[ISEA2022] Paper: Chang Liu, Álvaro Cassinelli & Christian Sandor — A Mixed Reality Installation to Elicit Reflexivity on Adverse Childhood Experiences

Abstract

Full Paper. Session: Educations and Societies / Vernacular creativity and reflective practices

Keywords: Preservation, Documentation, Art residencies, Design methodologies, Artistic research, Cultivating the possible

To promote public awareness of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), Chang Liu created a mixed reality (MR) installation based on her personal experience with ACEs and ACEs related Post-traumatic stress disorder. This MR installation consists of an interactive AR installation, an interactive VR narrative, and a collage film.

Adverse childhood experiences are an underestimated public health threat. It impairs children’s brain development, immune system, and hormonal systems. These impairments predispose children to various chronic mental and physical dis- eases. However, its negative impacts are not widely known by the general public. Chang Liu created a mixed reality (MR) installation based on her personal experience with ACEs and ACEs related Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which aims to provoke the audience’s reflection on ACEs and the influence of their upbringings on their mental and physical development. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 audiences, and their response to this MR installation was analyzed using the thematic analysis method. The analysis proved that this MR installation is capable of eliciting the audience’s reflection on ACEs and their upbringing. In addition, The VR experience enabled participants to emotionally and somatically experience several symptoms of PTSD, and 75% of the participants demonstrated a high level of emotional self-awareness during the VR experience. Lastly, the analysis revealed that participants who had never encountered ACEs are more likely to sympathize with both the victim and abuser in a fictional narrative about ACEs than those who had undergone ACEs.

  • Chang Liu (HK) is a new media artist who is active in the field of Extended Reality (VR/AR) narrative, installation art, and experimental film. Her interactive film “Bystander” won the global culture prize at the Stuttgart film winter festival and was included in IFVA 2019 as the finalist. “Bystander” was also exhibited at the Microwave festival connecting the dots, Phantom Horizons project, Relentless melt project, and System dream at Art machine2. https://lunaliu.info
  • Christian Sandor is a Professor at Paris-Saclay University, France.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-christian-sandor-b7240890/?originalSubdomain=hk
  • Alvaro Cassinelli is an Associate Professor and founder of the Augmented Materiality Lab at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Awards include the Grand Prize [Art Division] (9th Japan Media Art Festival), Excellence Prize [Entertainment Division] (13th Japan Media Art Festival), Honorary Mention (Ars Electronica), NISSAN Innovative Award (2010), Jury Grand Prize at Laval Virtual (2011).