CodeNewbie

You put on a headset in a real life beauty salon in real life, and, in seconds, you’re transported to a virtual one. It’s full of colors, shapes, music, and the soothing voice of a narrator. She explains that you’re in a different world now, and you’re about to contribute to the “synaptic lineage.” The setting is intriguing and futuristic, the story is unique, and every detail so carefully laid out. We talk to Carmen Aguilar y Wedge, one of the creators of the NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism, a virtual reality experience that’s appeared at Sundance, Tribeca, and a number of other film festivals. She shares how she and her team at Hyphen Labs created this artistic and deeply technical exhibit.

Aguilar y Wedge is a Latinx engineer, artist and researcher. In 2014, she co-founded Hyphen-Labs, an international team of women with backgrounds in engineering, science, architecture, turned designers synthesizing art and technology to create meaningful experiences. Emphasizing experimentation through worldbuilding, the team finds creative solutions and applications to complex problems using new media, emerging technology, robotics, and computation.