Workshop »Do’s & Don’ts for the combination Participation + Playfulness + Performances«
Workshop with Leonid Barsht, Senior XR Developer at the AURORA XR School for Artists, HTW Berlin. Learning from Leonid’s long-year experience with EU-funded participatory multi- and single player XR experiences on stages of theatre spaces like Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, and MirLab, Gelsenkirchen, participants will discuss approaches, do’s & don’t for successful collaborations at the intersection of game design, participation, and performing art.
25.06.25, 4.30–5.15 pm.
Workshop »NOVOCENE: Insights into the Artistic Approach and Interdisciplinary Development«
Workshop with Jens Isensee, media artist and AURORA XR Artistic Fellow in 2024. Jens will share insights and behind-the-scenes experiences from developing Novocene. The session is meant to be an open space for exchange — questions, thoughts, and discussion are welcome. As part of our EU-funded work, we’re excited to give back to the independent arts community by sharing tools, strategies, and lessons learned.
25.06.25, 4.30–5.15 pm.
Demo
»Phygital Intimacy«, 2025 – current status
The audience enters a multiplayer mixed reality environment, interacting with AI-driven content and a generative soundscape. Inspired by Sophie K. Rosa’s concept of radical intimacy—emphasizing care and community as forms of political resistance—the experience fosters connection and intimacy between users, and between humans and machines. Collaboration between Lisa Kaschubat, Tasha Hess-Neustedt, Jane Alison, and the AURORA XR School for Artists, HTW Berlin.
Demo
»Novocene«, 2025
»Novocene« is an interactive mixed reality application dealing with the Anthropocene and a speculation about the coming world.On a second level, Novocene traces the history of media offering an ambiguous perspective on humanity’s faith in technology from radio to AI. It was developed for Meta Quest 3 in collaboration between Jens Isensee and the AURORA XR School for Artists at HTW Berlin in 2024/25.
Demo
»Blooms«, 2025
A virtual reality experience at the intersection of art and science that attentively listens to the phenomena of algal blooms and the shifting relationships they signal between human activity and aquatic ecosystems. Developed by Wendy Chua, Joyce Koh, and Gustavo Maggio in collaboration with Christian Stein and the Object Space Agency (Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, HU Berlin), Sandric Leong, and the HABs team at the Tropical Marine Science Institute (National University of Singapore).
Demo
»Aktionslabor Redaktionelle Gesellschaft«, 2024/25
A virtual reality intervention that invites to playfully strengthen news literacy, including awareness of fake news.
Developed by the ZEIT Foundation Bucerius in collaboration with Playersjourney GmbH
Photo: L. Müller
Demo
»rewired«, 2024
A gamified experience to teach the basics of electrical engineering in form of an exit-game. Work together as ground crew and engineer on a space station to repair and prevent it from falling to earth. Developed by the research group Creative Media, HTW Berlin