Mixed Reality in Culture Mariza Dima

In this episode Christiana Kazakou and me talk about the curator's role expansion towards transdisciplinary creative production for Mixed Reality installations/experiences.

Christiana Kazakou is a trans-disciplinary Researcher, Curator & Producer. She is the Program Engagement Specialist for LEONARDO/ISAST and LASER Talks; a program of international gatherings that fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building in over 50 cities & 5 continents worldwide. Her current research with i-DAT, funded by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council, explores transdisciplinary curatorial models and spatial trajectories within the art & science discourse.



Links mentioned in the episode:

New Media Curating list

computer arts society



Further links:
Call for curators - https://callforcurators.com

Ars Electronica Open Calls - https://ars.electronica.art/news/en/opencalls/

S+T+Arts Open Calls - https://starts.eu/calls/Leonardo Opportunities Hub - https://leonardo.info/calls-jobs-and-events

Residency Opportunities - https://resartis.org

Art Quest - https://artquest.org.uk/opportunities/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw9IayBhBJEiwAVuc3fgDETpDX0F_NZshOga9Coh6RtwvJrKJynkl6Wi_n_W7BbPJARgBfLBoCJUkQAvD_BwE

In this episode I talk to Dr Kai Lukoff about designing AR experiences with and for indigenous communities. We talk about co-creations models, ethics in co-design including the Design Justice principles, research with respect to the community's self-determination rights, and how to handle data management in funding applications for projects where the community takes the lead in research.


Dr. Kai Lukoff is an Assistant Professor at Santa Clara University in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, where he directs the Human-Computer Interaction Lab. 
His work explores how digital interfaces can lead to meaningful or meaningless experiences and support or undermine user sense of agency. He has redesigned features of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter and tested their effects on digital wellbeing in field experiments.

I talk with Prof Marientina Gotsis about the challenges that VR/MR environments pose to how we understand movement and use our locomotor and vestibular abilities in virtual spaces. Marientina discusses some of her projects on sensory motor rehabilitation and the knowledge gained from them in terms of interaction design in VR.



Marientina Gotsis is an artist, designer and technologist. She is Professor of Practice at the Interactive Media & Games Division of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. She has a broad background in arts, design, and engineering with a special interest in interactive entertainment applications for health, happiness, and rehabilitation.

Her work focuses on applications of entertainment at the intersection of behavioural science, medicine and public health, working in diverse topics areas such as obesity, exercise, rehabilitation, HIV, autism, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, vision and early child development.

https://www.marientinagotsis.com/

In this episode I talk with Andreea Ion Cojocaru about the current challenges of the MR tools development landscape and we look at the potential for shaping a healthy business ecosystem for tools developers and tools users.

The VR tool we talk about in the episode developed by NUMENA, the company that Andreea has co founded:
https://spaceelevatorvr.com/



Andreea is a licensed architect and a software developer and the co-founder and CEO of NUMENA, an award-winning German company. Andreea works at the intersection of traditional architecture and immersive technologies to develop projects that require a new approach to cognitive and spatial challenges. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and is a frequent guest speaker at international events in the creative technologies space, including SXSW, the Architectural Association in London, the UW Reality Lab, Cornell Tech, and several episodes of the Voices of VR, the leading virtual reality podcast.Andreea believes that by expanding the possibilities and affordances of spatial experience, we are expanding and redefining identity, subjectivity and modes of collective being. Currently, she uses virtual and augmented reality to explore multimodal approaches to design tools and to storytelling. Selection of her talks: https://andreeaioncojocaru.com

How can we design relaxing and nurturing, safe spaces in VR that can be social as well? I talk with Maf’j Alvarez about her recent project to design a VR co-maker space, its design challenges, and the vision for future developments.

Holonspace: http://www.limbicfish.net/holonspace-with-etienne-le-comte/

Maf'j Alvarez is a digital media artist and creative technologist based in Brighton, UK. Her work focuses on ecology, cultural and gender diversity in relation to open access to technology. She also works as a user experience designer on large-scale digital transformation projects for government services. She has helped other women learn VR through hack days, mentoring, talks, and collaborations.

Season 4 is here and starts with an in depth conversation on the gender data gap in medicine and how VR can address it.

Mariza in conversation with Camille Baker, an artist-performer/researcher/curator within various art forms and maker of participatory performance and immersive artwork. Camille develops methods to explore expressive non-verbal modes of communication, extended embodiment and presence in real and mixed reality and interactive art contexts, using XR, haptics/ e-textiles, wearable devices and mobile media.  Camille is a Senior Tutor for the Digital Direction Masters Programme at the Royal College of Art and Professor of Interactive and Immersive Arts. 

Camille's works that are discussed:
INTER/HER: https://inter-her.art/

Mammary Mountain: https://mammary-vr.art/