MIT Open Documentary Lab

Join us today at 12 PM ET for a Public Talk (online) with Nouf Aljowaysir on her research and artistic work with AI and algorithms.

?? MIT Open Documentary Lab & MIT Co-Creation Studio present: Public Talk (online) with Nouf Aljowaysir on Interrogating the Self through Technology: A Research-Based Artistic Practice on Digital Intimacy ?? Tuesday, March 18 ?? Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM ET ?? Join via Zoom link: https://lnkd.in/ekgxRFbw ?? Through her projects Alexa, Call Dead Mother and AI, Tell Me Where I’m From, Nouf Aljowaysir will discuss her practice of posing uncomfortable questions to technology. What does it mean to invite machines into our most intimate inquiries? As algorithms increasingly mediate our emotions, Nouf interrogates how our digital interactions shape our sense of self, and in what ways does it reinforce biases, flatten complexity, and commodify our vulnerabilities. ? Nouf Aljowaysir is a Saudi new media artist examining our changing behaviors and interactions with algorithms. By navigating intimate questions with AI tools and challenging their conventional utility, her work uncovers their underlying training logic and capitalist motivations that shape their outputs and influence our perspectives. Nouf has exhibited projects in galleries and festivals globally, including Centre Pompidou, New Museum, Museo Tamayo, M+ Museum, IDFA, CPH:DOX, Tribeca Film Festival and others. Her latest film Ana Min Wein? (Where Am I From?) won the 2023 Moving Image Lumen Prize and was officially released with The New York Times Op-Docs series in June 2024. #MITOpenDocLab #CoCreationStudio #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Algorithms #Research #ArtisticPractice #technology #machines #biases

?? If you are in Austin on Sunday, join us at SXSW for a panel “Aesthetic Access for VR: Centering Disabled Artistry” at 10 AM CT featuring the groundbreaking work of Kinetic Light and Double Eye Studios and moderated by MIT Open Documentary Lab director Sarah Wolozin. ?? Sunday, March 9, 2025 | ?? 10:00 AM CT ?? The Fairmont, Manchester B Our conversation will share technical innovations to produce ground-breaking aesthetic access from pre-production to virtual worldbuilding. We will also discuss a case study of our production: “territory” which is an equitably accessible VR experience. The session will explore the artistry of audio description, artistic closed captions, and innovative haptics design. Sharing our approach to disability aesthetics, the panel will offer general techniques for creators interested in making accessible work and for programmers interested in reaching audiences. ASL interpretation and Closed Captions will be included. ?? More info here: https://lnkd.in/e-XEKCwx #SXSW #AestheticAccess #InclusiveVR #Accessibility #ImmersiveStorytelling #KineticLight #DoubleEyeStudios #MITOpenDocLab #XRInnovation Organizations:? - Kinetic Light is a disability arts ensemble whose work is made by and for disabled people, has an ethic and aesthetic of access that is exceptionally thoughtful and thorough.? - MIT Open Documentary Lab which brings storytellers, technologists, and scholars together to advance the new arts of documentary. - Double Eye Studios is an award-winning XR studio connecting audiences around the globe by creating interactive stories and building transformative virtual worlds. Image Description (ID):? Top Left: A torso-up headshot of Alice Sheppard; she is a multiracial Black woman with coffee-colored skin and platinum blond short curly hair, she wears a hot pink top. Alice folds her hands in her lap and regards the camera with a slight smile. The rims of her wheelchair arc into the bottom of the frame. Photo by Cherylynn Tsushima. Top Right: Laurel Lawson is a white person with cropped hair. Her chin is lifted and her gaze directed upwards with a slight smile; her blue eyes compliment her gauzy blue tank. Photo Robbie Sweeny. Bottom Left: Kiira Benz is a white woman with long blonde hair, the wind is blowing strands across her face, she is smiling and wears an off-the-shoulder black top. Photo Davita Crawford Bottom Right: Sarah Wolozin is a fair woman with silvery, wavy, cropped hair; she's smiling and wears a colorful patterned blazer.

JOIN NOW: Public Talk (online) with Verity McIntosh & Catherine Allen, for a discussion on: We’re All in This Together: Safety, Policy and the Translation of Human Rights into Multi-Person Virtual Environments ?? Join via Zoom on our website: https://lnkd.in/exnq694d

Looking forward to these talks this semester! They will be recorded and posted on our website.

Join us for a public talk (online) with Verity McIntosh?& Catherine Allen, for a discussion on: We’re All in This Together: Safety, Policy and the Translation of Human Rights into Multi-Person Virtual Environments ?? Tuesday, February 25 ?? 12:00 - 1:30 PM ET ?? Join via Zoom on our website: https://lnkd.in/exnq694d ?? As immersive technologies and spatial computing paradigms move into the mainstream, public and political interest in the ‘metaverse’ is growing. For many, virtual spaces offer an exciting view of the future, one in which we, as a global community, can come together, embodied as avatars in navigable 3D environments to share ideas and opportunities with one another. To collaborate and create together. Building kinship regardless of where we are in the physical world. And all without burning a milligram of jet fuel. By contrast, early instances of “proto-metaverse” spaces have been plagued by reports of harassment and abuse. Concerns about data, privacy and surveillance remain largely unaddressed by policymakers as tech companies compete to find a ‘viable’ business model. For policymakers and regulators tentatively approach this domain, it can be extremely tricky to establish the extent to which existing laws, freedoms, rights and protections that have been configured for physical or online encounters, can now be translated into unfamiliar virtual environments. ? Join us for a virtual talk with Verity McIntosh, Associate Professor at University of the West of England and Catherine Allen CEO of Limina Immersive on the work they have been doing with companies, charities and governments around the world to consider what is needed now if we are going to live well together as empowered citizens in both physical and digital immersive spaces. #MITOpenDocLab?#CoCreationStudio?#ImmersiveTech?#MetaverseEthics?#VirtualReality?#DigitalRights?#XRPolicy?#InteractiveStorytelling

?? Announcing the MIT Open Documentary Lab & MIT Co-Creation Studio Spring 2025 Lecture Series! ? The MIT Open Documentary Lab brings storytellers, technologists, and scholars together to explore the future of documentary through collaborative, interactive, and immersive storytelling using emerging technologies. The Co-Creation Studio researches and incubates collective creation as alternatives to singular authorship. Join us for our Spring 2025 Lecture Series, held on select Tuesdays at 12PM ET: ?? Feb 25 – Verity McIntosh, Director and Principal Investigator of Immersive Arts, Associate Professor at University of the West of England and Catherine Allen, CEO of Limina Immersive ?? Mar 18 – Nouf Aljowaysir, New Media Artist and Researcher ?? Apr 1 – Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde, Nigerian-American Artist, Designer, Technologist, Anthropologist and Time-Traveler ?? All lectures will be livestreamed via Zoom. If you’re unable to attend, recordings will be posted on our website after each event. More speakers to be announced! Follow MIT Open Documentary Lab for updates. ? #MITOpenDocLab #CoCreationStudio #ImmersiveStorytelling #InteractiveDocumentary

?? Join us for a public talk (online) with May Abdalla, co-founder of the award-winning immersive studio ANAGRAM, for a discussion on: The Proof Is in the Pudding: Developing and Testing Immersive Experience to Create Impact ?? Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024 ?? Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM ET ?? Join via Zoom link on our website: https://lnkd.in/eQ4M-QyP ??May Abdalla will chart the development of Anagram's latest project?Impulse??- a mixed reality story about what it means to live with ADHD. She will explore the social and ethical challenges of using medical language and working in the health sector.?What is the process needed to use immersive projects in ways that bring the most benefit to the lived experience community? She will introduce their project?Amorphous?presently in early development and the test-based approach that uses a wide range of media (from potatoes in socks to mo-cap) to explore how VR could radically change our relationship with our bodies. About May Abdalla: May Abdalla is a highly acclaimed director and artist known for blending physical experience, technology and storytelling in groundbreaking ways. Her previous work was screened by the BBC, Al Jazeera, and selected for Cannes' Semaine de la Critique.?She co-founded Anagram, a multi-award winning studio to explore the use of immersive technology in non-fiction storytelling, with projects presented at the Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia on four occasions. She was awarded the Grand Jury Award for Best VR in 2021, and the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize in 2024. ?? Learn more about Anagram here: weareanagram.co.uk #ImmersiveStorytelling #MixedReality #VirtualTalk #ADHD #MITOpenDocLab #CoCreationStudio #AnagramStudio #VR #HealthAndTech #Impact

???Deadline Tomorrow!?Apply Now: The RSC Interdisciplinary Fellowship 2025–2026 ?? MIT Open Documentary Lab & MIT Co-Creation Studio are proud to continue being in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company for the RSC Interdisciplinary Fellowship (IF)—a transformative, year-long fellowship amplifying historically underrepresented voices among artists, researchers, and cultural workers worldwide. This fellowship explores the evolving needs of the creative and cultural sectors, from performing arts to cutting-edge technologies like creative AI and immersive design. With themes spanning sustainability, innovation, access, and social change, Fellows will shape the future of cultural and creative practices. ?? Application deadline: November 21, 2024, 11:59 pm GMT. Learn more about the program, eligibility, and how to apply at https://lnkd.in/e48A4w_2 #RSC #RSCIF #InterdisciplinaryFellowship #Research #PerformingArts #Innovation #ArtsLeadership #MITOpenDocLab

We launched this year's research theme for the MIT Open Documentary Lab x International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) DocLab R&D network yesterday at the DocLab Summit - we want to imagine what an independent, inclusive and diverse distribution system looks like for XR. Much work to do, but we have an opportunity to build the field we want.