Telling Stories in the Dark: a feminist thinks with virtual reality

lauren connell-whitney

 

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Project Description

This work explores how women might share knowledge through storytelling in a virtual space. I share my own stories of how feminism has shaped my life. Revealing how spaces of quiet and being alone, like one experiences in a virtual reality headset, can allow for reflective and generative knowledge sharing. The VR space, Aspasias, functions as a pilot project to bring these stories into the virtual space to share them with others and using a rhizomatic structure to navigate through the complexity and multiplicity of knowledge that makes its way into the shape of a story. The findings of this research contribute to how we might think of VR as a space for reflective (un)learning through personal narrative and how story can make its way into the virtual commons.

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BIO

Lauren is an artist and screenprinter who is constantly searching for half baked ways to get (portable) (usable) digital technology into the hands of not-so-tech creatives. She holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design in New York City and is completing her MDes at OCAD University in Toronto. Lauren is a storyteller at heart and every single one of her skills and experiences contribute to yet another ever evolving tall tale. Currently Lauren is exploring Virtual Reality as a space of reflection about education and entrepreneurship through the eyes of a feminist.

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