【XR DREAMLAND】XR NEXT – Industry Pioneer Talks＃2｜Technology Meets Experience: How XR Fosters Acceptance and Understanding

【XR DREAMLAND】XR NEXT – Industry Pioneer Talks＃2｜Technology Meets Experience: How XR Fosters Acceptance and Understanding

Opening Remarks
Jimmy CHENG Vice President of Operations, Digital Domain Holdings Limited

This forum brought together the directors of three XR works featured in this year’s Kaohsiung Film Festival. The panel included Dominic DESJARDINS (The Dollhouse), Cameron KOSTOPOULOS (In the Current of Being), and Barry Gene MURPHY (Impulse: Playing with Reality), and was moderated by Jimmy CHENG, Vice President of Operations at Digital Domain Holdings Limited.


Panelists
Dominic DESJARDINS Director of The Dollhouse

DESJARDINS is committed to connecting artists with new creative media. The Dollhouse is his first interactive piece and explores themes of human rights and power dynamics within the family structure. His goal was to create a poetic, dynamic interactive experience. While the viewer cannot alter the storyline, they can engage through symbolic gestures and gameplay elements, sensing the emotional nuances of the characters. During production, DESJARDINS experimented with various narrative perspectives and materials, ultimately choosing a combination of paper, metal textures, 2D animation, and VR to convey emotional warmth and realism.

Panelists
Cameron KOSTOPOULOS Director of In the Current of Being

KOSTOPOULOS’s previous project Body of Mine explored bodily identity, inviting viewers to embody a different gender and experience gender dysphoria. Working with psychologists, his team found that the experience significantly improved participants’ self-acceptance regarding their bodies and gender. He believes immersive experiences can have positive psychological effects. In the Current of Being is based on a true story about a transgender person forced to undergo traumatic therapy. The work enables viewers to feel her story and physical responses—such as trembling in fear and the bodily memory of repression—allowing deeper understanding of her journey from trauma to self-acceptance.

Panelists
Barry Gene MURPHY Director of Impulse: Playing with Reality

MURPHY is part of Anagram Studio, known for examining the relationship between real life and technology. The Play with Reality series focuses on mental health. The previous piece Goliath: Playing with Reality introduced audiences to the experience of schizophrenia. This year’s work, Impulse: Playing with Reality, turns to ADHD, a condition often misunderstood and stigmatized. After conducting interviews with over 100 individuals including experts and those with ADHD, the team distilled the experience into four narrative characters. The goal is to allow viewers to step into their shoes and understand that everyone should be allowed to think and exist in their own way.


Q&A Highlights

Each of the three works presents a unique form: VR, installation-based and MR. The Dollhouse uses interactive VR to evoke empathy. KOSTOPOULOS’s goal in In the Current of Being was to embed humanity into technology, allowing viewers to forget the equipment and fully embody another’s experience. MURPHY chose MR from the outset for Impulse to foster a connection between people and the space they occupy.

All three works resonated with moderator CHENG. Reflecting on Impulse, he shared his own perspective as someone with undiagnosed childhood ADHD, noting that the phrase “It’s not that I can’t focus, it’s that I care about too many things” deeply touched him. MURPHY responded that the goal of the work is not to recreate the ADHD experience but to evoke empathy.

CHENG also pointed out that while the theme of In the Current of Being may seem less relevant in LGBTQ+ friendly Taiwan, the core question remains relevant: how can we practice true equality? He drew a parallel between The Dollhouse and Taiwan’s migrant worker issues, where children’s perspectives expose unequal power dynamics within families. DESJARDINS explained that the purpose of his work is “to create a sense of questioning”—which, he believes, is more powerful than providing answers.

When asked about how to extend the social impact and lifespan of these works, the speakers shared their strategies. KOSTOPOULOS developed multiple formats of his work—including mobile and YouTube 360 versions—to lower access barriers and reach more viewers. MURPHY used Goliath to help experts and scholars overcome compassion fatigue, and has held community and school screenings of Impulse, along with side events and physical spaces for discussion. DESJARDINS added that making a work entertaining and special is also key to increasing its visibility and marketability.

Because these works carry intense emotional weight and meaning, the panel also addressed the need to support audiences before and after the experience. KOSTOPOULOS mentioned offering post-viewing resources, feedback channels, and online platforms to continue the conversation. DESJARDINS shared that museums hosting The Dollhouse also provide additional materials, and MURPHY said Impulse takes a similar approach.