XRiS-00222 explores the entanglements of the metaverse with the physical space to reflect on how augmented reality (AR) filters can become means of connecting with archived digital identities. This interactive AR filter opens a communication portal between a visitor and a cyberwitch avatar. The audience can explore an intimate story as the cyberwitch reflects on cyborgism, the archive as a sanctuary and spiritual technology.

Audiences will meet Xris, a digital fragmentation of a deceased cyberwitch, who decided that a digital capsule would be a more suitable gravestone for her body. Upon activating the AR filter, participants place a portal in their immediate space and have the opportunity to gradually navigate through the different sections of the cybertomb. Users are invited to listen to her last words, the description of her entanglement with digital technology and her feelings about it.

Nella Piatek is a designer and researcher studying the evolution of the human in conjunction with digital technology, along with the implications and values that this entanglement conjures. By working through current digital assemblages, she investigates ways to activate new architecture for dialogue and critique. Her work explores anthropological futures and socio-technical imaginaries, where poetic introspection and rituals are used to touch upon the themes of faith, impermanence, and the infinite search for a sense of self within the digital context.

@nellapiatek

nellapiatek.com