Us Xtended
prototype presented as dissertation thesis in 2024
a multisensory experience, XR headsets with biofeedback and smartwatches, 20mins
(in development, planned release: 2025/2026)
Imagine stepping into an immersive world where your emotions and physiological responses shape the very environment around you. Us Xtended offers a groundbreaking, interactive ‘out-of-body’ experience that brings this vision to life, merging cutting-edge technology with personal introspection and creativity.
Prediction XR – False Negative or the Computer Says Nah
exhibition: HASTAC, New York City, June 2023
an interactive WebGL experience using face and voice recognition (2023)
In a digitally driven society, individuals can create virtual twins to navigate the metaverse, but the price is surrendering their biometric data. As society craves order and balance, a scoring system determines an individual’s daily risk level based on facial expression and voice, impacting their digital twin’s life. In this high-stakes world, hope lies in the promise of a better tomorrow.
Jam XR
exhibition: Recital of CMST and York University, June 2023
a collaborative musical VR experience with students of CMST (2023)
The purpose of this project is to introduce extended reality (XR) practices for music group improvisation to a selected group of students from Community Music Schools of Toronto (CMST), and to collaborate on a multiplayer virtual reality(VR) prototype with the students as co-creators. Our project allows for participatory, collaborative, and co-creative interactions that are vital to developing skills in music creation and learning music concepts. Our main intention is to increase digital literacy and accessibility of emerging media and music for youth aged 10-17 years old in Canada, and add virtual reality to the music curriculum at the Community Music Schools of Toronto
Pneuma Dilemma (WT)
first prototype presented at Voice AI Stakeholder Forum 2023, Washington DC, USA, final product to be released in 2025
an interactive web-app about ethics in medical AI
Pneuma Dilemma was created by a group within the Bridge2AI consortium, a team of diverse researchers seeking to provide the foundations for key forms of medical AI development, including voice-based applications. It is meant to educate the public about a particularly promising emerging medical technology domain: algorithms that use voice as a biomarker to gain information about a person’s health without even needing to touch the patient’s body. It discusses the ethical dimensions of voice AI technology. And it gathers information about moral values favored and not favored in the contexts described in the game.
Home Is the World
presented at the ELO 2022 Conference
a VR experience for tethered headsets, 10′ (2022), research-creation project developed at Immersive Storytelling Lab with CharismaAI
The interface of the piece is created by an ephemeral space between virtual reality and the user’s physical environment where they converse with the AI character and are asked to answer its questions and to follow a series of sensory-led tasks to induce pleasant memories before the Covid-19 pandemic. Such tasks include smelling coffee beans, conjuring the smell of an early summer morning, the sound of walking on snow, the taste of a delicious dessert, the touch of a plant etc. Then, the Charisma.AI software records a user’s spoken memories of the pandemic and generates a personal pandemic story for each user, individually. The twist: it re-tells the experience somewhat differently. It re-contextualizes the user’s story in a world full of positive news.
Symphony of Noise VR
premiered at Reeperbahn Music Festival 2019 and IDFA Doc-Lab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2019
a room scale VR experience for tethered headsets (HTC Vive Pro, Oculus Rift (S), Valve), 15′ (2019)
In Symphony of Noise, you will undergo a sound transformation you have never experienced before. You will become a superhero, the conductor of the world. You will change the world through sound and conduct the world into your own symphony. Listen intently as ordinary sounds become music in your ears!
Awards and Nominations: FIVARS Award for Excellence in Sound Design, VRNow Awards Nomination for Best Entertainment, Forbes Best of Arthouse XR List 2019
Pre-Crime Calculator
premiered at Hamburg Film Festival 2017
App for iOS and in web browser, 5′ (2017)
Pre-Crime Calculator is an interactive experience that takes you to the world of predictive policing. How much of a potential suspect or a victim are you in the eyes of the system? And what are the areas in your city you should avoid in the next week not to get involved in the crime?
Connection
Nuit Blanche Toronto 2022
interactive haptic prototype
This prototype was made as a part of the workshop Soft Touch with the Arduino kit, knitted and hand-sewn materials, data visualization software
Michaela Pnacek(ova), PhD 