision-Language Alignment
ICCiT 2025 — International Conference on Computing and Information Technology · 2025
An Evolving Fuzzy Neural Network Based on Or-Type Logic Neurons for Identifying and Extracting Knowledge in Auction Fraud
Mathematics · 2022
An Explainable Evolving Fuzzy Neural Network to Predict the k Barriers for Intrusion Detection Using a Wireless Sensor Network
Sensors · 2022
Evolving Fuzzy Neural Network Based on Null-Unineurons for the Identification of Coronary Artery Disease
IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) · 2022
Humans and Machines: A Study of the Impacts of the Technological Advances in the Light of Generative Art Theory
ISEA 2022 — 27th International Symposium on Electronic Art · 2022
A Pipeline for Facial Animations on Low Budget VR Productions
IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VRW) · 2021
'If We Only Knew How You Feel' — A Comparative Study of Automated vs. Manual Classification of Opinions of Customers on Digital Media
Social Networking · 2018
Opinion Mining Framework Applied to a Social Networks Data for Small and Medium Enterprises
Revista Gestão & Tecnologia · 2020
Simulador de Realidade Virtual Aplicado à Educação Patrimonial para Experiências Imersivas Gamificadas
RENOTE — Revista Novas Tecnologias na Educação · 2018
Co-Creation in the Game Industry: A Case Study in a Brazilian Developer
Social Networking · 2018
Propagação de Boatos em Empresas: Modelo Baseado em Autômatos Celulares
14th CONTECSI — International Conference on Information Systems and Technology Management · 2017
Engajamento como Mecânica para a Gestão do Conhecimento do Consumidor com Apoio de Ferramentas da Web 2.0 para PMEs
14th CONTECSI — International Conference on Information Systems and Technology Management · 2017
Qualitative Analysis of T-Shaped and K.S.A Models
SODEBRAS · 2017
Leader Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems Market Report Comparison
SODEBRAS · 2017
Academic Background
Towards a Design Methodology for Specialized Immersive Training utilizing Virtual Reality, Serious Games, Biofeedback, and UX Design
Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE) / University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg · 2018–2021
Prof. Dr. Marcos Antonio Gaspar (Advisor), Prof. Dr. Ulrich Norbisrath (Co-advisor), Prof. Jeremiah Diephuis (Local advisor in Austria)
This doctoral research addressed a critical gap in immersive training design: how to create VR experiences that effectively prepare professionals for high-stress, high-stakes scenarios. The resulting methodology integrates four pillars (Virtual Reality immersion, Serious Games mechanics, real-time Biofeedback monitoring, and human-centered UX Design) into a coherent framework for developing training simulators. The approach was validated through an international survey of 141 professionals and academics from eleven countries, establishing both theoretical rigor and practical applicability. As proof of concept, a complete VR prototype was developed featuring advanced character animation, environmental storytelling, and a custom facial animation system with phonetic alignment that reduced production time by 70% while maintaining lip-sync accuracy.
Download PDFSocial Media Opinion Mining Framework for Customer Knowledge Discovery
Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE) · 2015–2017
Prof. Dr. Marcos Antonio Gaspar (Advisor), Prof. Dr. Renato José Sassi (Co-advisor)
This research explored how businesses could transform the unstructured chaos of social media into strategic intelligence. The resulting framework combined sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and natural language processing to automatically extract customer knowledge from online reviews and social conversations. Beyond technical implementation, the work investigated how computational intelligence techniques could democratize market research, enabling small and medium enterprises to access insights previously available only to corporations with dedicated analytics teams. The framework was designed to be modular and adaptable, allowing organizations to customize the pipeline according to their specific domains and languages.
Download PDFComparative Study of Renaissance and Baroque Aesthetics through Michelangelo's and Bernini's David
Faculdade Paulista de Artes · 2009–2010
This program offered rigorous training in art theory, aesthetics, and critical methodology, covering everything from classical European traditions to African, Asian, and Latin American visual cultures. The curriculum spanned philosophy of art, curatorial practice, and the mechanisms of criticism in contemporary culture. For the final research project, I developed a comparative analysis of the same subject, David, as interpreted by two masters from different eras: Michelangelo's Renaissance sculpture and Bernini's Baroque reinterpretation. The study examined how formal choices, spatial relationships, and emotional register reveal fundamentally different worldviews: the Renaissance ideal of contained perfection versus Baroque dynamism and psychological intensity. This early encounter with iconographic analysis planted the seeds for my current research on how visual formulas survive and transform across time, now extended into the domain of AI-generated imagery.
Technology in Design and Advertising Production
Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE) · 2005–2008
Where it all began. This technology-focused program combined visual communication theory with hands-on production skills, from traditional graphic design principles to emerging digital tools that were transforming the advertising industry in the mid-2000s. The curriculum covered brand identity development, campaign conceptualization, typography, photography, and the technical foundations of print and digital media production. More than technical training, it instilled a systematic approach to creative problem-solving: understanding briefs, researching audiences, iterating on concepts, and delivering polished work under deadline pressure. These foundational years established the working methodology and visual sensibility that would later evolve into a career spanning 3D animation, motion design, interaction design, and academic research, always at the intersection of aesthetics and technology.