Casondra Sobieralski builds bridges between media studies and archaeology. She loves designing immersive and/or interactive experiences that bring history/cultural heritage to life, including via historical soundscapes: What epistemological questions can sound raise about historical spaces? How can sound create spatial and temporal maps? She is increasingly interested in how the past can inform design for an ecologically sustainable present.
Casondra holds a PhD in Film & Digital Media from University of California, Santa Cruz, an MFA in Conceptual & Information Arts from San Francisco State University, and a BA in Art History from University of Pittsburgh. Her PhD dissertation, “Cult and Copper: Intra-Actions from the Bronze Age to A-Life,” mythically re-casts Bronze Age Levantine copper goddesses Hathor and Astarte as “proto-cybergoddesses” because of the material role copper has played in the history of networked information systems. She designed a breath-driven Virtual Reality experience exploring copper smelting, shamanism, and goddess cults in the ancient Levant.
Casondra has participated in digital heritage projects spanning over twenty years, including digital reconstructions of the tomb, temple of Rameses II for the French National Centre for Scientific Research and Virtual Çatalhöyük with UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus Ruth Tringham. She directed and produced a three-projector video installation about early suffragists for the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls, New York. She is currently finishing an experimental short film about Lithuanian pagan mid-summer traditions, designing a game in which an ancient Levantine mermaid goddess guides players in healing the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and researching for an interactive art installation recognizing Anna Strong (one of George Washington’s spies).
Casondra served as an Information Architect for UC Berkeley, a visiting professor of Media Arts at New Mexico Highlands University, and a Digital Media Arts Lecturer at San Francisco State University. She joined Northeastern’s Oakland campus in 2023.
Research/Publications Highlights
2023 Sobieralski, Casondra. “Cult and Copper: A VR Game Exploring the Intangible Heritage of Copper Smelting.” In And in Length of Days Understanding (Job 12:12). Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology Series, edited by Erez Ben-Yosef and Ian Jones. Cham: Springer Press, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27330-8_73.
2003 Cain, Kevin, Casondra Sobieralski and Philippe Martinez. “Reconstructing a Colossus of Ramesses II from Laser Scan Data.” In SIGGRAPH ’03. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2003, https://doi.org/10.1145/965400.965514.
Collaborative Born Digital Projects
2017-2022 “Cult and Copper/Birth from Fire” Cyber-archaeology VR Game, Dissertation Project, Israel, Cyprus; Santa Cruz and Santa Clara, California
2007 “Remixing Catalhöyük,” a virtual archaeology project in Second Life led by Professor Ruth Tringham, UC Berkeley Anthrolopology, Berkeley, CA
2004-2005 Ramesseum Scholarly Website, Luxor Egypt and San Francisco, CA (Under the auspices of the French Archaeological Mission/CNRS, as part of the digital heritage nonprofit INSIGHT team.)
2002-2003 3D Visualization of the Temple of Ramesses II, Luxor, Egypt and Emeryville, CA (Under the auspices of the French Archaeological Mission/CNRS, as part of the digital heritage nonprofit INSIGHT team.)
2001-2002 3D Visualization of the Tomb of Ramesses II, Luxor, Egypt and Emeryville, CA (Under the auspices of the French Archaeological Mission/CNRS, as part of the digital heritage nonprofit INSIGHT team.)
Selected Talks, Media, and Conference Presentations
2024 KGUA Public Radio interview about “Atargatis’s Siren” and “Cult and Copper” projects in relation to ecology, with host Leigh Anne Lindsey Sea Ranch, California (Mendocino County), November 14
2024 “But is it Art? Exploring AI Image Generators with Design Students.” Invited speaker for “Meeting the Moment: Using AI in the Classroom,” hosted by San Francisco State University’s Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning, San Francisco, CA
2022 “Cult and Copper: Intra-Actions from the Bronze Age to A-Life.” Invited Keynote Speaker, Digital Scholarship Symposium, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
2018 “Mapping Hathor Through Canaan.” Invited speaker to “Digital Humanities, Egyptology & Heritage Preservation, A Comparative Perspective,” UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley, CA
2018 “Mapping Hathor Through Canaan.” Invited speaker to MARVEL (Mixed & Augmented Reality & Virtual Environments Lab), University of Bath, England
2017 Digital Archaeology Demo Showcase, “Contributions to Central Timna Valley Project of Tel Aviv University.” ASOR (American Schools of Oriental Research) Annual Meeting, Boston, MA
2017 “Formulating Methods and Processes in Archaeoacoustics.” Theoretical Archaeology Group, Toronto, Canada
2017 “Archaeoacoustics Research at the Hathor Sanctuary, Timna Park.” Informal research presentation at The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Eilat, Israel
2012 “Video for Heritage and Humanities.” Invited speaker to New Mexico Association of Museums Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM
2012 “Google Fusion for Archaeology.” Invited speaker to New Mexico Association of Museums Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM
2010 “Locative Media for Digital Heritage?” ECAI (Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative) Pacific Neighborhood Consortium Meeting, City University of Hong Kong, China
2003 “Reconstructing a Colossus of Ramesses II from Laser Scan Data” (with Kevin Cain and Philippe Martinez), SIGGRAPH 2003, San Diego, CA
2002 “Reconstructing a Colossus of Ramesses II from Laser Scan Data” (with Kevin Cain and Philippe Martinez), L’Association Pour La Sauvegarde du Ramesseum, Paris, France
Selected Exhibitions, Residencies, Web-based and Performance Pieces
2024 “Atargatis’s Siren.” San Francisco State University Faculty Show. Experimental documentary video with AI generated mermaids added.
2019 “Sonic Atmospheres: World War II Batteries Marin Headlands” Sound map in Google Earth.
2015 “Hieros Gamos.” Skopelos Foundation for the Arts, Skopelos, Greece. Video installation for a group show in Skopelos, produced during a two-week residency.
2008 “The Ghosts of Seneca Falls.” Women’s Rights National Historic Park, NY. Conceptualized, produced, edited, and directed 14 actors in a site-specific 3-projector video installation honoring the launch of First Wave feminism (1948) in the US.
2006 “Luxor-Qurna Diaries.” Berkeley International Small Film Festival, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA. Documentary video Installation.
2006 “Astarte’s Scream.” Epic Arts, Berkeley, CA. Produced interactive performance geared towards mutual understanding and conflict resolution during the Israel-Lebanon War.
2004 “A-Bomb Explosions” and “V2 Fuses 1,2.” StartSOMA Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Experimental documentary videos about World War II.
2003 “Patricia Silver’s Stories.” Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. Documentary video Installation about a San Francisco woman’s harrowing experiences during the McCarthy Era.
Departments
Art + Design
Education
- PhD, Film & Digital Media, Univeristy of California, Santa Cruz
- MFA, Conceptual & Information Arts, San Francisco State University
- BA, Art History, University of Pittsburgh
Awards
- Social Science Research Council (SSRC)/Mellon Foundation Fellowship
- University of California Regents Fellowship
- Puffin Foundation Grant
- San Francisco State University Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CEETL)
- Honors for leading Digital Media students in AI-driven Conceptual Art projects and debate
- San Francisco State University CEETL Award for leading Digital Media students in work with Augmented Reality
Research Focus
- Immersive environments
- Intra-action design
- Cyber-archaeology
- Media archaeology
- Sound studies
- Media materialism
- Near Eastern archaeology
- Women’s history
- History of the American West
Courses Taught
- Design Processes
- Design Processes
- Elements of Visual Composition