A story is a guide for me to reimagine my life.

 

At the age of four, I lost sight in my right eye. Ten years later, a cornea donated by someone in Sri Lanka brought light back after a decade of darkness. Ever since, I have seen part of the world through the eye of this unknown person. From that moment, I understood: the body is not something we own, but a mysterious vessel we inhabit temporarily — a gift that passes between lives. After coming of age, I registered as an organ donor, imagining that the cornea in my right eye may continue its journey into another body after my death, still gazing upon this world. In this immense continuum of space and time, I am not the protagonist, but a passenger — a temporary shelter for other wanderers.

 

I am drawn to reading stories while remaining obsessed with storytelling through different technological mediums. Stories may unfold in public space, the white cube of a museum, the black box of a theater, a video installation, or a concert. They may also rest quietly on a shelf as images and text — quietly waiting to pull me into lives I have not yet lived.

 

In recent years, my practice with interactive media and virtual reality has shifted from storytelling toward story-living — exploring how narratives can be experienced through immersive and interactive forms. Interaction incorporates the participant's thoughts, memories, and behaviors into the work itself, while virtual reality opens new possibilities in which the participant's body becomes a vital element of the narrative. Like meditation, the act of viewing becomes a passage — a conversation between the structure of the work, the memories of the participant, and the body that carries them.

 

I imagine the stories I create as wanderers — released into the world to take up residence, however briefly, in the bodies and memories of those who encounter them.

Hsin-Chien Huang is a new media artist and immersive director whose work explores how stories can be experienced rather than merely told. Working across virtual reality, artificial intelligence, interactive installation, and large-scale performance, he creates environments in which viewers do not simply observe narratives, but enter, inhabit, and become part of them.

His works have been presented at the Festival de Cannes, Venice Film Festival, SXSW, Ars Electronica, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Venice Biennale, Shanghai Biennale, and Taipei Fine Arts Museum, among others. He has collaborated with artist Laurie Anderson and electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre. In 2026, he was invited to serve on the jury of Cannes Immersive.

His works have received major international recognitions, including Best VR Experience at the Venice Film Festival, Best VR Story at Cannes XR, the Jury Award at SXSW Virtual Cinema, the Golden Mask Award at NewImages Festival, and multiple Honorary Mentions at Ars Electronica. His VR game Ekholux was nominated for Best Use of Immersive in Games at the 30th Annual Webby Awards.

Trained in engineering, industrial design, and interaction design at National Taiwan University, ArtCenter College of Design, and the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, Huang held creative positions at Interval Research, Sega, and Sony Computer Entertainment before devoting himself to interdisciplinary artistic practice. He is currently Distinguished Professor at National Taiwan Normal University and serves as Lead Curator of Garden Taipei/Formosa in partnership with Ars Electronica, promoting new media art from Taiwan on the global stage.