Mixed Reality in Culture
Mariza Dima
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* Season 3 out now *
A podcast series on the design of Mixed Reality experiences in cultural settings. The podcast features interviews with professionals, researchers and practitioners, artists and designers, working with MR technologies to create new cultural experiences. We discuss challenges and opportunities, and analyse design methodologies and methods while looking at the changing landscape in the field from a political viewpoint. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Mariza Dima, a Mixed Reality designer and lecturer in Creative Technology for Games at Brunel University London.
Available episodes
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Feb 25, 2023
S3 - Ep04 Applying the Transformative Power of Magick in MR experience Design part 2
In this episode Dr Maria Saridaki and I continue our discussion on our latest work where we approach MR experience design through the lenses of ceremonial Magick practices.
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Feb 8, 2023
S3 - Ep03 Applying the transformative power of Magick in MR experience design
In this episode I talk with Dr Maria Saridaki about our latest work to approach MR experience design through the lenses of ceremonial magick practices. We discuss in depth our exploration in what we can borrow from occult practitioners that will offer new perspectives for MR design and reflect on a framework we recently created that can be read here: https://t.co/rPyyEg60QF (another full scale academic article will be published in a couple of months):
Apart from an excellent colleague and friend, Maria is an academic and cultural manager. She has a PhD in inclusive playful interactions and digital games from University of Athens, a post-doc on myths and Digital Storytelling for women in vulnerable social groups and an Msc in Information Management where she researched friendly interactions in MMORPGs. she currently works on XR and magickal rituals and is currently based in Berlin. You can find her over at https://www.morethangames.gr/ and on Twitter as @StrangeLilleris.
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Jan 19, 2023
S3 - Ep02 An artist's approach to MR design and development
Where do you start with Mixed Reality if you have little or no development experience? How do you engage with the medium critically when you approach it from an artistic perspective? Lucas De Wold (aka Nearly Norman), artist, educator and facilitator exploring and creating immersive realities talks to me about his journey in Mixed Reality. Follow us along for a discussion about support networks, creating and sharing tools, communities and social MR, and a critical engagement with the medium as a catalyst for human connection.
Lucas Dewulf (Nearly Norman) is the founder of XRT. He is developing his artistic practice creating experiences where human connection is central. Key to his work is using the affordances of digital technologies to explore the physical world and to question our analog nature within virtual space.
Currently he lives in Ghent, Belgium (which I pronounce completely wrong!).
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Dec 29, 2022
S3 - Ep01 MR Literature
Join me for the first episode of Season 3 where we delve into the world of MR Literature accompanied by Dr Agnieszka Przybyszewska. Agnieszka is assistant professor at _University of Łódź_ (Poland) where she co-created a programme of creative writing studies. She teaches i.a. on visual and electronic literature and supervises students’ artistic projects of non-classic forms of literature (e.g. book-bound and electronic playable interactive books, concrete poetry installations in public space, locative narratives for mobile phones or AR literary stories). She is also a visiting fellow at the _Center for Cultural and Creative Industries at Bath Spa University_, resident of _The Studio in Bath_ (UK) and research affiliate at _Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University Vancouver_ (USA).
Agnieszka has a double degree in literature and film & media studies and her research since years has been dedicated to electronic literature and textual materialism or - in other words - to the evolution of our understanding of literature, book and act of reading. Agnieszka has been researching on AR books, VR as context for electronic literature and on embodiment of the act of reading within some small Polish research grants for more than 10 years now (you can read her first English text on AR literature _here_). In 2021 she became a research fellow in _Amplified Publishing pathfinder within Bath+Bristol Creative R+D_, where her role was to research VR as a literary platform (you can check some blog entries from this project _here _and _here_).
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Jan 21, 2022
S02 - Ep06 Ethics by Design in MR and the Metaverse Part II
Although its definition is still blurry, the Metaverse will be the new way to connect to each other, work, entertain, play, and create as the next iteration of the Internet. Along with the new web of exciting possibilities it is necessary, and this is a unique and important opportunity, to start, contribute to and amplify conversations about how to embed ethics as part of its fundamental design.
In this episode, which may not be particularly about culture but also is about culture since the Metaverse will be part of its future shape, I am joined by Dr Joris Weijdom and Dr Vangelis Lympouridis, experts in MR research and design, to discuss ethics by design in the Metaverse.
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Jan 7, 2022
S02 - Ep05 Ethics by Design in MR and the Metaverse Part I
Although its definition is still blurry, the Metaverse will be the new way to connect to each other, work, entertain, play, and create as the next iteration of the Internet. Along with the new web of exciting possibilities it is necessary, and this is a unique and important opportunity, to start, contribute to and amplify conversations about how to embed ethics as part of its fundamental design.
In this episode, which may not be particularly about culture but also is about culture since the Metaverse will be part of its future shape, I am joined by Dr Joris Weijdom and Dr Vangelis Lympouridis, experts in MR research and design, to discuss ethics by design in the Metaverse.
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Dec 23, 2021
S2 - Ep04 Representation, Authenticity, and Interactive Narratives in Immersive Heritage
In this episode I talk with Jonathan Barbara about representation and authenticity in portraying tangible and intangible heritage, speculation during interpretation versus strict use of hard facts, and how interactive narratives can support speculation and experiential learning.
Jonathan is a full-time senior lecturer at Saint Martin’s Institute of Higher Education teaching Creative Computing, Game Design, Interactive Narratives, Transmedia Storytelling and WorldBuilding. He is also a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin reading in the area of Virtual Reality, Interactive Narratives, and Intangible Cultural Heritage. He has an MA in Games Design from UCLAN, UK with publications in Board Game User Experience, Narrative Consistency across Transmedial Narratives, and Game Design Teaching Approaches.
One can follow his team's projects here: http://www.stmartins.edu/lovemycountry
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Dec 10, 2021
S2 - Ep03 Sustainable applied games development
In this episode I am joined by Georg Hobmeier, co-founder of game studio Causa Creations, to talk about making hybrid games in the city, collaborating with state institutions, skills gap for those that use games to educate, working around budget limitations and technology becoming quickly obsolete.
Trained as an actor, Georg (AT) took the unusual path to make computer games and XR experiences instead, something he had no training or qualification whatsoever. For reasons not quite known to him, it worked out nevertheless. He usually works with his company Causa Creations and the art group gold extra, but also as a gun for hire on the commercial digital games market.
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Nov 22, 2021
S2 - Ep02 The science of Magic in VR
Today I chat with Ágnes Karolina Bakk (1986), PhD-researcher at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design’s Innovation Center, about magic in VR, immersion, on-boarding and art exhibitions in VR spaces.
In her research Ágnes is focusing on the science of magic, the concept of immersion, analogue and digital storytelling as well as interaction (even between humans and non-humans). She is the founder of the immersive storytelling conference entitled Zip-Scene (zip-scene.com), that took place for the third time in 2021. She is the cofounder of Random Error Studio, a lab that supports various VR productions and is currently the curator of Vektor VR section. She is teaching escape room design, immersive&VR- storytelling and speculative design at MOME and pitched VR projects at GIFF XR Cruise, 5th Wall Forum etc. She presented her research on immersive theatre and VR at various conferences and platforms from Moscow (CILECT, 2019) to Montreal (SQUET, 2019) as well as at festivals such as DokLeipzig (2020). Her research is published international scientific journals and edited volumes.
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Nov 4, 2021
S2 - Ep01 Embodied design process for MR performative installations
In this episode Joris Weijdom talks to me about embodied design processes for MR performance, designing from a technodramaturgical point of view, accessibility, and the ethical side of MR design.
Joris is a researcher and designer of mixed-reality experiences focusing on interdisciplinary creative processes and performativity. He showcased a site-specific performative MR installation on the Prague Quadrennial 2019, collaborated with GobSquad for their latest production, and is involved as a technical dramaturge in many other interdisciplinary projects. He talks about embodiment and presence in performative mixed reality experience design, such as in the Transmedia Arts seminar of the Mahindra Centre of Harvard University in November 2020. He is working at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, where he currently leads the Mixed-Reality research group at the Professorship Performative Processes and teaches several BA and MA courses. As part of his PhD project, Joris researches creative processes in collaborative mixed reality environments (CMRE) in collaboration with the University of Twente.
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Apr 8, 2021
S1 - Ep08 AR games to teach us how we live and make history
In this episode Dietmar Godina, veteran game designer based in Graz, Austria talks to me about designing AR games that immerse you in history, what forgotten stories can teach us about how we live and make history, and his design journey through the archives - all discussed through his work on the upcoming game Hamlet's Breed. You can find more of Dietmar here and more info on Hamlet's Breed here and here and in Youtube.
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Mar 18, 2021
S1 - Ep07 Theatre, city spaces and new technologies
In this episode Sharon Clark (@esjayclark), Creative Director of Raucous, talks to me about the new creative paths of theatre and new technologies, adapting to new methods of creation, taking theatre outside the blackbox, the role of the audiences, and accessibility and inclusivity considerations.
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Mar 3, 2021
S1 - Ep06 AR and Museum Research
In this episode Dr Eleonora Bacchi and Roy Rodenhäuser from DymonLab talk to me about using AR to visualise museum research taking place in museum labs, and how this can help museum researchers and the dissemination of the research to the general public.
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Feb 15, 2021
S1 - Ep05 Immersive heritage performance and AR
In this episode I talk with Dr Holly Maples, a freelance theatre director, actor and cultural studies scholar, who has been creating immersive heritage performances in heritage sites across the UK. We talk about the parallels between immersive heritage performance and AR design as well as how the two can work together, a transdiscplinary work in the making that the two of us embarked on at the beginning of this year. Holly's current project is the UK tour of the ACE funded Breaking the Silence on the Slave Trade celebrating 18th century Black British abolitionists. The performance will tour in October 2021 to historic churches throughout the UK with close relationships to the slave trade.
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Jan 27, 2021
S1 - Ep04 Immersive technologies in heritage education
In this episode Danielle Handley, a public historian, talks to me about pros and cons of using immersive technologies as an educational medium, audiovisuals versus long texts, the role and use of the archives when developing a Mixed Reality experience, and how immersive technologies could help curators connect the public in depth with the history(ies) of a place.
You can find Danielle and see her work at https://www.daniellehandley.com/
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Jan 11, 2021
S1 - Ep03 Immersive technologies to teach embodied skills of the past
In this episode, Geoff Taylor talks about the VR Blacksmithing project at the Chain Bridge Forge, how he has been employing immersive technologies to expanding the audiences of the Forge, lessons learned and future steps. Chain Bridge Forge is a living museum which tells the story of Blacksmithing and the Local Community. https://www.heritagesouthholland.co.uk/about-chain-bridge-forge/
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Dec 28, 2020
S1 - Ep02 Digital Transformations in Theatre
In this episode I talk with James Simpson, Digital Fellow at RSC and Magic Leap, Head of Development for Rose Bruford College, and CEO of Coppercandle, a creative technology company specialising in immersive technologies for theatre, performance and live events.
James discusses research on immersive technologies in Theatre and Performance, and how these change the landscape of making theatre, as well as the challenging process of user on-boarding. Although not directly related to heritage, a lot of parallels can be drawn from James's work with similar work in heritage that we touch upon in this episode.
Music by ASHUTOSH-MUSIC from Pixabay
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Dec 17, 2020
S1 - Ep01 Digital Interpretation and immersive technologies
In this episode Dr Dominique Bouchard, Head of Interpretation at English Heritage, talks about challenges and opportunities of using digital interactive technologies for interpretation at historic sites, and the effect that the covid-19 pandemic had on taking exhibitions virtual.
Music by ASHUTOSH-MUSIC from Pixabay
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