Explore the XR worldbuilding practices of media artists working at the confluence of body, space, and technology. Learn how their respective modes of knowing and making drive them to create XR worlds and performance experiences that rethink the self, rationality, technology, the dichotomies of the actual/virtual, and what constitutes reality in the digital age. Together, we will speculate on a vision for XR world-making that celebrates unique worldviews, practices, and traditions.
Sana Akram
PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, York University
Sana Akram is a Pakistani XR creator, media artist and an urbanist, currently pursuing a doctorate in Cinema and Media Studies at York University as a recipient of the prestigious Elia Scholars Program Award. Her research-creation explores the themes of wonder, relationality, and enchantment in storytelling, performance, and worlding. Her broader research interests include immersive storytelling and performance, oral tradition, worldbuilding, emergent media, cocreation, and civic engagement.
Tara Rose Morris
New Media Artist
Tara Rose Morris is a new media artist with a practice that spans live performance, immersive installation, and digital artifacts. They investigate the thresholds between spectacle and embodiment, using technology as a site for speculative imaginaries where bodies, memory, and identity converge, flicker, and dissolve.
Shirin Fahimi
Digital Media Artist
Shirin Fahimi is a first-generation Canadian-Iranian digital media artist based in Toronto. Through digital world-building, she explores the role of occult sciences and mysticism in empowering female presence across political, spiritual, and digital domains. Her work is deeply informed by mystical literature and magical practices from Islamic culture, as reflected in Iranian society and diasporic communities. She has exhibited and performed internationally at venues such as SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin), TIFF Bell Lightbox (Toronto), and the CAFKA Biennial (Kitchener). Her practice has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Banff Centre.
Ali Phi
Transmedia Artist
Ali Phi is a transmedia artist based in Toronto. His works are at the intersection of art, science, and technology, Through installations, autonomous machines, and performances, he explores the underlying mechanisms of new media, technology, interactions and data.
14 Nov, 2025 3:30 pm
to 5:00 pm
Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space401 Richmond St W
4th Floor (Suite 440A)
The building is wheelchair and step-free accessible via a ramp & button operated door. The event space, including the accessible washrooms, are on the 4th floor, accessible via an elevator.
If you require accessibility accommodation for this event, please click the link below.
From augmented reality projects reactivating rural Chinese areas to virtual reality works shaping collective memory, this roundtable opens a dialogue on how emerging media can tell local stories and convey lived experiences.
13 Nov. 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
This workshop spotlights the Sari-Sari Xchange Assetory, a storytelling-led virtual asset library prototype created with and for the Asian diaspora. Participants will be asked to bring an object with a personal meaning, which they will learn how to scan and create a 3D reproduction of. They will also be able to share what memories, stories, and histories the object holds and contribute to the SSX Assetory if they wish.
7 Nov. 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Render Me in Your Worlds is a multi-day symposium that highlights the Sari-Sari Xchange and Reel Asian's shared mission of amplifying Asian representation in the creative emerging media industries.
5 Nov.
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from Asia and the Asian diaspora. Works include films and videos by artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world. As Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival, Reel Asian provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada.
401 Richmond Street West, The Commons (Suite 448)
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
