Trailblazing Realities: Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality

To uncover the untold stories of female pioneers in the history of virtual reality (VR), a cross-generational debate hosted by Paula Strunden on embodied virtuality, gender, and identity in VR will build on the insights gathered from the Air AA podcast on 'Female Pioneers in the History of VR.'

The podcast features artists and theorists like Brenda Laurel, Char Davies, Tamiko Thiel, and Monika Fleischmann and arose from a profound recognition of the often-overlooked contributions of female pioneers in the field of immersive technologies. This event challenges the conventional narrative surrounding VR, fostering critical and speculative design discussion by pairing pioneers with VR artists, prompting reflections on the profound interplay between technology, identity, and the very essence of reality.

Speakers include:

Rebecca Allen is an internationally recognised artist inspired by the aesthetics of motion, the study of perception and behaviour and the potential of advanced technology. From the mid 1970’s, Allen was a rare female artist working in the early stages of computer art and digital technology. Her pioneering artwork, which spans nearly five decades and takes the form of experimental video, large-scale performances, live simulations and virtual and augmented reality art installations, addresses the future of gender, identity, nature, and what it means to be human as technology redefines our sense of reality.

Rhiarna Dhaliwal is a British-Indian Architectural designer, researcher and educator based in London. Her work investigates global environmental and political systems that affect the future of landscapes and ecosystems. Rhiarna currently co-leads the bachelors design studio, Studio Digital Native at the Design Academy Eindhoven, has just recently completed a 9-month long design-research residency program at the Design Museum, London, is the co-founder of the all-female design collective, Xcessive Aesthetics and is an alumni of the New Architecture Writers programme (2022).

Martina Menegon is a digital artist living and working in Vienna. In her works, Martina creates intimate and complex assemblages of physical and virtual elements that explore the contemporary self and its hybrid corporeality. Working predominantly with Interactive and Extended Reality Art, she experiments with new forms of performative and glitched self-portraiture to explore new simulated fluid identities and create disorienting experiences that become perceivable despite their virtual nature.

Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie is a VR pioneer/artist who developed techniques for meaningful and emotional VR experiences. She has advanced degrees in Fine Art and Computer Science, and currently teaches Immersive Experience Design at UCLA Extension. Her co-edited book, The Global Impacts and Roles of Immersive Media, was published in 2020. She is currently writing a book on the history of Virtual Reality. In 2022, Morie was presented with the AIXR Accenture Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in VR.

Paula Strunden is a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture. She studied in Vienna, Paris and London and worked at Raumlabor Berlin and Herzog & de Meuron Basel. Her room-scale XR installations were exhibited at the RA London, HNI Rotterdam, Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam and nominated for the Dutch Film Award "Gouden Calf" in 2020 and 2023. Since 2020, she has been conducting her PhD as part of the EU research network TACK at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, advocating for interdisciplinary historiography of virtual technologies through her internet platform XR Atlas.

Tamiko Thiel was awarded the 2018 SAT Montreal Visionary Pioneer Award for over 35 years of socially critical media artworks. Early works include the visual design of an AI supercomputer (1986), the first metaverse for children (1994) and the first VR artwork acquired by a US art museum (2002). Early AR works include interventions into MoMA NY (2010) and Venice Biennial (2011). AR commissions include Whitney Museum (2018) and Smithsonian Institution‘s 175th anniversary (2021).

This event is part of the Portraits of Practice event series that accompanies the exhibition on show in the AA Gallery titled Portraits of a Practice: The Life and Work of MJ Long. The series takes the themes and topics explored within the exhibition as its starting point to discuss the gendering of spaces and objects within architecture and its related disciplines.

Image: Immaterial Force by Jacquelyn Ford Morie from the MFA series Integrated Fantasies, 1984