# Caitlin Fisher

Caitlin Fisher is a Canadian media artist, poet, writer, futurist and Professor of Cinema and Media Arts at York University in Toronto where she also directs the Immersive Storytelling Lab and the Augmented Reality Lab. Fisher is also a Co-founder of York’s Future Cinema Lab, former Fulbright and Canada Research Chair, and an international award-winning digital storyteller. Creator of some of the world’s first AR poetry and long-from VR narratives. Pioneer of research-creation who defended Canada's first born-digital dissertation. Member of the early AR artist collective Manifest AR. Fisher is also known for the 2001 hypermedia novel These Waves of Girls, and for her work creating content and software for augmented reality. "Her work is poetic and exploratory, combining the development of authoring software with evocative literary constructs."

## Career

Fisher joined the faculty of York University, Toronto in 2000 and held the Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture in the Faculty of Fine Arts from 2004-2014. She is a co-founder of York's Future Cinema Lab, and Director of York's Augmented Reality Lab and Immersive Storytelling lab. At York, Fisher sat on the executive of the Centre for Information Visualization and Data-Driven Design, was a core member of Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) and is currently a core member of Connected Minds. Led by York University in partnership with Queen’s University, Connected Minds, with $318.4 million in funding, is a first-of-its-kind research program that studies the risks and benefits modern technology has on society, now and in the future.
She currently serves as President of the Electronic Literature Organization, and on the international Board of Directors for HASTAC - the Humanities, Arts, Technology, Alliance, and Collaboratory. She is also affiliated with the Centre for Digital Narrative, a Norwegian Centre of Research Excellence funded by the Norwegian Research Council from 2023 to 2033. The goal of the CDN is to deepen our knowledge of how digital technologies impact one of the most fundamental human activities: how we tell the stories, that shape our lives and understanding of the world. In this capacity, Fisher is collaborating with Scott Rettberg and Jason Nelson on practice-based experimental research. She is known for working at the intersection of technology and making bold predictions about the future of technology, with humanities and the fine arts at the centre of her work, offering this, for example, in 2013: "The idea that devices that have gone small is a real cusp moment where the handheld device will mediate the world… The hardware is changing; the software is changing. We’ve spent years developing trying to build easy, expressive tools for artists so we get a critical mass of content. The compelling content isn’t there yet… And I’m still a story-driven person. I still think there are things that we crave that will appear in different forms for different people. … The next moment is coming: the new devices are coming and more people will have them, and finally, we do have a critical mass where we’ll see excellent work. … There’s a lot at stake for humanists, for creative people: is this going to be another way our lives are instrumentalized – or is it going to be a chance for a crazy poetic world?"
Fisher is the author of Canada's first born-digital hypertextual dissertation and the winner of the first Electronic Literature Award for Fiction, in 2001, for the hypertext novella These Waves of Girls.
Fisher acted in Midnight Stranger, one of the world's first interactive CD-ROM dramas, in 1993
She recently directed Fiery Sparks of Light, a volumetric XR project featuring iconic Canadian women poets (Atwood, Brossard, Tolmie, Lubrin). Produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, 'Fiery Sparks of Light' is a CFC Media Lab and York University Immersive Storytelling Lab Co-Production in Partnership with Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry.
Fisher became president of the Electronic Literature Organization in 2022.
Funded research:
Select funded research projects include:
* Mobilizing the arts for global health: a virtual museum of antimicrobial resistance - funding for a virtual museum to advance public understanding of antimicrobial resistance , bringing the power of immersive storytelling to the global health crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
* Digital Imaginations and the Decameron Storyworld (DIDS)
* a multi-year AI Storytelling project (2019-2022) funded through the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). This was an early GPT-2 based storytelling project that resulted in a number of poetic and narrative works.
* Next generation immersive editing: creating a webXR-based player for future cinema with Liquid Cinema, a Toronto-based film and technology company
* co-PI on a New Frontiers grant investigating Immersive digital environments and indigenous knowledges: co-creation in virtual reality environments
* "Using Interactive Digital Storytelling to Represent Transformative Quantum Technologies in Augmented/Extended Reality Environments”, QQSF Round 8 SEED grant associated with the University of Waterloo’s Canada First Research Excellence grant for Transformative Quantum Technologies - co-Pi - PI Lai-Tze Fan\
* Immune Nations 2014-2017 "a collaborative, international and interdisciplinary initiative that brought together a team of artists, academics, and vaccinologists in order to explore the complex issues related to the use and distribution of vaccines in the world today. The project began with two interdisciplinary workshops in which scientists, artists and academics in health law, history, ethics, and philosophy shared research/creative research expertise in order to work collectively. The workshops were followed by exhibitions in Norway and culminated in an exhibition at the World Health Summit in Geneva, Switzerland during the World Health Organization conference.
Former and current additional affiliations:
* Worldbuilding Institute - a cutting edge USC non-profit Organized Research Unit dedicated to the dissemination, education, and appreciation of the future of narrative media through World Building.
* VISTA
* HASTAC
* ELO
* MLA
* Sensorium
* Connected Minds
* Forward/Story Costa Rica. Invitation-only residential lab that took place in Costa Rica
* FOST Explorers Club
* Manifestar

### Critical Reception

These Waves of Girls
The Electronic Literature Organization awarded its fiction award to These Waves of Girls in 2001. Larry McCaffery, the award juror, wrote: "I found myself hooked on Waves from the moment I first logged on and watched Caitlin's gorgeous graphic interface assemble itself out of images of moving clouds drifting across the screen, mingling with the sounds of girls laughing." In the abstract for a critical review of Fisher's project, Raine Koskimaa writes, "These Waves is a class-room example of the so-called associative hypertext. The hypertextual structure is also closely linked to the problematics of autobiographical narration. As readers we get to ponder about the nature of remembering, of telling stories about one’s life. One of the genuine accomplishments of Fisher’s work is to bring forth these questions in a tangible, and still discreet, way."
These Waves of Girls is a foundational work of hypermedia and is widely studied at the university level in North America, Europe and Asia. The subject of many academic papers, the first thesis discussing the work was successfully defended in 2003. Selected in 2008 for publication by the Library of Congress as one of 300 global works of critical importance in the field, it was translated into Mandarin by researchers at Asia University.
The work is taught in undergraduate literature courses and is referenced in the scholarship as a highly influential example of early multimodal web-based hypertext fiction. Fisher is described as having "established herself at the forefront of digital writing" with These Waves of Girls (2001) and the augmented reality poem Andromeda (2008).
Fisher describes writing this work in response to the work of her dissertation and crafting it in opposition to that work: "Everything that I had put into the [hypertext, digital] dissertation, and all of the things that were extra-clever; the incredible cat’s-cradle of a million pieces of an incredibly complex thought sculpture [led to a decision] to do a character-driven, fiction, lyric [work]. I was just fortunate enough that I wrote a work that got a lot of attention. I’m sure that was instrumental in terms of having access to the kind of job I have now in the Faculty of Fine Arts: to being able now to do theoretical work, to build software, to write fiction and poetry, and pull together all those parts of my life."
Andromeda The Electronic Literature Collection Volume 2 describes Fisher's Andromeda, "Andromeda is both a physical children's book and a digital book with AR codes that needs to be read with the use of a webcam. The human reader shows the book to the machine, and the machine reads the code that is provided in the cards that are attached to the pop-ups. The human reader then sees on the screen what the computer has in a sense translated into human languages. The complexity of reading and the double process of decoding is thus one of the more interesting and significant issues of the project. The use of a children's book in the project is significant because the symbolic process that takes place while reading the text is linked to the diegetic scene of a mother and a child reading a fairy tale."
Shadowpox
"Shadowpox: The Antibody Politic imagines the emergence of a vaccine-preventable disease composed of viral shadows. Part fact, part science fantasy, this mixed-reality installation combines real-world statistical data with theatrical simulation using motion-tracking, live-animated digital effects. The exhibition was reviewed in The Lancet and this piece was singled out for its impact: "...Of the remaining contributions, one of the most engaging is Shadowpox: The Antibody Politic, developed by Alison Humphrey, Caitlin Fisher, Steven J Hoffman, and Lalaine Destajo. This interactive installation quite literally renders visible the invisible, as participants must choose whether or not to be vaccinated against the 'shadowpox' pathogen, before having the opportunity to trace the impact of their decision as an animated population is exposed to the threat of infection. On completion, participants are able to view their 'infection collection' or 'protection collection', as the population is transformed from an aggregate statistic with a series of detailed individual stories. This is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and playful ways to illustrate both the individual and population-level implications of community immunity...."

### Select creative works

* 2023 Memory Eternal: Вічная _Пам'ять: Book of Mourning, virtual reality anthology and archive (with the Decameron Collective), ELO 2023 Overcoming Divides: Electronic literature and social change, Media Arts Exhibition, Coimbra, Portugal.
2023 Garden of Future Delights –– augmented reality triptych. Recoded for 8th Wall. HASTAC Media Arts Exhibition, New York, with Evan Davies and Wallace Edwards.
2023 Diamonds – Computationally-generated poetry created for immersive XR, ELO 2023 Overcoming Divides: Electronic literature and social change, Media Arts Festival, Coimbra, Portugal.
2023 Feel the Ghosts hanging around in the Shape of Love – Immersive AI poetry suite. HASTAC, New York.
2022 Speculative Energy Futures exhibition – The Square, St. Gallen, Switzerland, November. Three pieces exhibited:
1. Planet for Sale (Artist’s book, prints and AR storybook, with Sean Caulfield and Steven Hoffman
2. Slogans for Energy transition – banners and XR installation (with Ruth Beer (Emily Carr), Sean Caulfield ( Alberta) and Patrick Mohan (Western).
3. Garden of Future Delights ––canvas triptych with augmented reality overlay revealing potential futures based on the United Nation’s Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). With Evan Davies (UAlberta). Associated AR fortune telling installation with unique deck of cards and fortune telling scripts written engineering trainees on the project.
2022 Cardamom of the Dead – VR retrospective- official selection Topographies of Sound festival, Slovenia. Recoded and remounted for Quest.
2022 Fiery Sparks of Light: XR Volumetric poetry with Griffin Poetry award winners Margaret Atwood, Nicole Brossard, Canisia Lubrin and Sarah Tolmie. Director. Official selection: Chelsea Film Festival, New York.
2022 Decameron 2.0: a virtual reality anthology (with the Decameron Collective), ELO Media Arts Exhibition, Como, Italy
2022 Fiery Sparks of Light: XR Volumetric poetry with Griffin Poetry award winners Margaret Atwood, Nicole Brossard, Canisia Lubrin and Sarah Tolmie. ELO Media Arts Festival, Como Italy.
2021 Fiery Sparks of Light: XR Volumetric poetry with Griffin Poetry award winners Margaret Atwood, Nicole Brossard, Canisia Lubrin and Sarah Tolmie. In collaboration with the Canadian Film Centre and the Griffin Poetry Trust. Director. Frankfurt Book Fair, October 2021.
2021 Shadowpox 2.0 ” Interactive Installation created in collaboration with Alison Humphrey and Steven Hoffman as part of ImmuneNations. Mcmaster Gallery Sept-December. New virtual reality components created 2021 in collaboration with Asseel Sidique, Immersive Storytelling Lab. (originally mounted Geneva, 2017)
2021 Pro-TO-type(s), Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland. Selected pages from A Planet for Sale artist's book, Sean Caulfield, Sue Colberg, Caitlin Fisher, Steven Hoffman
2019 “Garden of Future Delights –– augmented reality triptych revealing potential futures based on the United Nation’s Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). Prototypes for Possible Worlds. Edmonton. November. With Evan Davies and Wallace Edwards.
2019 “Always Tomorrow” Virtual Reality Novella. Peripheries: Electronic Literature Organization conference, Cork, Ireland.
2018 The Thing of Shapes to Come (with Tony Vieira). Near-Future locative media piece, Mind the Gap, ELO 2018, Montreal.
2018 The Thing of Shapes to Come (with Tony Vieira). Near-Future locative media piece, Transient Topographies, Galway, Ireland.
2017 Shadowpox – interactive installation with graduate trainee Alison Humphrey (lead artist) and Steven Hoffman. 2015, 2016, 2017 Gallery Kit, Trondheim and UNAIDS, Geneva.
2017 “Possible Worlds: Ithaka” Poetic installation for augmented reality with novel eye tracking interface. HASTAC.
2017 “Paradoelia: The Doll Universe” New digital fictions presented as part of the Electronic literature showcase. Modern Languages Association, Philadelphia.
2016 “200 Castles” SHAPESHIFTING TEXTS: ELECTRONIC AND EXPERIMENTAL LITERATURE, Bremen, Germany, October.
2016 Sheila Carfenders, Doctor Mask & President Akimbo Virtual Reality Novel (with writer Richard Ehrlich, Electronic Literature Organization Arts Festival, Victoria, June.
2016 “Cardamom of the Dead” "Electronic Literature: A Matter of Bits," Rutgers. January–April.
2015/2013 Mother/Home/Heaven: Augmented reality installation. The End(s) of Electronic Literature, Electronic Literature Organization, Bergen. With Tony Vieira.
Mother/Home/Heaven, part of Landslide: Possible Futures. Markham
Chez Moi: Lesbian Bar Stories from Before You Were Born (with Tony Vieira) 2014
2012/2011 “Circle”, Augmented Reality Tabletop Theatre, Electronic Literature Organization Media Arts Show (Awarded 2012 Jury Prize), Morgantown, Virginia. Also shortlisted for the 2011 International New Media Writing Award (UK)
2013 200 Castles: an echo chamber for generating parallel and imaginary universes” Biblioteque Nationale, Paris.
2013 I Mother/Home/Heaven, Landslide: Possible Futures.
2013 (January-Feb) Augmented Reality Storytelling Retrospective, Nouspace Gallery and Media Lounge, Washington State University
2013 (January) ‘Circle’ Modern Languages Association Conference, “Avenues of Access” Exhibit, Boston
* 2012/2011 “Circle”, Augmented Reality Tabletop Theatre, Electronic Literature Organization Media Arts Show (Awarded 2012 Jury Prize) , Morgantown, Virginia. Also shortlisted for the 2011 International New Media Writing Award (UK)
* 2010 “Requiem: networked augmented reality shadow box poem” , ELO_AI Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island.
*2010 (June–September) Magic Tunnel Pop-up Book (networked augmented reality shadowboxes), Ontario Science Centre, Discovery Gallery
2010 Handheld City/Ville Portative: augmented reality city stories (part of the Toronto Museum project online) (with Andrew Roth)
2009 (Dec). “Digital Writing” Presentation and interview, Data-Based Material of prominent Canadian authors, Canadian Writers in Person series. Artmob.
*2008 “Andromeda” Augmented reality poem (winner of the 2008 international Digital Literature Award Ciudad de Vinaròs). E-Poetry. Barcelona.
*2008. “Travelling Tales: ar journeys” Hastac, Los Angeles.
* Andromeda https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2009/02/27/film-professor-caitlin-fisher-wins-international-digital-poetry-prize/
* Cardamom of the Dead/Everyone at the Party is Dead
* These Waves of Girls is an early, web based hypertext with interrelated stories that can be read in multiple orders and ways.

### Awards

2023 Honourable mention (3rd in international field), Robert Coover Award for Digital Creation with the Decameron Collective for Decameron 2.0
2020 Mourou-Strickland Fellow (Government of France)
2015 Shortlisted (1 of 5), Robert Coover Award for Digital Creation
2013 Fulbright Visiting Research Chair(University of California, Santa Barbara) where she conducted research on a project titled “Emerging forms of cultural expression: data visualization, augmented reality and new media storytelling and tools for artists and humanists”.
2011 Shortlisted (1 of 5) for International New Media Writing Prize, UK. - An early version of Circle was shortlisted for the New Media Writing Prize in 2011.
2011 Jury Prize, ELO Circle
2009 Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture (renewal)
2008 International Digital Literature Prize "Ciutat de Vinaros" for Digital Poetry (co-awarded) - for Andromeda in the digital poetry category in 2008.
2001 International Electronic Literature Award for Fiction (ELO) for her novella. These Waves of Girls, won the International Electronic Literature Award for Fiction in 2001.
External links
* Official Website
* “A Snap of the Universe”: Digital Storytelling, in Conversation with Caitlin Fisher
* https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2021/10/06/research-based-exhibit-on-vaccination-features-panel-discussions-with-york-experts/
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyJfBhY_LMY
Select Keynote addresses
2023: “Rewrite this world: Immersive Storytelling beyond the West” AELAIC2023: African Electronic Literature Alliance International Conference: Digital Humanities and African Electronic Literature on Immersive Platforms, University of Calabar.
2023 “Immersive Storytelling and algorithmic creativity” Keynote address, Extended Digitl Narrative Project launch/Centre for Digital Narrative, Bergen, Norway, November.
2018 “The Future of XR” The German Consulate of New York Mixed Reality conference, October.
2018 The Global Academy of Liberal Arts (GALA), Montreal, July.
2018 “Forking paths, simultaneous timelines and river monsters: stories hypermedia and spatial narratives tell about identities" (Dis)tributaries: synthetizing identities through image, text and sound, Brock University
2017 “Coding the memory Palace” (with Damon Baker) Electronic Literature Organization conference, Porto, Portugal.
2017 Stories for the Future MIXX Festival, Bath Spa University, U.K.
2016 “Emerging technologies for Publishing” Keynote address, Toronto Book Summit
2015 “Augmented reality poetry and fiction: Histories, Poetics and possible Futures” Annual Plasma series lecture, University of Buffalo.
2015 “Immersive Storyworlds and Future Fictions” International Conference on Narrative, Chicago
The Everyday: Experiences, Concepts, Narratives
Building small worlds - new stories for new screens, Carleton University 2011
Fisher is also a well-known speaker at international conference and events dedicated to future fictions and storytelling including:
* MIX 2023, co-hosted by Bath Spa University and the British Library where scholars and practitioners came together to share current research and practice in the rapidly developing field of storytelling in immersive environments. https://mixconference.org/speaker/caitlin-fisher/
Fisher is also a frequent contributor to popular media, including appearances on television and on radio, including
* 2021 when she participated in the Munk Debates: Is remote learning making kids dumber?.
* CBC Spark (national radio) in 2012 where she talked about how Augmented Reality can be a new medium for storytelling and for understanding data
* CDN Podcast Off-Centre Immersive Storytelling in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
* Tech TV
* TVO
* CBC
Family
Caitlin Fisher is the daughter of poet Charles Fisher and the niece of artist and children's book author Wallace Edwards.