Serina Tarkhanian

What is your role in the CLUE competition and how did you get involved?

I’m the president of CLUE, which means I work with the team to establish a strong and consistent vision for the competition, with a focus on making it as good as it can be.

I first heard about the competition during college, because our professors featured it in one of our classes.

I got involved later on when a colleague of mine – the previous CLUE president – approached me about being part of the team. I joined because of a shared belief in the importance of supporting young minds, and in thinking about the role lighting-related design could play in imagining new futures.

What are you currently working on professionally?
I’m an interactive designer, with my work focusing on knowledge shared through alternative modes of education. In other words, I design educational experiences for museums, schools, or cultural institutions.

Right now, I’m taking time off to do my MA in Social Design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, where my work is centered more on the future of ageing and care.

How does lighting play a role in architecture and urban design?
Light is a vital part of life; therefore, it has to be an integral feature of any project that relates to the imagining of environments and ways of living. So, I would say that there’s an infinite amount of “how’s”. You can see this when you look through the hundreds of ideas that are shared with us each year.

What is the mission of the CLUE competition and why should young professionals take part?

CLUE is about creating a space for young people to imagine how the world could be different, and what role lighting can play in creating those realities. We exist because they should have a place to express themselves and have their say in regard to the future of our urban environments. We want to give them the agency to do so, and so our mission is to ensure these opportunities are available.

The competition is an incredibly rich broadcasting platform for those with a critical mind. When you’re just starting out, a resource like this can make a huge difference. Not only does your vision circulate around the world, but you come away with new knowledge from the experience. It’s a two-way knowledge exchange – it has to be – so we work to make it so.

What do you like most in driving this competition?

In any learning context you want to make sure that you invite and foster critical thinking. Making sure that this exists in all facets of what we do is where I get my kicks!

I’m very curious to see what future participants are going to address in this next chapter, because it’s also an opportunity for us as more experienced professionals to learn and grow.