Category Archives: New Media

Highlights from Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) April 2025 Metacreation Lab newsletter

There’s a local (Vancouver, Canada) event coming up, as well as, a call for papers, an opportunity to watch a workshop presented in Toronto, Montréal, and Berlin and more in these highlights from the April 2025 issue of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI newsletter (received via email). The first items are being listed in date order.

Ars Electronica and Vancouver AI [artificial intelligence] Community Meetup

From the April 2025 Metacreation Lab newsletter,

Call for Papers – EXPANDED 2025 at Ars Electronica

The 13th edition of the EXPANDED Conference, focusing on animation and interactive art, will be held from September 3–5, 2025, at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria, as part of the Ars Electronica Festival.

Organized in cooperation with ACM [Association for Computing Machinery], the conference invites submissions in categories of Research Papers and Art Papers. Topics of interest include AI-generated images, generative art, virtual production, human-AI collaboration, XR, and more.

Submission deadline: April 27, 2025

More Information

Vancouver AI – April 30 [2025] at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre

Metacreation Lab has proudly supported the Vancouver AI Community Meetup since the beginning. This time, Mission #16 of BC’s vibrant AI community meetup series. This edition features a talk by Philippe Pasquier, exploring the latest in generative and creative AI systems.

Also on the lineup is a special performance by K-PHI-A, a live trio featuring Philippe, PhD student Keon Ju Maverick Lee, and VJ Amagi (Jun Yuri). Their piece, Revival, is an improvisational audiovisual performance where human musicians and AI agents co-create in real time. It blends percussion, electronics, and AI-driven visuals using Autolume and other systems developed at the Metacreation Lab.

Event info and tickets

Ars Electronica: what is it?

Ars Electronica started life as a festival in 1979 still being produced annually and is now a larger enterprise. From the Ars Electronica About webpage,.Note Links have been removed

Art, Technology, Society

We have been analyzing and commenting on the Digital Revolution since 1979. Since then, we have been developing projects, strategies and competencies for the Digital Transformation. Together with artists, scientists, technologists, designers, developers, entrepreneurs and activists from all over the world, we address the central questions of our future. The focus is on new technologies and how they change the way we live and work together.

A new festival. The first Ars Electronica begins on September 18, 1979. 20 artists and scientists from all over the world gather at this new “Festival for Art, Technology and Society” in Linz to discuss the Digital Revolution and its possible consequences. This Ars Electronica is small, but groundbreaking. The initiative for this came from Hannes Leopoldseder (AT), director of the Upper Austria regional studio of the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF), who is passionate about everything that has to do with the future. Together with the electronic musician Hubert Bognermayr (AT), the music producer Ulli A. Rützel (DE) and the cyberneticist and physicist Herbert W. Franke (AT), he lays the foundation stone for a festival that will become the world’s largest and most important of its kind.

Between art, technology and society. Over the past four decades, a number of pioneers have turned Ars Electronica into a creative ecosystem that now enjoys a worldwide reputation.
 
Since 1979 we celebrate once a year the Ars Electronica Festival. More than 1,000 artists, scientists, developers, designers, entrepreneurs and activists are coming to Linz, Austria, to address central questions of our future. For five days, everything revolves around groundbreaking ideas and grand visions, unusual prototypes and innovative collaborations, inspiring art and groundbreaking research, extraordinary performances and irritating interventions, touching sounds and rousing concerts.
 
Since 1987 we have been awarding the Prix Ars Electronica every year. With several competition categories, we search for groundbreaking projects that revolve around questions of our digital society and rehearse the innovative use of technologies, promising strategies of collaboration and new forms of artistic expression. The best submissions will receive a Golden Nica, considered by the global media art scene to be the most traditional and prestigious award ever.
 
Since 1996 we have been working at the Ars Electronica Center year after year with tens of thousands of kindergarten children, pupils, apprentices and students on questions concerning the ever-increasing digitalization of our world. The focus is on the potential of the next Game Changer: Artificial Intelligence.
 
Also since 1996 we operate the Ars Electronica Futurelab, whose international and interdisciplinary team of artists and scientists is researching the future. With interactive scenarios, we prepare central aspects of the Digital Revolution for the general public in order to initiate a democratic discourse.
 
1998 we initiated create your world. The year-round programme is developed together with young people and includes a competition for under 19 year olds, a festival of its own and a tour through the region. We see create your world as an invitation and challenge at the same time and want to encourage young people to leave the role as mere users of technology behind, to discover new possibilities of acting and designing and to implement their own ideas.
 
2004 we started Ars Electronica Export with a big exhibition in New York. Since then we have been to Abuja, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bilbao, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Doha, Florence, Kiev, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, Osaka, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Tunis, Venice and Zaragoza. Together with partners from art and culture, science and education, business and industry, we organize exhibitions and presentations, conferences and workshops, performances and interventions at all these locations.
 
Since 2013 our team at Ars Electronica Solutions has been developing market-ready products inspired by visions and prototypes from the artistic cosmos of Ars Electronica. We develop innovative, individual and interactive products and services for exhibitions, brands, trade fairs and events.
 
Since 2016 we are active all year round in Japan. Especially in Tokyo and Osaka we work together with leading Japanese universities, museums and companies, develop and present artistic projects, design workshop series and Open Labs and dedicate ourselves to the future of our digital society in conferences.
 
In order to actively shape the digital revolution, people are needed who have a feel for change and recognize connections, develop new strategies and set a course. This is precisely where the 2019 created Future Thinking School aims to support companies and institutions.
 
Whether at home in the living room or in the office, whether in the classroom or in the lecture hall, in the streetcar or subway, on the train – from everywhere Home Delivery accompanies our virtual visitors on an artistic-scientific journey into our future since 2020.
 
All our activities since September 18, 1979 have been documented in the form of texts, images and videos and stored in the Ars Electronica Archive. This archive provides us with a unique collection of descriptions and documentations of more than 75,000 projects from four decades of Ars Electronica.

The Conference

The conference (September 3 – 5, 2025) is held as part of the festival (September 3 – 7, 2025). The festival’s theme is PANIC yes/no. As for the conference, it does not seem to have a theme, from the Ars Electronica Expanded 2025 Conference on Animation and Interactive Art webpage, Note: A link has been removed,

The Expanded Conference (Expanded 2025) will take place from September 3rd to 5th as part of the Ars Electronica Festival 2025. This call for paper focuses on academic papers in the field of Expanded Animation and Interactive Art that explore and experiment with visual expression at the intersection of art, technology, and society. We will have two categories (Research Paper and Art Paper), where submissions will undergo a rigorous review process. All selected speakers will be given a free pass to the Ars Electronica Festival (September 3rd to 7th).

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • 3D Scanning
  • AI-generated Images
  • AI-based artworks
  • Artistic Computer Animation
  • Art & Science collaboration projects
  • Audio-visual Experiments
  • Data Journalism and Animated Documentary
  • Data Visualizations
  • Digital Media Art History
  • Digital, Hybrid, and Expanded Theater
  • Expanded Animation
  • Generative Art
  • Human-AI interaction and Human-AI collaboration
  • Hybrids between Animation and Game
  • Media Facades
  • Music Visualization
  • New approaches to artistic research and practice-based methodologies
  • Participatory art projects
  • Performance Projects
  • Playful Interactions and Experiences
  • Projection Mapping
  • Projects using NFT, Metaverse, Social Media
  • Reactive and Interactive audio/visual Work
  • Real-time CG
  • Scientific Visualizations
  • Site-specific Installations
  • Sound Art and Soundscapes
  • Tangible Interfaces and New Forms of Experiences
  • Transmedia Narratives
  • Virtual Humans and Environments
  • Virtual Production
  • VR, AR, MR, XR

Again, the submission date for your paper is April 27, 2025. Good luck!

Vancouver AI Community Meetup

Prepare yourself for some sticker shock. Tickets for the meetup are listed at $63.00. As noted earlier, there will be a “talk by Philippe Pasquier, exploring the latest in generative and creative AI systems.and a special performance by K-PHI-A, a live trio featuring Philippe, PhD student Keon Ju Maverick Lee, and VJ Amagi (Jun Yuri). Their piece, Revival, is an improvisational audiovisual performance where human musicians and AI agents co-create in real time.”

Here’s more about Vancouver AI meetups in a video, which appears to have been excerpted from the March 2025 meetup,

Here’s more about the event from its YouTube webpage,

We Don’t Do Panels. We Do Portals. Vancouver AI: March 2025 Recap

This wasn’t a meetup. It was a lightning strike. A 3-hour detonation of mind, matter, and machine where open-source fire met ancestral spirit, and the UFO building lit up like a neural rave.

—————-

⚡ What Went Down:

Damian George (Steloston) & his son Ethan kicked the night off with a warrior’s welcome—Indigenous songs from Tsleil-Waututh territory that cracked open the veil and set the frequency.

—————-

Cai & Charlie spun lo-fi beats with a side of C++ sorcery. DIY synths, live visuals, and analog rebellion powered by AI hacks and imagination. This is what machine-human symbiosis sounds like.

—————-

Michael Tippett dropped cinematic subversion with Mr. Canada, a gonzo AI-generated political series where satire meets social critique and deepfakes become truth bombs. (The king has a button that disables the F-35 fleet—yeah, that happened.)

—————-

Cian Whalley, Zen priest & CTO, took us beyond the binary—teaching us how emotion, code, and consciousness intersect like neural lace. Toyota factory metaphors and Digital Buddha hotlines included.

—————-

Philippe Pasquier, the SFU professor we don’t deserve, taught us how to train your own AI models on your art. No scraping, no stealing. Just artists owning their data and their destiny. Bonus: transparent LED cubes and a revival performance next month with AI-powered music agents. 🔮🎶

—————-

Michelle from Women X AI showed us what a real grassroots intelligence network looks like: 45+ women in tech meeting monthly, giving back to the DTES, and building equity into the foundation of AI.

—————-

Niels showed us what radical vulnerability looks like—raw stories of startup survival, burnout, almost crashing (literally), and choosing sustainable hustle over hypergrowth hype.

—————-

Loki Jorgensen repped the new Mind, AI, and Consciousness crew—channeling 2,000 years of philosophical grind into one big ontological jam session. Curious cats only.

—————-

Patrick Pennefather & Kevin the Pixel Wizard rolled out UBC’s AI video lab with student creators turning prompts into art and AI into cinema. Kevin’s mentorship = 🔥.

—————-

Brittany Smila, our resident poet laureate, slayed the crowd with a poem that read like a bootleg instruction manual for being human. Typos included. Plum cake recipes too.

—————-

Darby stepped up with real UX [user experience design] energy—running card sorts and mapping our collective brain to build a proper web infrastructure for the VAI [Vancouver artificial intelligence] hive mind. Web3 who?

—————-

Rival Technologies’ Julia & Dale announced our first-ever Data Storytelling Hackathon. $2,500 prize, survey data that slaps, and a chance to show how AI can amplify truth instead of burying it. (Brittany wrote the hot dog prompt, you’re welcome.)

—————-

Cloud Summit’s YK Sugi, Bibi Souza & Andre made waves repping an all-volunteer, all-heart community cloud event coming in hot during Web Summit week. Code meets care. Sponsors fund causes. Real ones only. Fergus dropped serious policy weight—WOSK Centre for Dialogue BC AI report now live. If you want a seat at the government table, this is your guy.

—————-

Kushal closed the night with a flamethrower. Called out UBC’s xenophobic DeepSeek ban. Defended open-source warriors from China and France (💥shoutout Mistral). No prisoners. No apologies. Just truth. –

—————

Khayyam Wakil wrapped it all up with the keynote of the night: a design rebel’s journey from Saskatoon boats to LA VR labs to immersive media Emmys. Lessons in surrender, reinvention, and the real art of quitting right. 🔥

—————-

📍Location: H.R. MacMillan Space Centre — Vancouver, BC (aka the UFO mothership)

🪐 Astronomers on deck. Observatories open till 11. Community stays weird till 10. 🎧 Full audio, speaker list & projects: vancouver.bc-ai.net

🎟️ Next portal opens May 28: lu.ma/VAI17 🖤❤️✊🔥🏴

We don’t do TED Talks. We host real-time cultural reckonings. This is AI for the people—and it’s only getting louder. Bring your edge. Bring your stickers. Bring your weird.

You can go here to get your ticket for the April 30, 2025 Vancouver AI Community Meetup and to find out about more about some of the AI events in Vancouver. You may want to check out the possibility of getting an annual pass or membership in the hope of making attendance more affordable.

Two papers and two workshop recordings from the Metacreation Lab

From the April 2025 Metacreation Lab newsletter,

Missed the Autolume Workshop? Watch It Online Now

After holding Autolume workshops in Toronto, Montreal, and Berlin, we brought the Autolume workshop online earlier in April, and the recordings are now available.

Whether you’re new to Autolume or want a refresher, this hands-on session walks you through training your own generative models, creating real-time visuals, and exploring interactive art, all without writing a single line of code.

Join our mailing list and hop into the Discord channel to stay in the loop and connect with others using Autolume.

Watch Workshop Recordings

Metacreation Lab at ISEA2025 in Seoul

The Metacreation Lab will be at ISEA 2025 with both a paper presentation and a live performance.

PhD student Arshia Sobhan, with Dr. Philippe Pasquier and Dr. Gabriela Aceves-Sepúlveda, will present “Broken Letters, Broken Narratives: A Case Study on Arabic Script in DALL-E 3”. This critical case study examines how text-to-image generative AI systems, such as DALL-E 3, misrepresent Arabic calligraphy, linking these failures to historical biases and Orientalist aesthetics.

The preprint is available here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.20459

In collaboration with sound artist Joshua Rodenberg, Arshia will also present “Reprising Elements,” an audiovisual performance combining Persian calligraphy, sound art, and generative AI powered by Autolume. This performance is an artistic endeavour that celebrates the fusion of time-honoured techniques with modern advancements.

Watch: https://youtu.be/ykNt7lNeL34?si=AIQUGKFDD0iVgt99

MIDI-GPT Paper Now Available in AAAI Proceedings

Our paper “MIDI-GPT: A Controllable Generative Model for Computer-Assisted Multitrack Music Composition” is now officially published in the proceedings of the 39th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

MIDI-GPT leverages Transformer architecture to infill musical material at both track and bar levels, with controls for instrument type, style, note density, polyphony, and more. Our experiments show it generates original, stylistically coherent compositions while avoiding duplication from its training data. The system is already making waves through industry collaborations and artistic projects.

Read the paper

A quick note about ISEA 2025

I wrote about the upcoming symposium in my April 16, 2025 posting, “International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art 2025 (May 23 – 29, 2025) in Seoul, Korea.” If nothing else, you might want to check out the “ISEA theme, ‘동동 (憧憧, Dong-Dong): Creators’ Universe’, May 23 – 29, 2025 in Seoul” subsection. The theme intrigues me greatly.

International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art 2025 (May 23 – 29, 2025) in Seoul, Korea

The International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art is an annual (these days) symposium which is put on by ISEA International (formerly Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts) and is hosted in various parts of the world. Here’s more about the ISEA International from its About (Mission) webpage,

Mission
ISEA International is an international non-profit organisation fostering interdisciplinary discussion and knowledge exchange among culturally diverse organisations and individuals working at the intersection of art, science, and technology.

Main Activity
The organisation’s main activity is the International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art (ISEA), an annual symposium that contributes to knowledge in the fields of art, science, and technology; supports emerging approaches to research and practice on complex and relevant topics; generates knowledge and understanding from interdisciplinary and/or cross-sector perspectives by bringing together diverse communities of art practitioners and scholars. The international symposium provides an academic and artistic forum, including a conference and a wide array of exhibitions, presentations, performances, and public events. Each year, the symposium is held in a different country with the aim of encouraging and including diverse perspectives, and to serve as a cultural bridge between local and international communities of artists and researchers. The ISEA Board of Directors advises and guides the Host Organisations producing each ISEA edition. 

The location for ISEA 2025: some thoughts

The May 23 – 29, 2025 ISEA Symposium is being held in Korea (or South Korea), a location that has been experiencing some political upheaval as have many, many parts of the world. For example, there is a great deal of disquiet here in Canada regarding travel to the US (see April 10, 2025 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s [CBC] news online article by Sophia Harris “Canadian travel to the U.S. has plummeted. One reason why: fear“).

While there have been concerning events in Korea, the situation overall seems to have calmed down.

For anyone who’s familiar with the type of protests held in the US and to a lesser extent in Canada, this description of wandering into a recent protest in South Korea is revelatory, from a March 18, 2025 posting by Canadian gossip columnist, Elaine Lui (Lainey of laineygossip.com), Note: A link has been removed,

… Now that I’m actually in Korea, my feeds are dominated by K-entertainment news. And political news…that does not involve the person dominating the news in the west!

On Saturday [March 15, 2025] we came out of the subway and accidently [sic] joined a protest. The Constitutional Court of Korea is currently deliberating the case of President Yoon Suk Yeol. On Saturday protestors against the president took over city streets calling for his removal. There was also a rally held by his supporters and between the two events, the roads were jammed, the trains were packed, and the police were out in full force. But at no time in the three hours that we spent in that area did we feel a threat to our personal safety. It was a surreal thing to witness as a foreigner after all these years of American-dominated news coverage. According to The Korea Herald, the Court is is expected to deliver its ruling some time this week. 

The ruling from the Constitutional Court of Korea took a little longer than expected but it has now been made, from an April 3, 2025 CBC news online article by Murray Brewster,

South Korea’s Constitutional Court has formally upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol following an aborted attempt to declare martial law late last year [2024]. 

It is a move that will trigger a new round of elections and deepen the political divide in one the region’s more vibrant democracies. South Korea must hold an election within two months.

After deliberating since January, the court issued its unanimous ruling Friday in a nationally broadcast event that saw many ordinary Koreans pause to hear the judgment on Yoon’s political fate.

The justices said Yoon violated the basic rights of the people by declaring martial law. 

“You’re witnessing the miracle of democracy in Korea with the ruling of the constitutional court,” Siheung Mayor Lim Byung-taek told a gathering of journalists visiting the west coast city as part of the World Journalists Conference.

Yoon, a staunch conservative, was impeached in December [2024] by the country’s National Assembly, which is controlled by the liberal opposition. 

He ordered the deployment of hundreds of troops and police officers to the assembly after declaring martial law on Dec. 3 [2024]

Yoon said the decision was intended to maintain order, but subsequently some military and civilian officials testified the president had ordered them to drag out lawmakers to frustrate a floor vote on his decree and detain his political opponents.

In his defence, Yoon claimed that he didn’t intend to keep the country under martial law for very long, and he only wanted to highlight what he called the “wickedness” of the Democratic Party, which obstructed his agenda.

On Friday, police mobilized an overwhelming presence to prevent clashes and possible acts of vandalism, arson and assault.

There were both pro- and anti-impeachment demonstrations on the streets of Seoul following the ruling, but no violence was reported. 

…. 

ISEA theme, ‘동동 (憧憧, Dong-Dong): Creators’ Universe’, May 23 – 29, 2025 in Seoul

I was hoping to find a video with examples of some of what visitors to ISEA 2025 might experience but the organizers had decided on a more minimalist approach. Happily, I found this, from the About/Theme webpage,

The ISEA2025 theme, ‘동동 (憧憧, Dong-Dong): Creators’ Universe’, aspires to transcend the harsh realities of conflict and antagonism, initiating a global wave of unity sparked by a newfound allure. Through the words of the legendary priestess Diotima, Socrates described love as the act of keeping something good within oneself forever, the giving birth to beauty. This “giving birth” or “creation” elevates humanity from a mundane existence to an eternal state. For this God-Man, boundaries become meaningless, replaced by the limitless possibilities of consciousness manifesting in various forms within the quantum realm.

The overarching theme of ISEA2025, ‘Dong-Dong’ is drawn from the phrase “Dong-Dong-Wang-Rae, Bung-Jong-E-Sa (憧憧往來 朋從爾思)” in the ancient Eastern philosophical text, I Ching (Book of Changes, 易經). This theme resonates with this universal life force of love. The imagery of individuals moving toward one another with longing underscores our increasingly fragmented existence, while the ongoing conflicts and devastations around the globe remind us of the ancient wisdom that says it is good to be together. The juxtaposition of global crises with our dazzling technological advancements compels us to reflect on the values that underpin our society today.

ISEA2025 endeavors to explore a new worldview that transcends the recurring theme of posthumanism in contemporary art, as well as the divisions between East and West, art and science, materiality and spirituality, and technology and humanity. Embodying the future envisioned by transnational artist Nam June Paik, our generation is privileged to bridge the disconnected and to embrace the spontaneity and serendipity that emerge from the pursuit of relationship and solidarity. Seoul, a city that epitomises the fusion of tradition and modernity, serves as the ideal platform for such creative exchanges. Its geopolitical significance as the capital of a divided nation further amplifies the meaning of ‘Dong-Dong.’

Art has historically illuminated human experience through its creation of timeless beauty. With the consciousness and the universe of its exalted creators blossoming through technology, we can transcend material and social barriers to aspire higher. May the childlike ‘Dong-Dong’ within our minds generate beautiful waves in our tumultuous reality, awakening the creator spirit in all of us.

The creators’ universe belongs to all who ‘Dong-Dong.’

There’s more, from the About/Theme webpage,

Creators’ Imperatives

We propose four Creators’ Imperatives for all participants of ISEA2025. Each creator is encouraged to embrace the symposium’s main theme, Dong-Dong, by adhering to these guidelines.

Entice (홀려라) | Captivate the Heart

Create experiences and narratives that deeply resonate on an emotional level, fostering genuine interest and engagement.

Entangle (엮어라) | Foster Mutual Resemblance

Encourage collaboration and cross-disciplinary interactions, allowing different perspectives to merge and evolve into innovative concepts and solutions.

Expand (펼쳐라) | Broaden Horizons

Open platforms for diverse participation, encouraging contributions from various entities, including humans and the universe, to foster a rich tapestry of creative output.

Establish (세워라) | Affirm Inter-connectedness

Develop systems and structures that highlight and support the connectivity of different components, ensuring a cohesive and sustainable growth path. Recognise Dong-Dong as a potential gateway to achieving holistic inter-connectedness.

Finally, from the About/Theme webpage,

Sub-themes

To guide academic and artistic submissions for ISEA2025, the following sub-themes have been developed to explore ideas pertaining to Dong-Dong and the Creators’ Imperatives of ISEA2025, and to connect with the ongoing conversations, research, and intellectual inquiry within the ISEA community.

We invite varied approaches and methodologies that resonate with the notion of Dong-Dong and the Creators’ Imperatives of ISEA2025, and urge participants to explore the intersections of art, technology, and culture while embracing the interconnected actions of enticing, entangling, expanding, and establishing.

Digital Heritage

We recall themes of mutual attraction and inclusivity, anticipating creative reinterpretations of tradition. Imagination transcending boundaries will connect traditional culture with modern technology, suggesting new directions for a sustainable future. We aim for a space open to endless combinations and innovations, blending mythical imagination with contemporary advancements.

※ Special Track 1 : 5th Summit on New Media Art Archiving

As part of Digital Heritage, the 5th Summit on New Media Art Archiving will take place, inviting scholars, practitioners, and archivists to engage in discussions that advance the preservation and dissemination of media art. This event will explore innovative reinterpretations of tradition and promote sustainable practices in both physical and digital archiving.

Related Research Areas

History and Philosophy, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Speculative Design, Tangible Legacy, Technological Singularity, DB Collect, Digital Archive, Methodology of Collecting and Archiving Media Art, New Media Art Preservation, Online and Physical Archiving, History of Digital Culture

Techno-Human

As technology advances beyond human cognition, it is crucial to reflect on the beliefs and values driving this progress. We welcome works exploring new life phenomena, evolving human identity through technology, the future of techno-humanity, and the changing Earth environment, fostering imagination, contemplation, and critique.

※ Special Track 2 : Barriers and Alienation in Art X Tech Education

Special session for Techno-Human, we will hold the Barriers and Alienation in Art X Tech Education. Amidst the hype cycle of countless technologies, we are curious about the realities faced by educators, artists, scientists, and practitioners involved in art education mediated by technology. We encourage participants to share their experiences from educational settings that utilize a range of technologies, from high-tech to low-tech, and explore ways to move forward together.

Related Research Areas

Artificial Intelligence, Bio-hacking, Computational Governance, Genetic Engineering, HCI (Human Computer Interaction), Nano Engineering, Robotics, STS (Science and Technology Studies)

Future City

Nam June Paik asserted that “the role of an artist is to contemplate the future.” By blending social imagination with artistic inspiration, creators can envision new future cities, particularly Seoul at ISEA2025. Inspired by the vision of a future city at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair we have adopted the theme ‘Neo Futurama’ for our exploration, seeking to reveal the possible developments of Seoul’s future. Our focus centres on Seoul in the year 2050, a time anticipated to be characterised by artificial intelligence and hyper-convergence. This year is also marked by the technological ‘Singularity,’ as postulated by Ray Kurzweil. We invite creators, especially future generations, to actively envision and propose the cities they aspire to see in the future.

Related Research Areas

Blockchain, Urban Media, Eastern Philosophies, Alternative Cities, Artificial Intelligence, Social Issues, Ecological Future, Collective Action, New Matter & Material, Future Transportation, Future Lifestyle, Singularity

Space Creative & The Stars

Space and celestial bodies have symbolised humanity’s yearning and dreams (동동, 憧憧, Dong-Dong) throughout history and across cultures; The jade rabbit Oktokki that lives on the moon in Korean mythology and Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) are just two of the beloved imagined figures embodying our cosmic sense of wonder. Space, the domain of celestial bodies and the stars, means both the physical expanse that encloses all tangible things and the ‘theatre of mind’ on which ideas and concepts are born and fostered. Space is therefore the enabler of the existence and the transformations of all creations– realisations of human desire and imagination– natural or manmade. Through the Space Creative & The Stars initiative, ISEA2025 aims to explore the varied senses of ‘space’ in creation–outer, literary, symbolic, urban, social, mental, physical, to name a few possibilities. We invite the global thinkers to build together the universe of Dong-Dong, a new home to ‘planetary thinking’ for the fate of humanity.

※ Special Track 3 : Nam June Paik – Live Science Fiction Movie

As part of Space Creative & The Stars, “Nam June Paik – Live Science Fiction Movie” will also take place, inviting scholars, researchers, and artists to engage in discussions that extend Nam June Paik’s philosophy and art. This event proposed by Nam June Paik Art Center will explore innovative ‘Live Science Fiction Movies’ inspired by Paik’s visionary ideas, continuing to challenge our perceptions of space and expand our imagination on this planet.

Related Research Areas

Space Science, Astronomy, Cosmic Web, Architecture and Spatialization, Spatial Music and Graphics, Science Fiction, Augmented/Virtual Reality and Metaverse, Social Constructs, Cognitive Science, Complex Systems, Planetary Thinking and Futurology

It looks pretty exciting to me. Should you be interested in going and haven’t already registered, they’ve extended Early Bird Registration to April 25, 2025 (KST). For those of us in Canada, I believe that Korea is across the International Dateline, which means you have until April 24, 2025. You can register early here; the registration fees are listed in Korean currency only.

Digital Culture Talks presented by The Space online February 12 – 13, 2025

A February 5, 2025 notice (received via email) from The Space, a UK Arts organization, announced a two-day series of talks on digital culture,

Digital Culture Talks 2025!

There’s just a week to go till The Space’s conference and we’re pleased to confirm our speakers for each of the roundtable talks on Day 1 and 2. There’s lots that will be of interest, including:

* A timely debate about how to make online communities safer
* In introduction to CreaTech – a £6.75 million investment to develop small, micro- and medium-sized businesses specialising in creative tech like video games and immersive reality – find out how to get involved
* Discussions on the role of artists in a digital world
* Explorations of digital accessibiliy, community ownership, engagement and empowerment. 

Find out more here and below

Day 1
Digital communities and online harms
Wednesday 12 February

Digital accessibility, inclusion and community

Roundtable 1
How can we think differently about how we create digital content and challenge assumptions about what culture looks like? Exploring community ownership, engagement and empowerment through digital.

  • Zoe Partington – Acting CEO DaDa, Artist and Disability Consultant
  • Rachel Farrer – Associate Director, Cultural and Community Engagement Innovation Ecosystem, Coventry University
  • Parminder Dosanjh – Creative Director, Creative Black County
  • Jo Capper – Collaborative Programme Curator, Grand Union

Reducing online harms, how to make social media and online communities safer

Roundtable 2
In a world of increasingly polarised online spaces, what are the emerging trends and challenges when engaging audiences and building communities online?

Day 2
The role of artists in a digital world
Thursday 13 February

Calling all in the West Midlands!

Day 2 is taking place in person as well as streaming online. If you’d like to join us in person at the STEAMhouse in Birmingham, please register for free below.

As well as joining us for the great roundtables we have lined up, there’ll be a great chance to network in between sessions over lunch. Look forward to seeing you there!

Join us in person!

CreaTech, the Digital West Midlands and beyond – Local and Global [CreaTech is an initiative of the UK’s Creative Industries Council]

Roundtable 1
An introduction to CreaTech – a £6.75 million investment to develop small, micro- and medium-sized businesses specialising in creative tech like video games and immersive reality. Creatives and academics from across the Midlands and further afield discuss arising opportunities and what this means for the region and beyond.

  • Richard Willacy – General Director, Birmingham Opera Company 
  • Tom Rogers – Creative Content Producer, Birmingham Royal Ballet
  • Louise Latter – Head of Programme, BOM
  • Lamberto Coccioli – Project lead, CreaTech Frontiers, Professor of Music and Technology at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (BCU) 
  • Rachel Davis – Director of Warwick Enterprise, University of Warwick 

Platforming artists and storytellers – are artists and storyteller missing from modern discourse?

Roundtable 2
Artists and storytellers have historically played pivotal roles in shaping societal narratives and fostering cultural discourse. However, is their presence in mainstream discussions diminishing?

Come and join in the conversation!

Register to join us online

If you got to The Space’s Digital Culture Talks 2025 webpage, you’ll find a few more details. Clicking on the link to register will give you the event time appropriate to your timezone.

For anyone curious about The Space, from their homepage (scroll down about 60% of the way),

About us

Welcome to The Space. We help the arts, culture and heritage sector to engage audiences using digital and broadcast content and platforms.

As an independent not-for-profit organisation, our role is to fund the creation of new digital cultural content and provide free training, mentoring and online resources for organisations, artists and creative practitioners.

We are funded by a range of national and regional agencies, to enable you to build your digital skills, confidence and experience via practical advice and hands-on experience. We can also help you to find ways to make your digital content accessible to new and more diverse audiences.

We also offer a low-cost consultancy service for organisations who want to develop their digital cultural content strategy.

There you have it.

An overdocumented life?

The researchers don’t go so far as to suggest there’s too much documentation but they do suggest there can be an impact on our memories, from an October 7, 2024 news item on ScienceDaily,

Never before have people recorded more information about their lives than today. But what does this mean for the way we remember our lives and how we talk about them? Researchers are trying to find answers to these questions.

An October 7, 2024 University of Würzburg press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, probes further into the topic,

Just a hundred years ago, most people had – at most – a few photos of themselves and their family. What a difference to today, when we can easily capture every important and unimportant moment – from our child’s first step to a visit to a restaurant with friends to a holiday photo on the beach. And of course, the documentation of our lives doesn’t end there. Just think of the countless emails and WhatsApp messages we write every day, the experiences we share with others via social media or the data we record on our smartwatches.

“One can have very different intuitions about how this increased density of recorded life episodes should be evaluated,” explains Dr Fabian Hutmacher, a researcher at the Chair of Psychology of Communication and New Media at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany. “Some people hope, for example, that we will be able to compensate the weaknesses and to reduce the distortions of human memory in this way. Others are concerned that it will rather create new potential for surveillance and undermining our privacy.”

As it is so often the case, things are not simply black and white, but require a closer look, says Hutmacher. Together with JMU Professor Markus Appel and Professor Stephan Schwan from the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien Tübingen, he has published an article on autobiographical remembering in the digital age in the renowned journal Psychological Inquiry. The article is intended to provide orientation in this still largely unexplored field of inquiry.

Autobiographical Remembering – a Constant Interplay with the Environment

The fact that we draw on resources outside our own minds when remembering past events is not an invention of the digital age, but a constant in human history. Already thousands of years ago, people left behind cave paintings and established traditions for the oral transmission of knowledge. And if you’re trying to remember your last birthday, for example, you can of course not only use your smartphone, but also look in your paper diary – if you keep one – or ask guests who were at the party.

“What sets digital resources apart from these other options, however, is not only the aforementioned increased density of recorded life episodes, but also the fact that these digital resources create a searchable database consisting of a combination of different media sources that can often be accessed anywhere at any time,” explains Fabian Hutmacher. “Digital resources do not just provide a passive storage, but also make it possible – using artificial intelligence, for example – to adjust and rearrange recordings in order to create, among others, digital vacation or wedding albums. This can have a profound impact on how we view past experiences,” adds Professor Stephan Schwan, who leads the Realistic Depictions Lab at the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien in Tübingen.

But that’s not all: Different digital resources are suited for different purposes. For example, quantitative data, such as tracking running distances, heart rate, and sleep cycles, seems particularly suitable for discovering long-term behavioural trends. Other data such as photos and videos, on the other hand, are more likely to be used when it comes to reminiscing or reflecting on past events.

A Look into the Crystal Ball: What Does the Future Hold?

The increased use of digital data for autobiographical remembering could have both desirable and undesirable consequences in numerous fields of application. For example, there are hopes that digital resources could be used to support people with memory difficulties and dementia in their everyday lives. Similarly, digital recordings could also help to preserve memories that are important to our collective memory, as in the case of witnesses to the Shoah. “The range of digital ways of remembering is becoming broader, just think of virtual and augmented realities,” adds Stephan Schwan.

At the same time, digital data also offer the possibility of manipulation: Arguably, deepfakes could not only play a role with respect to political actors and events, but also with respect to memories about our own lives. “In most cases, we don’t have enough reliable data to draw definite conclusions regarding opportunities and risks yet,” summarises Fabian Hutmacher. “Autobiographical memories are an important part of what makes us human. This makes further research in the coming years all the more important.”

In future studies, Fabian Hutmacher would like to investigate the subtleties of the interplay between recorded data and the memories stored in our minds in even greater detail. The question of how the recorded data can be used and organised in such a way that it helps people to remember their past is also particularly important to him. The Young Academy of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, to which Fabian Hutmacher was admitted at the beginning of 2024, is funding his research.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Understanding Autobiographical Memory in the Digital Age: The AMEDIA-Model by Fabian Hutmacher, Markus Appel & Stephan Schwan. Psychological Inquiry; An International Journal for the Advancement of Psychological Theory Volume 35, 2024 – Issue 2 Pages 83-105 | Published online: 17 Sep 2024

This paper is open access.

Tactile technology for VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) users

Tactile technology is also known as haptic technology and you’ll find there are more names for this technology in a September 9, 2024 Institute for Basic Science (IBS) press release (also on EurekAlert) about some of the latest research from Korea,

A virtual haptic implementation technology that allows all users to experience the same tactile sensation has been developed. A research team led by Professor PARK Jang-Ung from the Center for Nanomedicine within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and Professor JUNG Hyun Ho from Severance Hospital’s Department of Neurosurgery has developed a technology that provides consistent tactile sensations on displays.

Virtual haptic implementation technology, also known as tactile rendering technology, refers to the methods and systems that simulate the sense of touch in a virtual environment. This technology aims to create the sensation of physical contact with virtual objects, enabling users to “feel” textures, shapes, and forces as if they were interacting with real-world items, even though the objects are digital. The technology is seeing increasing uses in the realms of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), where it is used alongside visual and auditory cues to bridge the gap between the virtual and physical worlds.

Notably, electrotactile systems, which generate tactile sensations through electrical stimulation rather than physical vibrations, are emerging as promising next-generation tactile rendering technologies. The sensation of touch is mediated by mechanoreceptors, which are tactile sensory cells located in the skin that transmit tactile information to the brain in the form of electrical signals. Electrotactile systems artificially generate these electrical signals, thereby simulating the sense of touch. Precise and varied tactile experiences can be created by adjusting current density and frequency.

Despite their potential, existing electrotactile technologies face challenges, particularly in safety and consistency. Variations in skin contact pressure can lead to unstable tactile sensations, and the use of high currents raises safety concerns. To address these issues, the IBS research team developed a Transparent Pressure-Calibratable Interference Electrotactile Actuator (TPIEA).

TPIEA comprises two main components: an electrode section responsible for generating electrotactile sensations and a pressure sensor section that adjusts for finger pressure. Researchers greatly reduced the impedance of the electrode by applying platinum nanoparticles to an indium tin oxide-based electrode. This not only decreased impedance compared to conventional electrodes but also achieved a high transmittance of approximately 90%. The integrated pressure sensor ensures that users experience consistent tactile feedback regardless of how they touch the display.

Moreover, the research team conducted a Somatosensory Evoked Potential (SEP) test to quantify tactile sensations. By examining the responses of the user’s somatosensory system to variations in the current and frequency of electrotactile stimulation, they were able to quantitatively differentiate and standardize tactile sensations. The team successfully implemented over nine distinct types of electrotactile sensations, ranging from those resembling hair to those resembling glass, depending on the current density and frequency of the electrical stimulation. The team further demonstrated that the TPIEA could be integrated with smartphone displays to reliably produce complex tactile patterns.

Additionally, the research introduced interference phenomena into the realm of electrotactile technology. The interference phenomenon pertains to the alterations in frequency and amplitude that occur when two electromagnetic fields overlap. This allowed the researchers to elicit the same intensity of electrotactile sensation with a current density that is 30% lower than previously required and to achieve an approximate 32% enhancement in tactile resolution.This research demonstrates the highest level of tactile resolution among current electrotactile technologies, including the Teslasuit.

Lead researcher PARK Jang-Ung remarked, “Through this electrotactile technology, we can effectively integrate visual information from displays with tactile information,” and further expressed, “We anticipate that the findings of this research will significantly enhance the interaction between users and devices across various AR, VR, and smart device applications based on interference stimulation.”

This research has been conducted in collaboration with colleagues from Yonsei University Severance Hospital. It was published in Nature Communications on August 21, 2024.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Interference haptic stimulation and consistent quantitative tactility in transparent electrotactile screen with pressure-sensitive transistors by Kyeonghee Lim, Jakyoung Lee, Sumin Kim, Myoungjae Oh, Chin Su Koh, Hunkyu Seo, Yeon-Mi Hong, Won Gi Chung, Jiuk Jang, Jung Ah Lim, Hyun Ho Jung & Jang-Ung Park. Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 7147 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51593-2 Published: 21 August 2024

This paper is open access.

“XR Fall” an artist-in-residence programme 29 octobre au 28 novembre 2024 à Vancouver, sur le campus d’Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, Canada)

Not sure how I stumbled across this XR (extended reality) artist-in-residence programme but it’s been in place since 2022 (albeit with some changes). Here’s the announcement for the 2024 artist-in-residence, from the August 14, 2024 Consulate of France in Vancouver press release,

French artist Pierre Friquet, also known as, PYARé, is the latest laureate of the “XR Fall” residency dedicated to XR/AR/VR [extended reality/augmented reality/virtual reality], its third edition. He will be in Vancouver from October 29 to November 28, 2024.

This residency is a collaboration between the Consulate General of France in Vancouver, the Alliance française of Vancouver, the cultural institution of the City of “Paris Forum des Images”, Emily Carr University of Art and Design and the Institut français.

A hybrid creator based in Paris, Pierre Friquet has been designing immersive experiences (VR, dome films, AR, video mapping,) such as Spaced Out, Jet Lag, Vibrations and Patterns since 2010. His intent is to make people reconnect with their body and sense of self through art and technology.

These experiments have won awards at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, the Kaléidoscope festival and the Filmgate festival. His latest VR project, SPACE OUT, an immersive diving mask, was selected for the Sundance New Frontier 2020 festival and featured in the cultural programme of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Founder of the NiGHT collective, his projects include aquatic virtual reality.

In Vancouver, he will be working around the character of Captain Nemo, the famous warrior scientist in Jules Verne’s novel “20,000 leagues under the sea”.

The residency’s objective is to create an immersive experience allowing users to embody Captain Nemo in a VR adventure, piloting a gondola or riding a whale using intuitive VR controls. His work will focus on the symbiosis between technology and nature, marine conservation and post-colonial adventure.
Project by PYARé & INVR.

Find out more about his artistic vision and creations on his website.

JPEG

You have to have been resident in France for at least five years and speak English to be eligible.

Preparing for the 2025 calls for applications?

There are, in fact, three programmes: two in Vancouver,(1) the XR/AR/VR [extended reality/augmented reality/virtual reality artist-in-residence and (2) Arts & Sciences Quantum Studio artist-in-residence and there’s another ‘quantum programme’ in Paris, also called the Arts & Sciences Quantum Studio artist-in-residence.

The 2025 calls haven’t been announced yet but I do have the 2024 calls for applications and they should give you some idea of what questions you’ll need to answer and what materials you’ll need to prepare. These calls are in French.

Résidence « XR Fall» à Vancouver
29 octobre au 28 novembre 2024

From the France Canada Culture.org ‘Résidence ‘XR Fall à Vancouver/XR Fall Residency’ webpage,

1- À propos de la résidence XR Fall

1.1 – Introduction

Initiée par l’ambassade de France au Canada / consulat général de Vancouver dans le cadre de leur programme « Résidences Ouest-Ouest », en partenariat avec le Forum des Images (Paris), Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver), l’Alliance française Vancouver, et avec le soutien de l’Institut français, la troisième édition de la résidence d’écriture et de recherche “XR Fall” à Vancouver se déroulera du 29 octobre au 28 novembre 2024 à Vancouver, en Colombie-Britannique, Canada.

Ouverte à l’ensemble des réalités immersives, cette résidence doit permettre à un·e créateur·rice français·e de s’immerger au sein de l’écosystème local vancouvérois afin d’enrichir son projet d’écriture-recherche et d’étoffer son réseau professionnel. Elle sera également l’occasion de renforcer les liens et de créer de nouvelles synergies entre la France et l’Ouest canadien dans le domaine des innovations numériques. Cette résidence se tiendra à Vancouver du mardi 29 octobre au jeudi 28 novembre 2024.

Pendant la Résidence d’écriture-recherche, le·a créateur·rice sélectionné·e se consacrera au développement de son projet immersif pour lequel iel est invité·e à travailler en coopération avec des professionnel·les vancouvérois.es, ainsi qu’avec des équipes techniques et des sociétés de production locales. Le programme a également pour but d’aider le·a créateur·rice sélectionné·e à renforcer son réseau et ses compétences.

1.2 – Déroulé de la résidence

Du 29 octobre au 28 novembre 2024 à Vancouver, sur le campus d’Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

1.3 – Objectifs

  • Impulser ou consolider un projet d’écriture-recherche.
  • Favoriser la découverte de l’écosystème numérique de l’Ouest canadien, ainsi que des collaborations structurantes.
  • Une attention privilégiée sera portée aux projets ancrés dans le contexte local.

À l’issue de la résidence, l’artiste devra proposer un compte-rendu de son expérience, de son travail et de l’évolution du projet durant cette période.

1.4 – Avantages

Ce programme garantit, notamment, à la lauréate / au lauréat :

  • Un vol A/R France – Vancouver
  • Quatre semaines d’hébergement à Vancouver
  • Un espace de travail au Basically Good Media Lab
  • Une bourse de résidence à hauteur de 2.000 € (correspondant aux per-diem et à la participation à trois demi-journées de conférences/classes de maître
    durant la résidence)
  • Mise en réseau et relations avec l’écosystème local
  • Participation à des événements en Colombie-Britannique

Autres contreparties (conditions à définir ensemble) :

  • présentation du projet dans le cadre de NewImages Festival 2025
  • accréditation pour les Journées pro de NewImages Festival 2025
  • Présenter le fruit de son travail en résidence (prototype, work-in-progress) dans le cadre de V-Unframed 2025 (Vancouver)

1.5 – Équipement et accompagnement

Au sein d’Emily Carr University of Art + Design, ce programme garantit, notamment, à la lauréate / au lauréat :

  • L’accès au Basically Good Media Lab en tant qu’espace de travail sur une base régulière. Il s’agit d’un espace collaboratif et partagé avec des chercheurs des premier et deuxième cycles et des assistants de recherche.
  • L’accès à un ordinateur de pointe : un Dell Precision 3660 ; 32 Go de RAM ; i9-12900K (16 cœurs) ; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080.
  • Appui technique : support technique ponctuel pour aider l’artiste à réaliser son projet.
  • Mentorat d’Emily Carr University of Art + Design pour fournir un retour sur le projet et les approches de l’artiste, aider à faciliter l’utilisation des ressources et fournir des opportunités potentielles de mise en réseau avec la communauté.
  • L’accès à d’autres installations sur le campus, en fonction de leur disponibilité, y compris l’Integrated Motion Studio pour une utilisation en tant qu’atelier ou espace boîte noire. Le Basically Good Media Lab dispose de casques de réalité augmentée et virtuelle, avec des caméras 360 grand public et prosumers.

L’artiste sera également accompagné durant la résidence par les équipes de l’ambassade de France au Canada présentes à Vancouver et par celles de l’Alliance française Vancouver.

2- Conditions d’éligibilité

2.1 – Profil des candidat.e.s

Ce programme est ouvert à tout·e artiste, créateur.rice ou porteur.euse d’un projet XR en écriture-recherche.

  • Âgé.e d’au moins 18 ans
  • Résidant en France depuis au moins 5 ans
  • Parlant anglais
  • Professionnel.le confirmé.e, justifiant de premières expériences dans le domaine des réalités immersive

2.2 – Projets acceptés

Ce programme est ouvert aux réalités immersives dans toute leur diversité (réalité virtuelle 360° ou interactive, augmentée, mixte, installation incluant des technologies immersives, en lien avec la création sonore ou la technologie 4D, etc.).

Les projets devront être reliés à au moins l’un des grands thèmes suivants :

  • Durabilité environnementale
  • Justice écologique et action climatique
  • Justice sociale, santé et bien-être de la communauté
  • Recherches portant sur le territoire et les lieux

3- Processus d’inscription

3.1 – À propos de l’appel à candidatures

L’inscription du projet :

  • Doit être faite en anglais
  • Doit être faite en ligne à https://zhx2xeql.paperform.com jusqu’au dimanche 30 juin 2024 (23:59, GMT)
  • Doit être envoyée en un seul PDF
  • Est gratuite pour l’ensemble des postulant·es

À noter également :

  • Les inscriptions incomplètes ne seront pas prises en considération
  • Il n’y a pas de temps limite imparti pour compléter (https://zhx2xeql.paperform.co/)
  • Vos informations sont automatiquement sauvegardées en local ; vous pouvez donc fermer et/ou revenir ultérieurement au formulaire depuis le même
    appareil et le même navigateur (hors fenêtres de navigation privée)

Nous vous conseillons vivement de ne pas attendre les derniers jours de l’appel à candidatures pour soumettre votre projet, afin d’éviter tout problème technique.

En inscrivant un projet, vous reconnaissez détenir les droits afférents à celui-ci ou être habilité·e par tou·te·s les autres ayants droit. Le Forum des images, l’ambassade de France au Canada / consulat général de Vancouver, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, l’Alliance française Vancouver et l’Institut français ne peuvent en aucun cas être tenus pour responsables en cas de réclamation, conflit ou poursuite en lien avec l’inscription du projet.

3.2 – Informations requises

Avant votre inscription, nous vous invitons à prendre connaissance des informations et pièces demandées dans le dossier de présentation devant être joint à votre inscription (dans le même ordre que ci-dessous) :

  • Formulaire d’application-Résidence XR 2024 (en anglais uniquement) : https://zhx2xeql.paperform.co/
  • Une copie de la carte d’identité ou du passeport
  • Une biographie et un CV
  • Un portfolio des précédents projets
  • Une lettre de motivation
  • Une note d’intention développée du projet
  • Le plan de travail envisagé pour la résidence (prévisionnel)
  • Des visuels du projet (le cas échéant)
  • Une lettre de recommandation et/ou une lettre d’une institution culturelle française accompagnant le projet en vue d’une future exposition ou production de l’œuvre (facultative)

That’s the gist of it, you can find all of it on the ‘Résidence « XR Fall» à Vancouver/XR Fall Residency’ webpage.

Résidence Arts & Sciences « Quantum Studio » à Paris 9 au 30 septembre 2024

From the France Canada Culture.org résidence arts-sciences “Quantum Studio” à Paris webpage,

1- À propos de la résidence arts-sciences

1.1 – Introduction

L’ambassade de France au Canada, en partenariat avec le Quantum Information Center Sorbonne (Sorbonne Université), le CENTQUATRE-PARIS (Paris) et le programme des résidences internationales Ville de Paris aux Récollets, lance le volet français de la résidence arts-sciences “Quantum Studio”. Cette résidence d’artiste aura lieu du 9 au 30 septembre 2024 à Paris, France. Elle s’adresse à un ou une artiste canadien.ne résidant en Colombie-Britannique explorant les croisements entre arts et sciences.

Ouverte à l’ensemble des pratiques artistiques, la résidence cherche à construire des échanges entre arts et sciences quantiques (physique quantique, informatique quantique, physique de l’infiniment petit, sciences des matériaux, physique fondamentale).

Le Quantum Information Center Sorbonne (Sorbonne Université) et le CENTQUATRE-PARIS offriront à l’artiste sélectionné.e un espace de réflexion dans lequel artistes et chercheurs pourront se réunir, échanger sur leurs pratiques, apprendre les uns des autres et réfléchir ensemble à un projet créatif à la croisée des arts et des sciences. En amont de la résidence à Paris, plusieurs rencontres en ligne seront organisées, afin d’établir et d’entretenir un premier contact entre l’artiste lauréat.e au Canada et l’équipe hôte (institutions et scientifiques) de Paris.

1.2 – Déroulé de la résidence

Du 9 au 30 septembre 2024 à Paris (hébergement au couvent des Récollets).

1.3 – Objectifs

  • Impulser ou consolider un projet créatif.
  • Le ou la lauréat.e a une obligation de restitution de recherche ou de rendu artistique (projet écrit, esquisses et croquis, œuvre, etc.) pendant leur séjour.
  • Partager son travail lors de séminaires arts et sciences co-organisés avec le Quantum Information Center Sorbonne et le CENTQUATRE-PARIS.
  • Favoriser la découverte de l’écosystème scientifique et artistique parisien, ainsi que des collaborations structurantes. Une attention privilégiée sera portée aux projets ancrés dans le contexte local.

1.4 – Avantages

Ce programme garantit, notamment, à la lauréate ou au lauréat :

  • 3 semaines de résidence à Paris.
  • Un hébergement au sein du Couvent des Récollets (Ville de Paris), un bureau de travail au Quantum Information Center Sorbonne et un bureau de production au CENTQUATRE-PARIS.
  • Prise en charge complète (vols Vancouver-Paris, logement).
  • Un cachet de résidence à hauteur de 1.635 € (correspondant aux per-diem et à la participation à trois demi-journées de conférences/classes de maître durant la résidence).
  • Mise en réseau et relations avec l’écosystème local.
  • Participation, durant la résidence, à des rencontres avec les équipes de la 104factory, à des ouvertures de résidences au CENTQUATRE-PARIS et à des événements se déroulant au CENTQUATRE-PARIS.
  • Possibilité de participation, en post-résidence, à des événements en lien avec Némo-Biennale internationale des arts numériques de la Région Île-de-France, produite par le CENTQUATRE-PARIS.

2- Conditions d’éligibilité

2.1 – Profil des candidat.e.s

  • Artiste porteuse ou porteur d’un projet artistique en écriture ou en développement,
  • Âgé.e d’au moins 18 ans,
  • De nationalité canadienne ou titulaire d’une carte de résident permanent au Canada
  • Résidant en Colombie-Britannique,
  • Justifiant idéalement de premières expériences de création mêlant arts et sciences (les candidatures d’artistes ayant déjà travaillé ou travaillant en lien avec les sciences physiques seront appréciées).

2.2 – Projets acceptés

Ce programme est ouvert aux pratiques artistiques dans toute leur diversité (écriture, arts visuels et plastiques, arts numériques, design, danse, performance, réalités immersives, création sonore, etc.).

3- Processus d’inscription

3.1 – À propos de l’appel à candidatures

Le dépôt de candidature :

  • Doit être fait en français ou en anglais,
  • En un seul PDF,
  • Doit être envoyé par courriel à SCACVAN@GMAIL.COM
  • Jusqu’au 21 avril 2024 (23:59, heure de Vancouver).

3.2 – Informations requises

Pour candidater, nous vous invitons à envoyer les documents suivants :

  • Le formulaire de candidature 2024,
  • Une copie de la carte d’identité ou du passeport,
  • Une biographie et un CV,
  • Un portfolio des précédents projets (avec liens vidéo, le cas échéant)
  • Une lettre de motivation,
  • Un synopsis précis du projet,
  • Le plan de travail envisagé pour la résidence (prévisionnel),
  • Des visuels du projet (le cas échéant),
  • Une lettre de recommandation (facultative),
  • Une lettre d’une institution culturelle canadienne accompagnant le projet en vue d’une future exposition ou production de l’œuvre (facultative).

You can find all of it on the résidence arts-sciences “Quantum Studio” à Paris webpage.

I have more information about the Quantum Studio artist-in-residence in Vancouver programme in an October 7, 2024 posting, scroll down t the ‘Quantum Studio’ subhead.

Metacrime: the line between the virtual and reality

An August 15, 2024 Griffith University (Australia) press release (also on EurekAlert) presents research on a relatively new type of crime, Note: A link has been removed,

If you thought your kids were away from harm playing multi-player games through VR headsets while in their own bedrooms, you may want to sit down to read this.

Griffith University’s Dr Ausma Bernot teamed up with researchers from Monash University, Charles Sturt University and University of Technology Sydney to investigate what has been termed as ‘metacrime’ – attacks, crimes or inappropriate activities that occur within virtual reality environments.

The ‘metaverse’ refers to the virtual world, where users of VR headsets can choose an avatar to represent themselves as they interact with other users’ avatars or move through other 3D digital spaces.

While the metaverse can be used for anything from meetings (where it will feel as though you are in the same room as avatars of other people instead of just seeing them on a screen) to wandering through national parks around the world without leaving your living room, gaming is by far its most popular use.   

Dr Bernot said the technology had evolved incredibly quickly.

“Using this technology is super fun and it’s really immersive,” she said.

“You can really lose yourself in those environments.

“Unfortunately, while those new environments are very exciting, they also have the potential to enable new crimes.

“While the headsets that enable us to have these experiences aren’t a commonly owned item yet, they’re growing in popularity and we’ve seen reports of sexual harassment or assault against both adults and kids.”

In a December 2023 report, the Australian eSafety Commissioner estimated around 680,000 adults in Australia are engaged in the metaverse.

This followed a survey conducted in November and December 2022 by researchers from the UK’s Center for Countering Digital Hate, who conducted 11 hours and 30 minutes of recorded user interactions on Meta’s Oculus headset in the popular VRChat.

The researchers found most users had been faced with at least one negative experience in the virtual environment, including being called offensive names, receiving repeated unwanted messages or contact, being provoked to respond to something or to start an argument, being challenged about cultural identity or being sent unwanted inappropriate content.

Eleven per cent had been exposed to a sexually graphic virtual space and nine per cent had been touched (virtually) in a way they didn’t like.

Of these respondents, 49 per cent said the experience had a moderate to extreme impact on their mental or emotional wellbeing.

With the two largest user groups being minors and men, Dr Bernot said it was important for parents to monitor their children’s activity or consider limiting their access to multi-player games.

“Minors are more vulnerable to grooming and other abuse,” she said.

“They may not know how to deal with these situations, and while there are some features like a ‘safety bubble’ within some games, or of course the simple ability to just take the headset off, once immersed in these environments it does feel very real.

“It’s somewhere in between a physical attack and for example, a social media harassment message – you’ll still feel that distress and it can take a significant toll on a user’s wellbeing.

“It is a real and palpable risk.”

Monash University’s You Zhou said there had already been many reports of virtual rape, including one in the United Kingdom where police have launched a case for a 16-year-old girl whose avatar was attacked, causing psychological and emotional trauma similar to an attack in the physical world.

“Before the emergence of the metaverse we could not have imagined how rape could be virtual,” Mr Zhou said.

“When immersed in this world of virtual reality, and particularly when using higher quality VR headsets, users will not necessarily stop to consider whether the experience is reality or virtuality.

“While there may not be physical contact, victims – mostly young girls – strongly claim the feeling of victimisation was real.

“Without physical signs on a body, and unless the interaction was recorded, it can be almost impossible to show evidence of these experiences.”

With use of the metaverse expected to grow exponentially in coming years, the research team’s findings highlight a need for metaverse companies to instil clear regulatory frameworks for their virtual environments to make them safe for everyone to inhabit.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Metacrime and Cybercrime: Exploring the Convergence and Divergence in Digital Criminality by You Zhou, Milind Tiwari, Ausma Bernot & Kai Lin. Asian Journal of Criminology 19, 419–439 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-024-09436-y Published online: 09 August 2024 Issue Date: September 2024

This paper is open access.

Catching up with Twitch, livestreaming, and science communication

I hadn’t heard of Twitch until stumbling across a Sep 18, 2024 article by Nicole Carpenter for Polygon (gaming and entertainment news source), Note: Links have been removed,

The atmosphere of Halo’s arid planet Sanghelios or the science of Valorant’s Alpha Earth aren’t the only explorations of space you’ll find on Twitch [emphasis mine]. The livestreaming platform is best known as a hub for games like League of Legends, Valorant, or Minecraft, but today, it’s also a place for people to learn: about science, space, and the planet we live on. Science and technology have their very own category on Twitch [emphasis mine], which hosts everything from NASA livestreaming a total solar eclipse to a group of enthusiasts monitoring seismic waves.

It’s also where you’ll find Twitch partner and space, science, and astrobiology communicator Moohoodles, who shares space news, like the first images from the Euclid space telescope or watching the Odyssey spacecraft land on the moon, and plays video games while chatting about science to her viewers.

Ahead of TwitchCon, Polygon emailed with Moohoodles (who asked Polygon to use her handle for privacy) about her long career on Twitch, science’s place on the platform, and building an engaged community.

Moohoodles talks about how her start on Twitch and her start as a science communication on Twitch, from the Sep 18, 2024 article,

Polygon: Can you introduce yourself? What’s your niche on Twitch?

Moohoodles: I’m a pioneer of science communication on Twitch, covering astrobiology while serving up engaging and animated reactions to the latest news about outer space. Imagine Ms. Frizzle crossed with Carl Sagan, contagiously snort laughing. My community loves our fun and safe corner of the internet where we can nerd out about astronomy and increase our scientific literacy. When I’m not gushing about space, sharks, conservation, or programming, you can find me gaming everything from retro to new releases. My content is informed by a decade of live-streaming experience and energized by my passion for encouraging and uplifting women in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics].

What brought you to Twitch? How long have you been streaming?

I have been streaming since May of 2014! Twitch was very different over a decade ago, and to be honest I started streaming because I thought I was funny and had good reactions to video games! I never would have imagined back then what my stream would turn into and how impactful it could be. As far as I remember, Twitch didn’t have any non-gaming categories in 2014, so I would just talk about all my passions and interests while I played video games. In 2015 while I played Fallout 3, I remember my community was really excited to talk about the future where humans could land on Mars, and also talk about the possibility of life out there in the universe. To keep a long story short, after non-gaming categories were added I would bring more lecture based materials (with powerpoints I created for talks to my college’s Astronomy Club that I ran) and do deep dives into specific Astrobiology topics on my stream.

In 2018, Twitch created the Science & Technology category and it was a huge win for all of the science communication streamers! I was so happy to pave the way for that category to be created, and it’s the main category I stream in now as I cover current news in outer space and astrobiology, plus rocket launches! Of course, I still do a bunch of variety gaming, and I love bringing in new viewers to the educational side of Twitch through space themed games!

You can find science communication anywhere, eh?