RE-ANIMATED is a virtual reality and video installation that investigates relationships between extinction, preservation, and immortality. It is a virtual ecosystem based on 3D scans of real plant and animal specimen from The American Museum of Natural History, audio recordings of the recently-extinct Kauai O’o bird’s song, and interviews with ornithologist Douglas H. Pratt about his memories of the lost creature. Source material is converted into a new world that mixes primal habitats with emerging ecological realities, and responds to algorithmic music and environmental audio effects. RE-ANIMATED attempts to inspire radically new visceral imaginations of how our lives are connected to historic material and future technologies.

Collaborators: Michael Riesman (Composer and Music Director), Jerry Smith (Music Programmer), Toke Lykkeberg Nilsen and Tranen (co-producers), Todd Bryant (audio interaction), Andy Thomas (bird call fluid simulation), Jeremy Thompson (character optimization), Michael Silberblatt (narration), 2Nstudio (associate producer), Jazia Hammoudi (research and project management).