“OurWorlds” Brings Indigenous Futures to UC San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute
Starting Thursday, Jan. 26, indigenous experiences stream to the palm of your hand with “Beyond the Metaverse with OurWorlds: Indigenous Stories are All Around You,” an exhibition at the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute (QI) in Atkinson Hall.
“OurWorlds” is an educational extended-reality platform and mobile application designed to integrate Native American heritage and knowledge with everyday environments. As users navigate their landscapes, the app uses geolocation, 360º video capture and artificial intelligence to superimpose written and spoken Native language, artifacts and site-specific historical imagery over the modern world.
“Culture is global, and the use of emerging technologies allows us to re-imagine and create the future of cultural education and entertainment,” said Kilma Lattin, founder and CEO of OurWorlds, alongside co-founder and CTO Catherine Eng. “The experiences we’re building are the next generation of culture sharing and preservation.”
At Gallery QI, “Beyond the Metaverse with OurWorlds” will share woven basket art and maritime craftsmanship from the Kumeyaay peoples, whose historical territory encompasses San Diego County. Using a series of narrative moving-image scenes, including the making and use of traditional tule boats, or ha kwaiyo, the exhibition creators — Lattin, Eng, Stanley Rodriguez of the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel and Ana Gloria Rodriguez of the San Jose de la Zorra Kumeyaay — create space and a future for local Indigenous voices at UC San Diego.
“OurWorlds adds an immersive reality information layer to the world around us,” said Eng. “It provides an interface between the past and the present, and connects cultures seen and unseen. We have created these pieces in partnership with the communities we work with.”
As a storytelling platform, OurWorlds seeks to provide an alternative to traditional textbook-based learning by lending underrepresented voices space to share their histories. Outside San Diego, the app also activates to share firsthand accounts from members of California’s Payómkawichum and Kuupangaxwichem communities and Native Hawaiians; it also presents historical narratives that reach from the American Midwest to Europe.
The OurWorlds app won the SXSW EDU 2022 Launch competition in March of last year, and was recently selected as a finalist in the upcoming 2023 GSV Cup competition. The app is currently available for download to Apple devices on the iOS App Store.
“Beyond the Metaverse with OurWorlds” will be on display in Gallery QI, Monday to Friday, from noon to 5 p.m. through Friday, March 17, 2023.
Gallery QI will host a closing night ceremony and panel discussion with local tribal leaders and exhibit creators on Thursday, March 16 at 5 p.m. All Gallery QI events are free and open to the public.
Gallery QI is an initiative of UC San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute, which harnesses technology to jumpstart innovation in areas including culture, energy, the environment and health. The gallery is located on the first floor of Atkinson Hall, on the UC San Diego campus at the corner of Voigt Drive and Equality Lane.
Closing Night Details
Date: Thursday, March 16, 2023
Time: 5 – 8 p.m.
Location: Calit2 Auditorium, first floor of Atkinson Hall, UC San Diego
Hosts: Lisa Cartwright, Dominique Rissolo
Agenda:
5 p.m. – Presentations and panel discussion
6 p.m. – Reception, gallery open
RSVP to galleryqi@ucsd.edu.