Bio
I am a visual artist, media art researcher, and experimental game designer. I am currently pursuing a PhD. degree at York University in Cinema and Media Studies. My practice and research focus on game studies, immersive media, and liminal relationship between the physical and virtual space. I use a wide range of media such as XR, video installation, digital print, and physical computing.
My Ph.D. dissertation explores XR games as a healing medium, drawing inspiration from Traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy to reevaluate the relationship between the body and the environment through technological mediation. I am practicing Qigong, specifically in the lineage of medical Qigong and Taoism tradition, as part of an auto-ethnography approach in my research creation. I am also a fan of climbing (mostly in the climbing gym and bouldering).
Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in TCM, Qigong, Game, XR, reparative media, or anything relevant adjacent.
Contact
Instagram: haoranchang Email: tylerchang.hr@gmail.com
What is going on: Recent and Upcoming
Co-Chair for a Panel at UAAC/AAUC Conference
October 24th- 26th, 2024
* I will co-chair a session with Sana Akram at UAAC/AAUC conference in the topic of Community-Based Practices in XR. More detail is here:
https://uaac-aauc.com/conference/programme/
Present at SLSA Conference
November 7th - 10th, 2024
* I will present at the 37th SLSA (Society for Literature Science and Art) conference in Dallas, Texas
https://litsciarts.org/slsa24/
Exhibit at SIGGRAPH Asia XR Session
December 4th - 6th, 2024
* I will show my asymmetric VR work “East Beijing Road” at SIGGRAPH Asia in Tokyo, Japan
https://asia.siggraph.org/2024/
Birds of A Feather at SIGGRAPH Asia
December 3rd, 2024
* I will co-present Sari Sari X-Change PI Taien and Carmela in the subject of “Empowering BIPOC Artists through Community Assets: Digital Asset Authorship, Distribution, and Accessibility”
Past
Group Exhibition at Center 3 Gallery
September - October, 2024
* I will show a new project for Sari Sari Xchange Residence Exhibition at Center3 in Hamilton
Opening: September 6th, 7pm-9pm, Center 3 gallery, Hamilton, ON, Canada
https://centre3.com/exhibitions/
Exhibit VR at FIVARS
October 3rd - 8th, 2024
* I will show my asymmetric VR work “East Beijing Road” at FIVARS VR Festival in Toronto
Screening at Pleasure Dome
September 3rd, 2024
* I will show my new short AI-generated video work, Seeing Through the Dark, at Pleasure Dome’s program: NEW TORONTO WORKS 2024
https://pdome.org/2024/new-toronto-works-2024/
Present at IFM 2024
June 12 - 14, 2024
* I will present our new paper “Psychogeotherapy and A Framework of Collective Augmented Reality Game” at the 6th Interactive Film & Media International Virtual Conference. The video presentation is available to watch here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gx7t6nuF09c
The presentation is available to watch as book session here: https://sites.google.com/view/ifm2024/day-2
Present at CGSA 2024
June 15 - 18, 2024
* I will present my new research on Queer(ing) Exergame at CGSA 2024
* Won One of the Student Paper Awards
Present at FMSAC 2024
June 13-17, 2024
* I will present the topic of Slow Game at FMSAC 2024
* I will present as one of the panelists of a roundtable discussion for our ongoing SSX Asian Diaspora with Communities-based XR media practices at FMSAC 2024.
Present at ISEA 2024
June 21 - 29, 2024
* I will participate ISEA 2024 and present my paper “Asymmetric VR Installation and Repertoire: Time and Space in Collaborative Interaction.”
Exhibit at XCoaX 2024
July 12 - 14th, 2024
* I will show my VR installation East Beijing Road as part of XCoAx 2024 Conference in Fabrica, Italy.
Invited Talk at GAVA Summer Institute
July 30, 2024
* I will present at GAVA (Global Audiovisual Archiving) Summer Institute at York University about photogrammetry and queer archival object with interactive gaming system
Directed Reading Course
Winter 2024
* I am doing a directed reading focusing on Feminist Science Studies and Medical Humanities with Professor Janine Marchessault and preparing for my comprehensive examination with a focus on Feminist Science Studies, Game Studies, and Health Humanities in Media
Grant
March, 2024
* I am awarded The Professional Development Opportunity Fund for Sessional Instructor from OCAD
Scholarship
December, 2023
* I am awarded Connected Minds Doctoral Scholarship starting from January 2024 up to four years. This scholarship will support my dissertation development!
https://x.com/ConnectedMinds3/status/1749854573630455928?s=20
Teaching
September - December, 2023
* I am teaching undergrad class Introduction to Game Studies at OCAD
Present at HASTAC Scholar Digital Friday
December 1st, 2023
* I will present at HASTAC Scholar digital Friday about my ongoing research on exergame
Exhibit at SSX Real Asian Film Festival
November 17th, 2023
* I will present my new VR work on progress East Beijing Road at Reel Asian Film Festival Sari Sari Xchange Symposium in Toronto.
Present at CHI Play 2023
October 11th, 2023
* I will present paper “Ludic Reenactment in Queer Game: Queer Affect and Queer Histories” at CHI Play 2023, Perspectives on Play, Stratford, Canada
Publish the Proceeding with CHI Play 2023
October 6th, 2023
* Short paper Ludic Reenactment in Queer Game: Queer Affect and Queer Histories published as proceedings of CHI Play 2023.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3573382.3616046
Side Project: Projection Designer
October 5th, 2023
* I am the realtime live projection designer of a performance, A HISTORY OF SILENCING DANCE, at Citadel in Toronto, by using Unreal Game Engine and NDI
Present at ICC 2023
August 18th, 2023
* Presenter, “A Mobile Augmented Reality Game through Critical Making: Body and Memory in the City,” ICC, (International Cartographic Association) Annual Conference, Cape Town, South Africa.
Present at HASTAC 2023
June 9th, 2023
* Presenter, “Seize: A Mobile Augmented Reality Walking Game through Critical Making,” HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory) Annual Conference (Virtual Presentation), New York City.
Present at “Reinventing the Stage”
June 3rd, 2023
* Presenter, “Touching A Disappearing Building: Asymmetric VR Installation in Storytelling,” “Reinventing the Stage” Conference, Université de Montréal.
Present at CCA 2023
June 2nd, 2023
* Presenter, “Game Design as an ‘Anarchival’ Practice: Queering Time and Space in Ludic Reenactment,” CCA (Canadian Communication Association) Annual Meeting 2023, York University.
Exhibit at Santa Cruz
June 2nd, 2023
* I present my VR work Fair Sai Re Pi VR in Futurescapes: Projects from the Coha-Gunderson Collective, The Institute of the Arts & Sciences Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA.
https://thi.ucsc.edu/event/futurescapes-projects-from-the-coha-gunderson-collective-exhibition/
Present at FMSAC 2023
May 27th, 2023
* Presenter, “Touching A Disappearing Building: Asymmetric VR Installation in Storytelling,” FMSAC (Film and Media Studies Association of Canada) 2023 Conference, York University
Present at Ohio University
April 14th, 2023
* Presenter, “Connecting Through Performative Virtual Game: Game Design During the Time of Covid Lockdown in China,” 2023 Global Arts Festival Symposium: Global Art in the Digital Age, Ohio University(Virtual Presentation)
Present at McMaster
March 16th, 2023
* Presenter, “Race and Gender Formation in VRChat,” Ready Player One Conference, McMaster University
Course: Process Cinema
Winter, 2023
* I took course Process Cinema with Philip Hoffman and Francis Duran. It was such a fun class to play with 16mm film, use bolex camera, and develop film with plant-based developers by using hand. This course makes me to think about the relationship between digital and analogue, film and textuality, and the affect of digital media. This course shapes my asymmetric VR installation, East Beijing Road, in considering the archive with interactive media.
Start RAship
December, 2022
* I started working as a research assistant for Sari Sari Xchange, a research project led by Taien and Carmela. I felt that I was lucky to get this job and started learning how to do research in a team and getting to know more local artists and researcher in the Asian diaspora community.
Group Exhibition
December, 2022
* I was in a group exhibition organized in Hunan Museum of Art, an art museum in my hometown. This is the first time I show my work in my hometown!
First Semester at York
Fall, 2022
* I enrolled in two courses: key concepts in film and media studies and physical computing this semester, a good balance between theory and practice. It was a slow start of the Phd degree but started getting familiar with the city and Canadian academic system. As a newbie in academia, it was exciting to start writing proposals for conference and grant. Trained mostly as a visual artist without a good sense of professionalism, the program really helps me to prepare for my future career through various career-oriented workshops, such as grant writing, CV and resume editing workshop, faculty job workshop, research ethics workshop, etc. I was amazed by my colleagues who can position and elucidate themselves as researchers and creators so well. I think I have done a lot of works in the past, yet I did not have this skill in framing my work to bring awareness and interests from experts and general publics. I am still learning, and I hope I can get there at some point.
Phd Journey Gets Started
September, 2022
* I arrived in Toronto on September 11th and started Phd journey at York University