At the intersection of folklore, play and meditative interventions
Introducing Hiba Ali, new Solitude Exchange Network Zagreb resident.
Dr. Hiba Ali is a digital artist, scholar, and professor of Performance, Play and Design (University of California) whose visionary practice moves across immersive digital environments, sculpture-based installations, and performance. Based between Santa Cruz and Berlin, Ali has emerged as a leading voice at the intersection of contemporary art, technology, and embodied knowledge.
Ali coined the term digital somatics to describe a pioneering artistic methodology that brings together the body, mind, and spirit through game design, worldbuilding, and narrative systems. Working with virtual reality, 3D animation, augmented reality, and computational media, Ali creates transformative digital worlds that function as portals for healing, collective imagination, and liberatory futures.
In Zagreb, they plan to continue their multiyear research on waterways, somatics, and folklore. In particular, they are interested in worldbuilding, digital storytelling and using 3D technologies and sound to create an immersive environment.
Croatia has a wealth of waterways that nourish the landscape and they are curious to learn more about folklore associated with water, in particular fairies and mythical beings. They plan on using a hydrophone, VR and other immersive approaches to create an installation that visualizes the intersection of folklore, play and meditative interventions.
On November 11, in the Small Hall of Pogon Jedinstvo, Hiba Ali will open the exhibition "Fickle fairies rooted in the oblivion: Somatic explorations of water", while on November 16, at the same venue, they will held a workshop titled "Worldbuilding and play: Workshop on creating an exploratory video game experience".
