Collective Dreamscape
“I got the sense that you would actually like to change the world… you are in an art context but it is not just art.”
An immersive dreamscape of sound and vision, convening global indigenous stories that challenge colonial constructs of time and create a space for imagining multiple futures.
Collective Dreamscape is an immersive XR installation of sound and vision that convenes global Indigenous narratives and explores consciousness as a culturally embedded and relational phenomenon shaped by time, memory, environment, and collective experience. Rather than treating awareness as a purely neurological or computational process, the work reveals how consciousness is lived and culturally transmitted, in ways often erased by dominant scientific and colonial frameworks, and thus challenges colonial constructs of time to create a space for imagining multiple futures.
Developed in collaboration with the Wellcome Discovery research project After the End, led by Prof. Patricia Kingori (Ethox Centre, University of Oxford), the installation uses motion-responsive visuals, spatialised sound, and nonlinear storytelling to immerse visitors in narratives from Indigenous and marginalised communities: Krio (Sierra Leone), Sarawakian (Borneo), Diné/ White Mountain Apache (USA), Zezuru (Zimbabwe). These stories, centred on recovery after health and environmental crises, challenge visitors to reconsider the boundaries of self, time, and perception.
“I was blown away by the anthropological approach taken to the work - really thinking globally, beyond the specific context of this location [in Oxford].”
The installation invites audiences to reflect on how their own consciousness is shaped as their presence shapes the experience in real time. Their curiosity and senses are awakened, as they are drawn into a dialogue with other ways of knowing, challenging traditional narratives, particularly those shaped by colonial, linear, and Western perspectives, which often fail to capture the complexities of time, memory and healing across diverse cultures. We interrogate how immersive arts can bridge this gap for marginalised communities for whom storytelling carries the weight of justice, healing, and legacy.
By positioning XR as a tool for social transformation, Collective Dreamscape expands current conversations about consciousness, and how marginalised histories are preserved, shared, and experienced in an era of technological transformation. We centre indigenous and marginalised perspectives offering a powerful encounter with the plural nature of awareness, rooted in non-Western epistemologies.
Lead Artists
Chipo Mapondera is a Creative Technologist whose multidisciplinary immersive work connects the tangible and intangible cultures of her native Zimbabwe, and beyond. Winning an Innovate UK Award and nominations for AIXR and STARTS Africa awards. Exhibited internationally at National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Fakugesi, and Hypha Studios, Chipo has presented at the Leverhulme Centre (CFI) and Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, and is selected for CPH:LAB 2024/25.
Alysha Nelson is a multidisciplinary creative exploring perception, consciousness, and marginalised histories. Exhibited internationally, productions that she has been a part of have earned an Emmy nomination, Cannes Lion, SXSW Innovation Award, and more, for use of digital, storytelling, and unique engagement with history.
This project was created in collaboration with:
Prof. Patricia Kingori (Ethox Centre, University of Oxford)
Prof. Osman Sankoh (University of Management and Technology (UNIMTECH), Sierra Leone)
HAUS - Harapan Anak Urang (Sarawak) Sdn. Bhd.
Sound Design: Fungai Nengare (The Studio Inc.)
Visuals: Joel Chandauka
Production Support: Kunstraum Productions
Contributors: Amak Roba, Dr. Danya Carroll, Augustine Musa Koroma, Susan Mapondera, Sabina Mutsvati
Commissioned & Produced by Mediale
Supported by the Cultural Programme at the Stephen A.Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, University of Oxford, the Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub - Jesus College Oxford, and Arts Council England.
Immersive Assembly Vol. 4: Dreams & Echoes
Monday 18 - Thursday 21 November 2024
Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub - Jesus College Oxford
“I was deeply impressed by the multi-sensory experience. The connection with nature and hearing human stories is something we are missing. You are helping to bring us closer to nature and vice versa.”
The residency took place between May – November 2024, supporting 6 UK-based artists to collaborate and develop proposals for immersive experiences. The cohort developed projects which invite us to explore the potential of immersive media in interrogating consciousness and enabling new interpretations of ‘reality’.
In the context of new technologies, as our understanding of consciousness evolves beyond human thinking, IA4 provided participants with the opportunity to explore neuroscience, mental health, access and medical science research expertise, as well as cutting edge AI and ethics research, and globally leading immersive art.
Drawing on the world-leading research of academics at the University of Oxford, the artists were invited to consider the role that immersive experiences can play in the exploration of what consciousness means now, and what it could mean in the future.
“There’s something in the soft power of the work - to make people feel experiences. It’s important to have [these] quieter activist spaces where people can be moved to think and feel differently.”
Amak Roba
Bhuket community, Sarawak, Malaysia
Language: Malay and Bhuket
Collected Dreamscape
Dr. Danya Carroll, Susan Mapondera,
Sabina Mutsvati
Augustine Musa Koroma
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Language: Krio