Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian

Dr Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and cultural activist whose work spans museums, outer space and underground communities. She is the founder of the tuition-free University of the Underground, NASA’s International Space Orchestra, SETI’s Experiences Department and the LGBTQA+ festival Tour de Moon. Her projects have premiered at institutions including MoMA, the V&A, the Met and the National Museum of China, and she has collaborated with NASA, the UN and diverse grassroots groups.

Ben Hayoun-Stépanian’s five feature films — experimental explorations of diasporic and queer ecofeminist futures — have screened at SXSW London, Frameline and the BFI London Film Festival, earning BAFTA and Grierson nominations.

A Berlinale Talents director (2025) and senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center, she leads decolonial cultural initiatives across borders and outer space. She has convened sessions on space culture and decolonial practices at the International Astronautical Congress, and in 2025 was named Principal Investigator on a world-first ISS mission, sending Armenian pomegranate seeds into orbit with Armenia’s Institute of Botany — reimagining astrobotany through cultural heritage, postcolonial critique and extraterrestrial aesthetics as a future-oriented peace initiative.