DOK Industry Podcast
Next Gen XR Rising: What the Industry Needs to Catch Up On
What kind of XR worlds are we offering the next generation – and which ones are still missing? Our guests share their experience of the projects that reach youth today, the gaps that remain, and the ideas beginning to take shape. They reflect on how ethical design and thoughtful curation can spark critical thinking, influence memory and behavior, and strengthen digital literacy.
At the heart of the conversation lie urgent questions: how do young people actually experience XR, and how might these encounters shape their understanding of the world and the design of immersive media itself? What responsibilities fall on creators, curators, and institutions when showcasing XR to youth? And, most importantly, what should the industry keep in mind if it wants to support works that not only inspire, but also equip the next generation to understand the media of tomorrow.
Language: English
Length: 65:06
Recorded on 12 September 2025
XR creator, immersive narratives curator, and coordinator of the DOK Exchange XR Programme at DOK Leipzig. Co-curator of Embodied Realms, a festival dedicated to performance art and XR in Poland. Mentors XR projects including Climate Challenge XR for the European Space Agency, and writes XR climate games for the Guest XR research project (University of Warsaw), exploring AI agents and social XR harmony. Conducts research on AI in performance art involving XR. In 2021, served as expert for the Committee for Innovative Film Projects at the National Film Institute.
Co-directed and co-wrote the award-winning VR erotic poem “Noccc (Nightsss)”, premiered at Sundance. As a poet, performer, and cultural studies PhD, experiments with interdisciplinary poetry blending artistic practice and technology. Poems published in Romania, Estonia, South Africa, Brazil, and Poland. Sound poem featured in The Liberated Voice – Sound Poetry exhibition at Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Leads workshops in immersive storytelling and creative writing focused on bodily engagement and expanded narrative experience.
Speaker
Dana Melaver is an artist and cultural worker based in Berlin. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including in Berlin, New York City, and the 2023 Larnaca Biennale. Her film "Sleepless Birds" (2023), co-directed with Tom Claudon, premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto and won the Christian Berger Cinematography Award at Innsbruck Nature Film Festival.
In her projects Dana uses artistic methods as research tools, working creatively through ideas of the human experience. She often engages with scientific and technological theories and the ways in which they change our idea of individuality. Whether in video or installation, borrowing from aquaculture or oenology, the projects toy with the boundaries that delineate our being. Prioritizing engagement as practice, Dana frequently works with collaborators in the making process and includes participatory elements in exhibition.
Websites:
https://www.dok-leipzig.de/dok-neuland
http://www.danamelaver.com/
Prodromos Tsiavos is the Head of Digital and Innovation at Onassis Group and a Senior Research Fellow at The Media Institute/ UCL. At Onassis, he has been directing digital, innovation, and new media programs. Additionally, he is leading the Onassis ONX initiative, the new media & digital culture program of Onassis Foundation, with physical presence in New York City and Athens, and a global community of artists and partners. Moreover, he is a Senior Policy Advisor at the European research infrastructure OpenAIRE.
- Fanni Fazakas
Creator of “Missing 10 Hours”
RUMEXR Website
- Oliver Scott
Creator of “EmbodyXR – The Future of Immersive Mental Wellbeing”
Mercurial Dance Website
- Anne Fehres
Creator of “Revival Roadshow”
Website
This podcast episode was created in collaboration with ONASSIS.
DOK Industry Podcast 2025 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective, What’s Up With Docs Podcast, and Talking Shorts, supported by film.macht.kritisch - The podcast about the *other* cinema.
DOK Industry is realised with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media upon a Decision of the German Bundestag.
