CONFERENCE — DETAILED PROGRAM

All conference sessions will be held in English.

The Embodied Realms Conference was created as a meeting place for people working with immersive technologies across very different contexts — from art and film to education, research and memory, as well as medicine, business and technological development.

We want to create a space where artists, producers, researchers, technologists, representatives of universities, cultural institutions and companies can exchange experiences, discover different approaches to working with XR and find common ground across their fields.

The programme brings together project presentations, case studies, panels and conversations focused on the creative process as well as financing, distribution, research, education and the practical applications of immersive technologies. Our aim is not only to present finished projects, but also to discuss how they are developed, what barriers they encounter, and what different communities can learn from one another.

RESERVE YOUR SPOT

Choose Day 1 or Day 2 in the booking system.

Creative Europe Desk Poland is a co-organiser of the event.

FRIDAY, 16 OCTOBER: PRODUCTION, MARKET AND XR APPLICATIONS

CONFERENCE OPENING (10:00 - 10:15)

PRODUCTION, FINANCING AND THE XR MARKET (10:15 - 11:45)

10:15 It’s Not a Film. It’s Not a Game. Financing the Immersive World of Aquatia
Paweł Szarzyński

  • The presentation explores Aquatia as a case study in building an independent VR project from concept to production. It highlights what sets the project apart from other immersive experiences and how its unique nature has shaped the approach to production, financing, and distribution. It examines the project’s structure, combining models from film, new technologies, and the immersive industry, the key decisions made along the way, and where Aquatia stands today.

  • Director, animator, and new media artist, co-founder of the artistic collectives kilku.com and Kinhouse Studio. With experience as a graphic design teacher at the Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design, I have been working as a freelancer in the advertising industry since 2007, collaborating with renowned brands such as Prodigious, FCB, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and many others. I specialize in graphic design, 2D/3D, and procedural animation, as well as theater scenography and visualization, utilizing my skills to create engaging visual experiences that blend art and technology.

10:45 How to develop immersive content? – Insights from Creative Europe MEDIA projects
Marta Modzelewska

  • This session explores how Creative Europe MEDIA supports video game producers, XR studios and audiovisual companies in developing video games and interactive immersive experiences, strengthening their position in European and international markets and increasing the cross-border potential of their work. Marta Modzelewska will present the programme together with Emma Genet, representing beneficiary Lucid Realities. Part of CLPB Media Group, Lucid Realities is a Paris-based immersive production and distribution company co-founded by Chloé Jarry and François Bertrand. Its projects have been supported by organisations including Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Fund, Google DNI, HTC Vive Arts, NFB and European public broadcasters.

  • Within Creative Europe Desk Poland, she is responsible for support to Polish audiovisual industry professionals applying for grants within Creative Europe MEDIA programme. She provides information on the available funding schemes, delivers trainings and consultation, organizes events aimed at Polish applicants capacity building and dissemination of projects results. Before joining CED Poland, she was responsible for another EU programme – Europe for Citizens dedicated to Polish institutions and organizations conducting international projects on civic engagement, European remembrance, and intercultural dialogue. She holds a degree in Romance languages and literature from the University of Warsaw.

ART, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (11:45 - 12:15)

11:45 Art & Science Laboratory at PCSS: Creative Collaboration and XR Open Calls
Jan Skorupa

  • The Art & Science Laboratory is part of the New Media Department at PCSS and creates a space for collaboration between artistic practice, scientific research, design and engineering. Its work focuses on immersive and interactive environments, spatial audio, XR and real-time technologies, supporting experimental projects developed across disciplines. The presentation will introduce the Laboratory’s approach to creative collaboration and highlight opportunities for artists and creators to engage with PCSS through XR-related open calls and interdisciplinary initiatives.

  • Jan Skorupa is a sound artist, sound designer and researcher working at the intersection of art, science and technology. He leads the Art & Science Laboratory within the New Media Department at the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (PCSS), developing interdisciplinary projects and prototypes that explore immersive media. His practice brings together electroacoustic music, spatial audio, interactivity and audiovisual forms, creating multichannel installations and immersive experiences that explore how sound shapes space, emotion and our relationship with the surrounding world.

COFFEE BREAK (12:15 - 12:30)

XR MARKET AND ECOSYSTEM (12:30 - 13:30)

12:30 Baltic XR report: Insights from the region
Michael Barngrover

13:00 Two worlds, one barrier: mapping Poland's XR/VW ecosystem
Łukasz Pieczonka

  • Who makes XR and VW in Poland, and what holds them back? Drawing on a new report on the Polish XR and VW ecosystem, based on surveys and expert interviews, the talk shows two distinct worlds. Companies build VR for business clients and foreign markets; artists and cultural institutions work with 3D scanning and rely on public funding. Yet both point to the same main obstacle: resources. It seems to be the main barrier both rate as significant. What would help XR/VW projects outlive their funding?

13:15 From Community to Catalyst: XR Polska and the Rise of Poland's XR Ecosystem
Atilla Arda Beşen

  • Poland's XR sector is full of talent but fragmented, with stakeholders often working in parallel rather than together. This talk shows how XR Polska, Poland's first national XR association, turns a scattered landscape into an ecosystem by uniting artists, designers, engineers, educators, researchers, industry and public institutions. It argues that national XR associations matter beyond development: cooperation, governance and national strategy are vital for any country's ecosystem to grow.

  • Atilla Arda Beşen is an entrepreneur building technology companies across Europe, Türkiye, and the Gulf. He is the Founder and CEO of VolareVers Technologies, developing XR and AI-driven simulation and simulator solutions across six countries (Poland, Türkiye, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman). He also serves as Poland Country Sales Director at Invelon Technologies Group, Co-Founder of Entegra Poland and TIDE Europe (Turkish Innovation Diaspora Europe), Co-Founder of the defence company AZRAK Industries, Founder and Chair of XR Polska, and a member of XR Türkiye.

    Alongside his business ventures, Atilla is a PhD candidate and lecturer at the University of Warsaw, where his research examines how technology companies shape AI & XR governance across the EU, US, and China. He delivered speeches at HumanTech Summit, Horizon4Poland 2025 Summit, Accelerating Investment in Montenegro Summit, ISA Summits, and TEDx. 

XR IN MEDICINE (13:30 - 14:30)

13:30 From Microscopy to Immersion: The Cancer Cell as an Object of Choreography and a Space of Experience
Karolina Bieszczad-Stie

  • How are imaging technologies and VR changing our relationship with biological processes that we cannot directly see or experience? Through the projects Micro-choreography and NanoPlanet, Karolina Bieszczad-Stie will trace a path from designing the movement of living cancer cells in the laboratory to creating, together with Patryk Lichota, a VR environment in which confocal microscopy imagery becomes a space explored through the movement of the human body.

  • Karolina Bieszczad-Stie is a choreographer and artistic researcher based in Oslo, and the founder of the Butoh Encounters platform. Her practice develops at the intersection of choreography, science and new technologies, often in collaboration with scientists, engineers and technologists. She holds a PhD in Performing Arts from Brunel University London. Her work incorporates robotics, exoskeletons, microbiology and immersive technologies, and has involved collaborations with institutions including the University of Oslo, OsloMet and the University of Agder. Her projects have also been commissioned by the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and the Norwegian research institute SINTEF. Her practice explores changing understandings of embodiment, agency and intimacy in environments shaped by technology.

14:00 From Immersive Art to Cancer Care: Creation of the Worlds
Vitalijus Žukas

LUNCH BREAK (14:30 - 15:15)

PORTFOLIO PITCH: SELECTED PROJECT PRESENTATIONS (15:15 - 15:45)

Two participants selected through the Portfolio Pitch open call will present their work to an industry audience and invited experts: one as a creative producer and one as a creative technologist. Each presentation will introduce the participant’s experience, working methods and selected projects, creating space for feedback, discussion and potential future collaboration.

XR IN PRACTICE: TRAINING AND EDUCATION (15:45 - 16:15)

15:45 VR? Do It Yourself. No-Code Solutions for Training and Education
Małgorzata Steciak

  • The presentation focuses on the practical use of VR in business training and education, as well as the barriers that limit wider adoption of the technology. Their VR solutions are used by institutions and companies including Kozminski University, the Prof. Zbigniew Religa Postsecondary School in Olsztyn, the Voivodeship Labour Office in Rzeszów, T-Mobile and Warsaw Trams. Using their proprietary no-code tool ISSVR as an example, the speakers will show how interactive VR materials can reduce production costs while maintaining interactivity and user engagement.

  • Małgorzata Steciak is COO and co-owner of CinematicVR, a project manager and film critic. She has implemented new technology solutions, including VR and AR, for institutions and companies such as Wawel Royal Castle, Żabka, Warsaw Trams, T-Mobile, Kozminski University, the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, and the Voivodeship Labour Office in Rzeszów. She is a mentor in support programmes for women and girls taking their first steps in the IT sector, including STEAM Academy and INCO Polska. She was featured in the Strong Women in IT 2025 report.

TECHNICAL BREAK — BYOXR SETUP (16:15 - 16:45)

BRING YOUR OWN XR (BYOXR): PROJECT SHOWCASE & MENTORING (16:45 - 18:00)

BYOXR is an open showcase of selected XR projects at different stages of development. Creators will present their work to the public and invited experts, with opportunities for discussion, feedback and industry networking.

The session will open with Laetitia Bochud, who will introduce opportunities for further project support, including online mentoring and the IMPULSE programme. Selected projects will receive additional mentoring after the festival.

SATURDAY, 17 OCTOBER: MEMORY, EDUCATION AND NEW FORMS OF XR

CONFERENCE DAY 2 OPENING (10:00 - 10:15)

XR, MEMORY AND HISTORY (10:15-12:00)

10:15 Beyond Presence: What Humanities Can Bring to Historical XR?
Przemysław Raczyk

  • As XR becomes increasingly important in heritage, memory and history, the challenge is no longer only how to create presence, but how to shape the user’s relation to the past. Drawing on narratology, historiography and memory studies, this talk examines how perspective, agency, embodiment and interaction construct historical meaning in immersive environments. It argues that the humanities can offer not only critical interpretation, but practical tools for designing more conscious, credible and responsible XR experiences.

  • Przemysław M. Raczyk is a PhD candidate in literary studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, researching historical narratives in XR through narratology, hermeneutics and memory studies, with particular focus on how immersive media transform the audience from observer into participant. As a doctoral researcher, he works at the intersection of literary studies, digital humanities and immersive media, exploring how humanistic methods can contribute to both the analysis and design of XR experiences.

10:30 Reich of Ashes: VR Documentary and Immersive Installation
Dr. Joanne Popinska, Tom C. Hall

  • Dr Joanne Popinska and Tom C. Hall will present Reich of Ashes: Journey of Survival, a documentary project combining VR and an immersive installation, built around testimonies of Holocaust survivors. They will discuss working with testimony, designing presence and interaction, and the ethical decisions involved in representing the Holocaust through immersive media. The presentation will also explore how the project is being developed as both an artistic and educational experience.

  • Dr Joanne Popinska is a Polish-Canadian XR filmmaker, documentarian and sociologist, and co-founder of Infinite Frame Media. She holds a PhD in Film Directing from the Polish National Film School in Łódź and specialises in immersive and interactive documentary. She is the director and producer of the award-winning VR project The Choiceand the creative director of Reich of Ashes: Journey of Survival. Her work focuses on socially significant stories, testimony, ethics and the use of immersive media to create emotionally engaging documentary experiences.

    Tom C. Hall is an award-winning stereographer, cameraman, VR filmmaker and co-founder of Infinite Frame Media. He is the Technical Director of Reich of Ashes: Journey of Survival, responsible for the project’s technical architecture, interactive systems and immersive implementation. His work spans stereoscopic and volumetric capture, 360° production, VFX, stitching, real-time technologies and XR development. He was the lead technological thinker behind HORIZON: A 360 Journey and focuses on using emerging technologies as tools for narrative storytelling.

10:50 If These Streets Could Talk: AR and Place-Based Memory
Barna Szász

  • Barna Szasz will present If These Streets Could Talk, a project using augmented reality to explore place-based memory and local histories. He will discuss how AR can layer archival materials, testimonies and interpretive content onto contemporary spaces, creating new ways of engaging with history. The presentation will highlight the potential of mobile technologies for education, remembrance and location-based immersive experiences.

11:10 Immersive Holocaust Memory: VR, AR, and New Modes of Experiencing and Educating about the Past
Dr. Sylwia Papier

  • My research explores how immersive and interactive technologies reshape the transmission of Holocaust memory after 2000, focusing on mediation, presence and absence, embodiment, and ethics. The presentation introduces selected VR and AR projects examined in my current research and looks at how spatial immersion, narrative embodiment, and interactive testimony shape encounters with the Holocaust past. By analysing their narrative, visual, and technological strategies, I consider both the possibilities these formats create for contemporary remembrance and the ethical and representational challenges they introduce around authenticity, historical presence, emotional engagement, and the experience of the past.

  • Dr. Sylwia Papier is a Holocaust and memory studies scholar, curator and educator, and a member of the Jagiellonian University’s Research Center for Memory Cultures. She led the project Transformations of Holocaust Testimony in the Digital Age and is currently conducting postdoctoral research on digital Holocaust commemorative practices. Her work focuses on immersive technologies, including VR and AR, audience experience and the ethical challenges of representing Holocaust testimony, places and memory.

11:30 Discussion: Immersive Technologies and Memory: Between Presence, Place and Testimony
Dr. Joanne Popinska, Tom C. Hall, Barna Szász, Moderation: Dr. Sylwia Papier

  • A conversation with Dr Joanne Popinska, Tom C. Hall, Barna Szasz and Dr Sylwia Papier on how immersive technologies are changing the ways we engage with history and memory. Taking Reich of Ashes: Journey of Survival and If These Streets Could Talk as starting points, the discussion will explore presence, testimony, place-based memory, education, and the responsibilities involved in designing VR and AR experiences dealing with history and the Holocaust.

COFFEE BREAK (12:00 - 12:15)

XR ACADEMIA: EDUCATION AND STUDENT PRACTICE (12:15 - 14:05)

12:15 From Philology to Virtual Worlds? Finding the Place for XR in the Humanities
Prof. UAM dr hab. Konrad Dominas, Dominik Cywiński, Kacper Jasiński

  • How can XR open new paths for a philology faculty without losing its roots? The presentation introduces the IDUB-funded XR infrastructure developed at the Faculty of Polish and Classical Philology at Adam Mickiewicz University and explores how it supports research and teaching in emerging fields while remaining grounded in the Faculty’s scholarly traditions. It will also address the potential for international collaboration through selected examples, including the EPICUR alliance. The presentation will be delivered by Dominik Cywiński and Kacper Jasiński, with a segment on EPICUR presented by Prof. Konrad Dominas, Vice-Dean for International Relations at the Faculty.

12:45 Five Projects, Five Perspectives: Student Works in Immersive Media
Julia Mikzińska

  • The presentation introduces five works by students of Interactive Media and Performance at Adam Mickiewicz University, developed within Dr. Patryk Lichota’s Media Laboratory. The projects use technologies including WebVR, Unity 3D and Unreal Engine 5, combining immersive media with scenographic elements and custom interfaces. Julia Mikzińska will present works by Michał Czyński, Evgeniya Ivaniushchenko, Szeherezada Kondratowicz, Piotr Tkocz and her own project, highlighting their different approaches to image, sound, interaction, memory, time, climate and embodied media experience.

13:15 Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology: Education at the Intersection of Technology, Design and Art
Marta Myszewska

13:35 PJAIT Projects at the Intersection of Art, Design and Interactive Technologies
Dr hab. Anna Klimczak, prof. PJATK

LUNCH BREAK (14:05 - 14:50)

POLAND × TAIWAN: EDUCATION AND EMERGING XR CREATORS (14:50 - 16:00)

14:50 Immersive Art and XR Practices in Taiwan

15:20 Panel: Student Projects in Poland and Taiwan: Different Environments, Shared Challenges
Moderated by Dr Patryk Lichota

  • A panel discussion with students from Adam Mickiewicz University and Taiwan, moderated by Dr. Patryk Lichota. The conversation will focus on the projects presented during the festival, the environments in which they were developed, and the opportunities available to emerging creators working with interactive and immersive media. The participants will compare academic contexts in Poland and Taiwan, approaches to project development, access to technology, and the opportunities and challenges involved in developing their creative practice.

  • Patryk Lichota is a musician, composer, multimedia artist, producer and curator. He holds a PhD in art studies, teaches Interactive Media and Performance at Adam Mickiewicz University, and is a member of the HAT Center. His practice includes multimedia installations, theatre music, radio plays and audiovisual projects. His research focuses on VR and telepresence, interactivity, sound art, sound design, new media theory and video games. He is the author of Traditions of Noise in Sound Art.

BREAK (16:00 - 16:15)

BEYOND THE HEADSET: EMBODIED AND MULTIMODAL XR (16:15 - 17:45)

16:15 Replica: Body, Dance and Mixed Reality
Displace Studio: Dr Kerryn Wise

  • Kerryn Wise will present Replica, a Studio Displace project combining dance, performance and mixed reality. She will discuss the creative process behind an experience in which the performer’s body and the audience’s presence intersect with a digital layer of space. The presentation will explore the technologies used and the challenges of designing an experience that brings together movement, physical space and a virtual environment.

  • Dr Kerryn Wise is a dance artist, performer, researcher and co-founder of Displace Studio, where she leads performance and choreography. For over 20 years, she has created work at the intersection of dance, film, theatre and digital technologies. She is a Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at De Montfort University in Leicester, as well as a freelance digital dance artist and producer.

16:45 From headset to space: designing multimodal XR installations
Bernard Mendiburu

17:15 The distribution bottleneck - How immersive works find their audience
Laetitia Bochud

  • Europe has a very active scene of immersive artists and creators. Their works take many forms: spatial or experiential, with or without headsets, for one participant or many. But where do these works meet their audience? How do venues adapt to narrative formats that often require large spaces or extra mediation and staff? We'll cover all of this and more, with concrete examples and business models.

  • Laetitia Bochud is an XR strategist, producer, curator and educator with over a decade of experience supporting immersive technology and digital creation across Switzerland and Europe. She chairs XR4Europe, leads Virtual Switzerland, and co-initiated the IMPULSE Programme, a European XR accelerator and mentoring initiative. Her work spans XR strategy, business development, immersive art production, curation, research-based innovation and university teaching.