Benjamin Boateng-Owusu

About Me

After a decade building safety-critical autonomous driving systems, I'm channeling that sensor expertise towards playful, unexpected interactions that make everyday spaces more fun. Same technical foundation in radar, lidar, and camera systems but in a different domain.

Common themes in areas I am exploring

Focus areas:

Playful Technology: Bringing fun, absurd, unexpected interactions to everyday spaces using sensor systems (camera, radar, lidar). Moments that embody suprise and delight / what you see is not what you get.
Collaborative Creation: Bringing people together to build and create
Cultural Amplification: Amplifying and packaging Afrocentric art and culture for external consumption
Creative Economy: Experimenting with different business models for the creative economy

Experience Highlights

Engineering Foundation

Engineering degree, then 10+ years designing and deploying driver assistance and autonomous systems for luxury automotive brands. Led multidisciplinary teams developing sensor fusion technology (radar, lidar, camera) deployed to 4.5+ million vehicles worldwide across three product generations.

Creative Production

Co-founded Owari Kids, an experimental children's media startup reaching 700k+ views. Content production for both inhouse and external clients.

Transisioning to Creative Technology

Applying autonomous vehicle sensor expertise to create playful installations. Exploring how radar, lidar, and camera systems can generate surprise and delight rather than just solve for safety.

Productions

Events, exhibitions, and creative experiences

Spotlight: Photographic exploration of Accra's drinking spots as cultural landmarks and living urban archives. View presentation →
The Gentleman Experience: Film screening exploring modern dating and relationship formation. link coming soon →
Kabom Event: Live celebration reimagining classic Ghanaian music for contemporary audiences. Read more →

Ideas I'm Exploring

Current explorations and works in progress

Kabom: Experimenting with how old Ghanaian genres—hiplife, highlife, and old school gospel—can be evolved and packaged for the international market. Leveraging past cultural assets to develop unique creative offerings on a global stage. Read more →
Installation Concepts:
- Soundscapes: Spatial audio installation where visitor proximity to sculptures shapes an evolving soundscape.
- Roundabouts: Exploring the unexpected beauty and chaos of Ghanaian road infrastructure through drone footage. Read more →

Inspiration

Artists and studios whose work shapes my thinking

Dries Depoorter: His clever use of technology to create unexpected social commentary and playful interventions inspires my approach to embedded systems.
James Patten: Pioneer in tangible interfaces and interactive systems—his work shows how technology can feel natural and intuitive.
Random International: Their large-scale installations that respond to human presence demonstrate the power of sensor-based art to create memorable experiences.
Tous Les Jours: Creative studio that blends digital and physical experiences in unexpected ways, creating work that feels both technical and deeply human.
MSCHF: Their absurdist approach to product drops and cultural commentary shows how playful provocations can spark conversations and challenge conventions.
@marcgmbh / @dangertesting "Dropping apps like songs" a collective experiementing with software as culture. focused on creating moments that users will screenshot and share. They are not chasing DAU but chasing follows and discourse.