First Contact - Take 2 Using XR to Overcome Intercultural Discomfort (racism)

Abstract

Digital/human encounter is explored through a suite of experiences that comprises common/room, an art installation that uses various modes of Extended Reality (XR) to support social engagement and generate connections with a view to reversing processes of societal atomisation and intercultural discomfort (racism). common/room is exhibited as an informal dining room where each table hosts a distinct experience, designed to bring people together for discussion, active listening and considered response. Although XR is my tool, real encounter is my aim. Each experience, be it using 360 3D video in a headset or projection, or AR, simulates informal face-to-face encounters in the setting of a domestic kitchen or dining room. Visitors to one such experience, First Contact - Take 2, are invited to sit at a dining table where, by wearing a head-mounted Augmented Reality display, they encounter a volumetric representation of an indigenous Maori woman seated opposite. She speaks out of her culture that has refined collective endeavour and relational psychology over millennia.