Creative Team

Daria Tsoupikova’s, project PI, applies computational creativity to design real life applications that advance healthcare, education and social change. Since 2002 she has been creating virtual reality applications and networked multi-user environments for virtual reality projection systems, such as Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE and CAVE2). Her VR performance, Hearts and Minds: The Interrogations Project won the 2016 Best Creative Work Award from the International Electronic Literature Organization. This artwork explores the visceral possibilities of virtual reality to immerse participants in the minds of veterans who experienced torture and interrogation during war to evoke empathy, understanding and awareness. Tsoupikova initiated Hummingbird performance in collaboration with Jo Cattell, and has led it from the outset.
https://dariatsoupikova.com/

Jo Cattell (Playwright/Director) is a leading voice in the convergence of live theatre and immersive technologies. Her work has appeared at Sundance Film Festival, the BBC, Sky Television, Cirque du Soleil, and multiple US and London theatre's. Cattell is a member of the LightPoets digital and immersive theatre collective, whose immersive graphic novel, PARTICLE, is being developed for live performance and as an AR mobile game. She is also under commission with San Francisco State University's Fabula(b) to adapt Shakespeare’s KING LEAR into an AR immersive theatrical experience. She is a 3Arts awardee, a Joan Mitchell Center Fellow, a 2021 Illinois Artist Fellow and a Perkins Coie awardee. Cattell was the Maggio Directing Fellow at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, where HUMMINGBIRD, an immersive theatrical experience with VR whom Cattell is currently creating with the world-renowned Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois, will be performed.
http://thefarsightedmonkey.com/

Dr. Andrew Johnson, project Scientific Director, is a Professor of Computer Science and the Director of Research at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For over 25 years, ever since he experienced EVL’s original half-built CAVE as a Ph.D. student, he has been designing, deploying, evaluating, and helping to commercialize human-scale visualization displays and software to give scientists, designers and educators a better way to see and interact with their data in groups. He is leading the innovation of interactive technology for the project.

Lance Long, project Network Director, a Sr. Research Programmer at the Electronic Visualization Lab, performs research and design of cyberinfrastructure for computational and visual data science. He supervises the implementation of 2D and 3D stereoscopic display environments, virtual reality and distributed (networked) applications in support of research, educational programs, outreach and technology transfer initiatives. Long will purchase and implement all required tele-immersive hardware technology for this project. He collaborates with researchers towards the development of novel instrumentation and applications in pursuit of scientific discovery and advancement.

Arthur Nishimoto is a computer science Ph.D. candidate at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, UIC. His current research focus is on multi-user interaction on large tiled display environments for virtual, mixed and augmented reality devices and applications. He was a scientist on the VR performance Hearts and Minds: The Interrogations Project, and one of the six representative students met with the Barack Obama Foundation at the White House to present UIC’s bid for the Obama Presidential Museum.
https://www.arthurnishimoto.com/

Sai Priya Jyothula, virtual reality developer for Hummingbird, is a Computer Science Ph.D. student and research assistant at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also responsible for creating virtual reality environments for patient rehabilitation at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, Chicago and works on developing VR/AR solutions at Procter and Gamble, Cincinnati. Her research interests include storytelling through Virtual/Augmented Reality and interactive data visualizations.

Stephanie Shum (she/her) In Chicago, she has been performed with Steppenwolf, Goodman, Victory Gardens, American Theater Company, The Neo-Futurists, A Red Orchid Theatre, About Face, The New Coordinates, and has developed new plays with Steep, Rivendell, and First Floor, among others. Regional: TheatreSquared and Milwaukee Rep. Stephanie is a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf and is represented by Grossman & Jack Talent. 
http://www.stephanieshum.com/