InSync

InSync is an XR installation that pairs a VR journey with a large animatronic creature to explore touch, trust, and how we return to our bodily senses. Participants enter a virtual cave and meet Omu, a mythical being at its center; by aligning their touch inputs with Omu’s heartbeat, they gradually restore peace to the virtual world. In the physical space, Omu is a furred animatronic creature with heartbeat, breath, and movement synchronized with its VR form. Sensors beneath its skin read participants’ touch inputs and adjust the state of both the virtual and physical Omu in real time. Touch that syncs with Omu’s breathing and heartbeat soothes the creature and softens the environment. When participants learn to follow Omu and find this timing and rhythm, Omu’s soft wings unfold into an enveloping embrace to show they have bonded. Participants’ actions leave tangible traces in both virtual and physical space, turning XR into a shared, responsive body rather than a one-way spectacle. In an era shaped by remote interaction, many forms of connection unfold without bodily presence. InSync enters that condition to ask what extended reality can offer beyond visual representation. The shadowy cavern becomes a virtual space cut off from everyday reality, where learning to breathe and move in sync with Omu turns into a quiet ritual of accepting uncertainty and rebuilding connection; to this fictional presence, and through it, to oneself.