Client & Collaborators Include :
• Verizon
• Carnegie Mellon University
• The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO For Creative Inquiry
• The Ace Hotel
• Carnegie Museum of Art
• Fake Love
• Invisible North
• Century 21
• slowdanger
• VIA Festival
• Thrival Festival
• Steppenwolf Theatre
• Barnard College / Columbia University
• The Theatre School at DePaul University
• Prototype Festival
• LaMama Experimental Theatre Club
• The Public Theater
• Ningbo Song and Dance Company
Hi!
I’m an artist, researcher, and educator working in emerging forms of media and art. I create, develop, and research physical and virtual immersive experiences, media histories and theory, interaction design methodologies for social/shared platforms and stories, and I teach undergraduate courses in all of the above. I create and prototype interactions, environments, and user journeys which center participant agency, new narratives, and unite our digital and physical worlds. My work is driven by deep curiosity and a healthy critical perspective on the powers of emerging technologies to enhance interactions with our environment and each other. In pedagogy, research, and creative practice, I strive to empower diverse perspectives, meaningful communication, and new forms of storytelling. At the root of my practice is an inquiry into embodied perspectives and participation within our mediated experience of the world.
I am an Assistant Professor of Practice of Emerging Media Arts at the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
EXPERIENCE
I bring an experience designer’s perspective to user research, an artist’s eye to creative content, and a prototyper’s drive to develop new experiences with technology. I bring fluid translation skills and an exceptional understanding of collaboration across interdisciplinary teams to the work that I do.
As an experience designer, I design, prototype, and produce projects enabling shared engagement with immersive and interactive technology. I specialize in advances in computational photography, motion capture, and head-mounted immersive experiences. My work with virtual and mixed reality draws from a strong understanding of and experience with audiences, user flows, and interaction design. I’ve been a projection designer for theatre and live performance from Broadway to China, and taught Projection Design at leading universities. I have served in creative direction, design, strategy and thought leadership, and producing roles for interactive installation, virtual reality, and experiential marketing companies. I completed my Masters of Science in Computational Design at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Golan Levin, and hold an MFA in New Media from the Glasgow School of Art.
I bring an established track record as a designer and leader of teams working at the edge of possibility, and thrive when generating and implementing creative ideas, solving complex problems, and empowering effective communication.
RESEARCH
My research centers on embodied interaction design, cognition, and emotional experience in co-present immersive experiences, with a focus on 3D online environments, head-mounted and mobile XR, and volumetric capture. My interdisciplinary practice is a constant dialogue between rigorous computational processes and collaborations with practitioners whose knowledge base is critical to, yet often lacking in technology research and development. My long-term collaborative engagement with movement and dance practices has served as a crucial inquiry into the design of embodied interactions with immersive media. I prototype XR experiences which use (and misuse) computer vision algorithms as a way to explore creative possibilities in 2D-to-3D video, real-time depth sensing and tracking, tangible materials, co-located and distant participants. I design interactions that privilege direct physical agency and improvisation as tools to embrace the liminal space of virtuality, and conduct user studies which examine first-person and social psychology perspectives.
Get in touch!
henson.anna at gmail dot com
Or connect with me on social media @annaglassin
