Honey Fungus at SXSW, Voices of VR, New INC Merch + Symposium Open Call
Hi friends,
It’s been a wild stretch these past few months, and I wanted to share a few highlights from the studio — a world premiere, a podcast deep-dive, some merch currently on sale at NEW INC DEMO, and an open call for a symposium I’m co-directing.
Thanks, as always, for being part of the ecosystem.
🌵 Honey Fungus Premieres at SXSW
Back in March, my first interactive VR film, Honey Fungus, premiered at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.
With producer Alex Darby, Gregory Truono of Hybrid Studio, and support from Stevens Institute of Technology, we built a full installation with four headsets running every 10 minutes. Over a thousand people passed through the experience during the week.
It was thrilling and humbling to share this project with so many curious and open viewers. Honey Fungus combines interactive VR, and custom AI elements to take viewers on a journey of ecological self-discovery through interactive fungal landscapes where science and sensuality collide to reveal Earth's hidden erotic potential.
The project is now installed in my new studio on Grand Street in the Lower East Side. If you’d like to experience it in person, just reply to this email — I’d love to have you by.
→ Learn more and watch the video recap here
→ Download full project info document
🎧 Voices of VR Podcast Feature
I recently spoke with Kent Bye on the Voices of VR podcast about Honey Fungus, my creative process, and the role of queer ecology and embodiment in immersive storytelling.
Kent’s podcast is one of the most rigorous and thoughtful archives of the XR field, so it was a pleasure to contribute.
🧢 Make Desert Forest Again — Now at the New Inc Demo Store
My Make Desert Forest Again hats are now available at the NEW INC DEMO STORE as part of Demo Festival. DEMO is a multi-day festival run by the New Museum. The accompanying exhibition and shop will be open until the end of this month.
The hats are part of History of Golf, an ongoing project that explores the sport’s relationship to colonial expansion, land use, and ecological collapse. The phrase is a twist on Trump-era sloganeering — a critique of greenwashing and geoengineering dressed up as a wearable artefact of subtle resistance.
→ Check out the project website
→ More about Demo Festival
🧬 Synthetic Narratives – Call for Submissions
This October, I’m co-directing a symposium at Stevens Institute of Technology called Synthetic Narratives, exploring storytelling at the intersection of AI, virtual reality, and immersive media.
→ Apply to present or exhibit
Generative AI and immersive technologies are reshaping how we tell and receive stories. This gathering will bring together artists, technologists, and theorists to explore the cultural, philosophical, and aesthetic potentials of this shift.
Please share widely — and come if you’re around in the fall.
If anything here sparks a thought, or you just feel like catching up, I’d love to hear from you.
Hope your summer’s unfolding gently.
Warmest,
Jonah