The Space Messengers Immersive Mixed Reality (IMR) installation and STEMarts international youth exchange was presented in three festivals/countries in 2022 and engaged over 200 students in direct workshops, apprenticeship and ambassador programs. Through the Space Messengers curriculum, students contribute their 'space messages' which become part of the final installation. Through the festivals we had thousands of participants engage with the student-created installation.
September 16-17, 2022
Space Messengers was projected on to the Taos Municipal School Building (TMS) for The PASEO Festival and a VR Station allowed participants to put on VR headsets to enter the Space Messengers virtual world.
For our Scientist Avatar Station we beamed in Astrophysicist, Andrea Albert, as a Avatar to answer questions about space in real time.
Space Messengers generates messages collected from a custom platform we call the Space Board. Students who participate in our workshops write messages and create drawings communicating the science they learned and sharing their questions and wishes for a sustainable interplanetary future. These 'space messages' are seen floating on the wall along with interactive body silhouettes.
Markus Dorninger (OMAi team) is the lead artist. Using his artist-created Tagtool app he live generated the painting on to the building responding to the architecture and the mood of evening.
We coordinated a Global VR Youth Day for the PASEO Festival as part of the STEMarts International youth exchange, sponsored in part by the Q Station. Students participate as Avatars to experience the installation together virtually, in conjunction with the live festival.
We installed pop-up VR Stations at Taos High School, Penasco Middle/High School, Taos Day School, Santa Fe Indian School (New Mexico) and Escola Secundaria Sebastiao e Silva (Portugal). VR Ambassadors participated as experience guides from Brazil.
October 13-16, 2022
Space Messengers first launched in Oerias Portugal in 2021 for the Festival Internacional de Ciencia (FIC.A) and they invited us back to this annual event. We projected Space Messengers and coordinated a VR Station and the Avatar Science Station for this event. 25 High School students from Escola Secundaria Sebastiao e Silva participated as STEMarts Ambassadors.
December 3, 2022
Space Messengers was presented at the Planetario Lunaria in Guadalajara Mexico for the Noche de las Estrellas event. Students and teachers from local schools, Universidad de Guadalajara Preparatoria#5 and San Jose del Valle participated as experience guides at the event. Visit our instagram page for updates and stay tuned for the video recap of the event.
Space Messengers is made possible in part by the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund for U.S. Alumni; an opportunity sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by Partners of the Americas. This project is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts