Northeastern Visiting Professor, interdisciplinary designer and artist, and neuroscientist Ray LC used a civic center and shopping mall in Dundee, Scotland to innovatively embody protests and collective social action around the world.

After an invitation from NeOn Digital Art Festival and the Re@ct Social Change gang, Professor LC arrived in Scotland to bring together a group of people—through filmmaking. Documenting dynamic visual journeys can be challenging when bulky equipment makes areas inaccessible and because traditional 2D filmmaking fails to capture the surprise and full 3-dimensionality of a situation. This prompted Professor LC to use the portability of 360 cameras alongside the immersive experience of VR to help activists document and express their movements. This created an environment that helped participants see first-hand how mobility and connectivity can reach and engage an audience—and encourage social action.

Professor LC appointed three city structures as representation for police activity, pairing people off into groups that created VR viewable 360 films which emulated social protests against authoritarian regimes. This participatory event empowered protestor filmmakers with the choice to subvert government interference while participating in social action towards change. Watch the full video here.

Ray LC is an artist grounded with knowledge of human thought. His interdisciplinary art and design practices incorporate cutting edge neuroscience research as a foundation for building experiences that create empathic bonds between humans—and between humans and machines—to show how a technological future can embody social good and social justice. He studied AI and neuroscience at Cal and UCLA but turned to interactive art in Japan while publishing papers on PTSD and creativity. He’s currently a researcher at Parsons School of Design / Cornell Tech, and a visiting professor at Northeastern University College of Art, Media, and Design (CAMD). He works in interdisciplinary teams of experts including psychologists, software engineers, fashion designers, physical therapists, and creative coders. Ray has been an artist in residence at BankArt Yokohama, 1_Wall Tokyo, Brooklyn Fashion BFDA, Process Space LMCC, New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), and Saari Residence. His work has been exhibited at Kiyoshi Saito Museum, BankArt, Tokyo Golden Egg, Columbia Macy Gallery, Java Studios, City University of Hong Kong, Elektra Montreal, NYSCI, and Happieee Place ArtLab Lahore. His award-winning work has been recognized by the Japan Society for Promotion of Science, National Science Foundation, Microsoft Imagine Cup, Adobe Design Achievement Award, and A’ Design Award.

To contact Professor LC, and follow his social action work with refugees and other vulnerable populations, visit his website.