STATA ISLAND
Stata Island prototypes an immersive, virtual world that reimagines MIT’s Stata Center as a habitat coinhabited by humans and beavers. Through a mix of indigenous and institutional histories, the project explores the role of symbols, such as MIT’s mascot Tim the Beaver, as agents in rewilding narratives. The design leverages game engines to build an environment reflecting both the historical marshlands of Cambridge and potential climate futures, invoking a symbiotic vision of human and non-human cohabitation. Stata Island invites users to navigate a transformed MIT campus, where colonial legacies and ecological regeneration intersect, fostering new possibilities for storytelling and place-based memory.
Role:
Game Play Design, Software and Hardware Programming, Electronics Circuitry, Foundational Research & UX Research
Tools Used:
Unity, Spatial.io
Advisor: Gediminas Urbonas
exhibits:
Paper presented at ISEA 2024 - “Re-Worldings at MIT of Beaver Terrapolis Terristories”
Screened at MIT Museum as part of the Counteractions Show in 2023.
Stata Island prototypes an immersive, virtual world that reimagines MIT’s Stata Center as a habitat coinhabited by humans and beavers. Through a mix of indigenous and institutional histories, the project explores the role of symbols, such as MIT’s mascot Tim the Beaver, as agents in rewilding narratives. The design leverages game engines to build an environment reflecting both the historical marshlands of Cambridge and potential climate futures, invoking a symbiotic vision of human and non-human cohabitation. Stata Island invites users to navigate a transformed MIT campus, where colonial legacies and ecological regeneration intersect, fostering new possibilities for storytelling and place-based memory.
Role:
Game Play Design, Software and Hardware Programming, Electronics Circuitry, Foundational Research & UX Research
Tools Used:
Unity, Spatial.io
Advisor: Gediminas Urbonas
exhibits:
Paper presented at ISEA 2024 - “Re-Worldings at MIT of Beaver Terrapolis Terristories”
Screened at MIT Museum as part of the Counteractions Show in 2023.
Key Concepts:
Stata Island draws on ideas of worlding, terristories, and pluriversality, framing MIT’s campus as a site for multispecies collaboration. The project rethinks traditional narratives by integrating indigenous and ecological perspectives, questioning dominant worldviews while celebrating a coexistence of diverse, interwoven stories. This exploration of virtual spaces as dynamic, living environments invites users to reimagine their relationship with land, history, and future possibilities.Stata Island is a prototype that explores the potential of virtual worlds to challenge traditional narratives by integrating indigenous and ecological perspectives. By emphasizing worlding, terristories, and pluriversality, the project presents MIT’s campus as a living ecosystem where human and non-human stories coexist. This proof of concept aims to demonstrate how immersive environments can serve as tools for reimagining our relationship with land, history, and climate futures.
Read full paper here
Context & Objective:
This project originated from a desire to prototype a virtual space that reexamines the colonial and institutional histories embedded within MIT’s campus. The Stata Center, known for its futuristic architecture, serves as a speculative environment for reflecting on past landscapes and envisioning new, climate-resilient futures. Stata Island reclaims the land, inspired by historical marshlands and indigenous territories, creating a digital space that acts as a proof of concept for place-based multispecies storytelling.
Gameplay: Socio-spatial Inquiry of Stories
As a prototype, Stata Island allows players to interact with a reimagined MIT landscape through simple exploratory gameplay. Players can take on beaver or human avatars, exploring both physical and symbolic landmarks, such as the Building 20 time capsule and “Giant Beaver in the Sky.” Each interaction invites players to uncover stories tied to specific spaces, fostering an experiential understanding of the land’s complex socio-spatial narratives and the ongoing relationship between human and non-human entities.
As a prototype, Stata Island allows players to interact with a reimagined MIT landscape through simple exploratory gameplay. Players can take on beaver or human avatars, exploring both physical and symbolic landmarks, such as the Building 20 time capsule and “Giant Beaver in the Sky.” Each interaction invites players to uncover stories tied to specific spaces, fostering an experiential understanding of the land’s complex socio-spatial narratives and the ongoing relationship between human and non-human entities.
Each interaction is a testbed for how RT-3D storytelling and design can bring institutional and indigenous histories of a specific place into conversation,
fostering an experiential understanding of the land’s complex socio-spatial narratives and the their own connections to these spaces.
Process & Prototypes
Stata Island was developed iteratively, with each design phase refining player interactions and spatial narratives such as beaver-human avatars and the climate-altered MIT campus. This process focused on demonstrating the possibilities of virtual worlds for conveying complex histories and ecological relationships, while gathering feedback to inform future iterations.
The prototyping process involved using Unity and Spatial.io to create an interactive proof of concept that leverages game engines and archival materials for environmental storytelling. These explorations demonstrate how the concept could evolve into a fully immersive experience, guiding future development.
Stata Island was developed iteratively, with each design phase refining player interactions and spatial narratives such as beaver-human avatars and the climate-altered MIT campus. This process focused on demonstrating the possibilities of virtual worlds for conveying complex histories and ecological relationships, while gathering feedback to inform future iterations.
The prototyping process involved using Unity and Spatial.io to create an interactive proof of concept that leverages game engines and archival materials for environmental storytelling. These explorations demonstrate how the concept could evolve into a fully immersive experience, guiding future development.
Play Testing
As part of the prototyping phase, Stata Island was tested with MIT community members whose feedback provided valuable insights on narrative clarity, visual design, and user engagement. This user feedback is essential for refining the experience and illustrates the prototype’s capacity to foster meaningful connections with institutional and ecological histories.
As part of the prototyping phase, Stata Island was tested with MIT community members whose feedback provided valuable insights on narrative clarity, visual design, and user engagement. This user feedback is essential for refining the experience and illustrates the prototype’s capacity to foster meaningful connections with institutional and ecological histories.
Reflections
As a prototype, Stata Island explores the potential of immersive technologies to foster empathy and understanding across diverse narratives. It highlights the importance of acknowledging erased or overlooked histories and presents a framework for future work on climate futures and decolonial approaches to digital environments. The prototype raises key questions about the role of interactive storytelling in deconstructing the “one-world” worldview and encourages further exploration into pluriversal world-building.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to acknowledge the Wampanoag Nation and their
unceded territory on which MIT sits. This project began on
this land a part of Prof. Gediminas Urbonas’s Studio Seminar
in Art & the Public Sphere. I’d like to thank him for all his
encouragement and feedback during this process. I’d also like
to thank Vishrant Tripathi, Ashmi Mridul and all the friends who spent
time wandering and jumping about Stata Island, as both
humans and beavers.
Key References
[1] Haraway, D. J. 2016. Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.
[2] Law, J. 2015. What’s wrong with a one-world world? Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory 16(1):126–139.
[3] De la Cadena, M., and Blaser, M. 2018. A world of many worlds. Duke University Press.
[4] Simpson, L. B. 2021. A Short History of the Blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin. University of Alberta.
[5] Kimmerer, R. 2013. Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Milkweed editions.
[6] MIT Co Creation Studio. 2023. Worlding 2023. https://cocreationstudio.mit.edu/worlding-2023/.
[7] From the Vault of MIT. 2016. Mit’s building 20: ”the magical incubator”. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O_NhKHa13A.
[8] Haglund, K. 2002. Inventing the Charles River. Mit Press.
[9] MIT News, and Abazorius, A. 2015. Relic from last century — mit news — massachusetts institute of technology. https://news.mit.edu/2015/mitnano-time-capsule-1118.
[1] Haraway, D. J. 2016. Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.
[2] Law, J. 2015. What’s wrong with a one-world world? Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory 16(1):126–139.
[3] De la Cadena, M., and Blaser, M. 2018. A world of many worlds. Duke University Press.
[4] Simpson, L. B. 2021. A Short History of the Blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin. University of Alberta.
[5] Kimmerer, R. 2013. Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Milkweed editions.
[6] MIT Co Creation Studio. 2023. Worlding 2023. https://cocreationstudio.mit.edu/worlding-2023/.
[7] From the Vault of MIT. 2016. Mit’s building 20: ”the magical incubator”. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O_NhKHa13A.
[8] Haglund, K. 2002. Inventing the Charles River. Mit Press.
[9] MIT News, and Abazorius, A. 2015. Relic from last century — mit news — massachusetts institute of technology. https://news.mit.edu/2015/mitnano-time-capsule-1118.