Gabriela Bila Advincula and Jonny Cohen. 2026. Ancestral Craft and Emerging Technologies: Designing Futures from Place. In Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference Spatial Storytelling (SIGGRAPH Spatial Storytelling '26), July 19--23, 2026, Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA 3 Pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3799822.3812473

Abstract

Immersive media such as extended reality (XR) often rely on generic interaction models and aesthetic languages detached from the places they represent. This paper presents a situated design methodology for spatial storytelling developed through a free-roaming XR installation in Amazonia that combines embodied interaction, craft-based fabrication, and material robotics. Two interconnected systems structure the work. The first is a body-scale interface derived from regional basketry and performative costume traditions, translating full-body movement into navigation through a infrared tracking pipeline and real-time virtual environment. The second consists of underactuated robotic sculptures constructed from miriti, a lightweight riverine material, whose movement emerges through compliant structures and minimal actuation. Both systems are synchronized, creating continuous feedback between participant, artifact, and spatial narrative. The project proposes cultural specificity not as representational content alone, but as a generator of interaction logic, fabrication processes, and computational behavior within immersive media systems.