Tuesday, February 7, 2023, 1:35 to 5:05 pm (EST)

Refer to the email invitation for the Zoom link; you can request a link by emailing d.tames [at] northeastern.edu

Description

A micro-conference in which we seek to understand how to “read,” “write,” and “interact” with space to tell stories in new ways enabled by emerging technologies. In an augmented or virtual reality environment, the instinctive choice of a spatial path determines the chronology of events of a story and is, therefore, of particular importance. It is a dynamic relationship where the space activates the narrative, and in turn, the narrative activates a setting in motion.

Schedule

• 1:25 — Pre-Event Video
• 1:35 — Welcome and Open Remarks — David Tamés
• 1:45 — Panel Discussion: Counter-Colonial Spatial Narrative — Angelique C-Dina, Anna Ibru, and Maiy El-Wakeel; Moderated by Celia Pearce
• 2:30 — BREAK (15 minutes)
• 2:45 — Presentation: Human Body in Virtual Space: Five+ Insights for Co-Creating a Humane Medium — Peter (Zak) Zakrzewski
• 3:00 — Presentation: Spatial Literacy — Celia Pearce
• 3:15 — Presentation: Cybernetics of Storytelling — Sylke Rene Meyer
• 3:30 — Presentation: Experimental Strategies for Immersive Scholarship — Clareese Hill
• 3:45 — BREAK (15 minutes)
• 4:00 — Roundtable Discussion: Spatializing Narrative — Clareese Hill, Sylke Rene Meyer, Celia Pearce, and Peter (Zak) Zakrzewski; Moderated by David Tamés
• 4:45 — Closing Remarks — David Tamés

Abstracts

Panel Discussion: Counter-Colonial Spatial Narrative — Maiy El-Wakeel, Angelique M. C’Dina, and Anna Ibru; Moderated by Celia Pearce

Space is intimately tied to culture, identity, politics, economics, and power. Not surprisingly, much of what we’ve seen in spatial narrative tends to reinforce or amplify dominant narratives while at the same time rendering invisible, even debasing spaces occupied by those outside of European ideals and traditions. In this panel, Ph.D. students from CAMD’s newly-launched Interdisciplinary Design & Media Degree present approaches for engaging and expanding the realm of spatial narrative to include a broader range of stories, voices, and spaces to reclaim spatial narratives—whether fictional or historical—that have been dominated by Euro-colonial tropes.

Presentation: Human Body in Virtual Space: Five+ Insights for Co-Creating a Humane Medium — Peter (Zak) Zakrzewski

Our bodies are intimately linked to our environments. In the womb, we are introduced to the sounds and sensations of the physiological processes of our mothers’ bodies. Throughout our lives, our nervous system co-evolves with its environment to define our relationship to our developing selves and surroundings. This often happens without conscious awareness within the brain’s subcortical regions that control vital functions such as breath regulation and heartbeat. We subjectively experience the space around us as a set of instructions about how to survive and thrive in the world. With the invention of language, culture, and media, we have augmented our original physical environment to feed us increasingly mediated signals. This presentation will address how immersive media will transport us from the natural habitats that have shaped us to the artificially designed spaces that will define our future.

Presentation: Spatial Literacy — Celia Pearce

The spatial turn in media, whether through digital forms such as video games and VR, or physical spaces such as Theme Parks, Escape Rooms, and Immersive Theatre, demands that audiences develop new modes of spatial literacy, understanding how to “read” and interact with space in new ways. Spatial literacy becomes particularly important, as authoring these spaces is moving with increasing fluidity between the digital and physical through mutual influences and hybridization strategies such as AR, pervasive games, and embedded computing.

Presentation: Cybernetics of Storytelling — Sylke Rene Meyer

In spatial story design and its application in interactive storytelling, the author no longer creates the protagonist, his or her want or need, nor controls the story arc. Instead, spatial story design is a collaborative process that allows participants to design a narrative space and the spatial dynamics that then translate into user-generated storylines. Every participant or user will experience a different story, but narrative designers can create a narrative corridor, a zone of likelihood and probability for potential stories. Based on the visible or–more likely invisible–interaction between the user and system control, this process can be fully described within the terminology of first and second-order cybernetics. The system processes user-generated data and adapts spatially, creating a feedback loop until user behavior and the desired outcome aligns. The cybernetics of storytelling thus refers to a modeling process that considers the uncertainty of the behavior of the system, i.e., the inter-relational story world and its users, and creates a controlling system with critical parameters (narrative corridors) based on essential values (story theme, goals, character beliefs) to determine the system’s future state (story progress and outcome).

Presentation: Experimental Strategies for Immersive Scholarship — Clareese Hill

This presentation explores using immersive technology to disrupt academic conventions of knowledge production. In my work, theory and practice are critically entangled. I will discuss how to use immersive technologies to create scholarly contributions that I consider practice-based research, which operates at the intersection of art practice and knowledge production.

Roundtable Discussion: Spatializing Narrative — Clareese Hill, Sylke Rene Meyer, Celia Pearce, and Peter (Zak) Zakrzewski; Moderated by David Tamés

The speakers will address questions from conference participants in a roundtable discussion format, expanding on the presentations and suggesting avenues for further exploration of the topics addressed during the conference.

Speaker Biographies

	Angelique M. C’Dina conducts research from her journey as a first-generation American-Nigerian and Indigenous theatrical activist and storyteller. C’Dina holds a BA in African-American/Black Studies from Rhode Island College. She is currently an Interdisciplinary Design and Media Ph.D. student at Northeastern University and dope Afro-Indigneous femme currently focusing on the decolonization of everlasting Black and Brown joy and the history of Black and Indigenous trauma and resiliency during the 20th century in the United States of America.
	Clareese Hill is a practice-based art researcher in XR, immersive, and experimental Media. She explores the validity of the word “identity” through her perspective as an Afro-Caribbean American woman and her societal role projected on her to perform as a Black feminist academic. Clareese holds an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and a practice-based research Ph.D. from Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate, Art + Design at Northeastern University.
	Anna Ibru conducts doctoral research using architecture to confront, learn from, and evolve beyond post-colonial trauma. Her research develops intersections between design, policy, resilience, history, and preservation. Anna is particularly interested in the role of younger generations in resolving post-colonial trauma. She is currently an Interdisciplinary Design and Media Ph.D. student at Northeastern University and holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from Northeastern University.
	Sylke Rene Meyer is a writer, director, media artist, performer, educator, and co-founder of the performance group Studio206 [Berlin/Los Angeles]. Sylke’s research centers on spatial story design, narrative theory, and the human body at border zones: imaginary and real, analog and digital, or in simulation and imitation. Sylke is the editor of Interactive Storytelling for the Screen (2021) and a Professor of Art + Design and Theatre at Northeastern University.
	Celia Pearce is a game designer, artist, curator, author, and Professor of Games at Northeastern University. Her books include IndieCade: A History—The interdependence of independents (2020) and Communities of Play: Emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual worlds (2009). Before entering academia, she worked in the theme park industry, where she learned the craft of spatial storytelling and her recent creative and scholarly work applies her theme park and online game knowledge to playable theatre.
	David Tamés is a documentary media maker working in traditional and immersive media forms. His current research is focused on media co-creation and immersive media design methodology. He recently completed bookartbookshop, a micro-documentary about a bookshop in London and Farm and Red Moon, a feature-length documentary examining humane animal slaughter. He is an Associate Teaching Professor of Art + Design at Northeastern University.
	Maiy El-Wakeel is an Egyptian set and interior designer, children’s book illustrator, and game concept artist who studied with the late Hani El-Masry, the Disney Imagineer who worked on several animated films, including The Prince of Egypt. Her research involves creating a culturally informed Egyptian-themed entertainment experience that will express pride in our rich past and a resilient present while enlightening guests about her ancestors’ history and cultural narratives. El-Wakeel is currently an Interdisciplinary Design and Media Ph.D. student at Northeastern University.
	Peter (Zak) Zakrzewski is a design strategist, researcher, and design and innovation coach who advocates applying transformative design thinking and participatory design methods to creating media, experiences, and social change. He is an Assistant Professor of Journalism, Communication, and New Media at Thompson Rivers University, Canada, and the author of Designing XR: A Rhetorical Design Perspective for the Ecology of Human+Computer Systems (2022).