Virtual Reality Experience with Beatrice Glow and Alexandre Girardeau, founder of Highway101ETC, presented Mannahatta VR. Culture bearers George Stonefish (Lenape Nation) and Tecumseh Ceaser (Matinecock Nation) will be present to share Native New York culture and history.

Beatrice Glow and Alexandre Girardeau, founder of Highway101ETC, will present Mannahatta VR, an interactive virtual reality experience that brings together the past and present of one section of Broadway, which was, and continues to be, part of a matrix of Native American pathways in Manhattan, or Manaháhtaan, as originally named by the Indigenous Lenape people. Visitors can participate in or observe the VR experience. Culture bearers George Stonefish (Lenape Nation) and Tecumseh Ceaser (Matinecock Nation) will be present to share Native New York culture and history.

Beatrice Glow is an artist and multi-sensory storyteller artist leveraging installations, experiential technology and olfactory art to shift dominant narratives. She has been named a 2018-19 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, 2018-19 Smack Mellon Studio Program Artist and recently, a 2017-18 American Arts Incubator lead artist amplifying Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian voices. Her 2016-17 Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU residency led to public art and virtual and augmented reality works in allyship with Indigenous environmental stewardship. She has been named a Honolulu Biennial 2017 artist, Wave Hill Van Lier Visual Art Fellow, Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Finalist, Hemispheric Institute Council Member, Franklin Furnace Fund grantee and US Fulbright Scholar. She is the author of Taparaco Myth and Aromérica Parfumeur.

Alexandre Girardeau is a new media artist and independent curator interested in the transdisciplinary intersections between media studies, gamification and philosophy. Enthused about the revolutionary potential of virtual and augmented reality, he develops VR/AR applications that encapsulate dioramas, interactive virtual environments, 3D scans and 360° videos. Notable projects include Mannahatta VR and The Wayfinding Project. He is the founder of Highway101 Experiential TechGnology Community, an online hub for animators in VR and co-found the pop up VR Café that has taken place in Montreal and Paris. He runs the Virtual Reality Art Collective Meetup, organizes and curates special events and festivals (Jump Into VR Fest 2017, ANNY Best of Fest 2018, Price Institute – Mellon Foundation Endowment Series 2018), and manages digital content for media outlets (Animation Nights NY, VR Related).

George Stonefish is a First Nation member [American Indian] who is ½ Delaware; ¼ Ottawa; 1/8 Ojibwa; 1/16 Pottawatomi; 1/16 Miami from Ontario, Canada. However, he was raised in NYC and has spent most of his life working for the First Nation [American Indian] community on both a national and local level. He started his activism at an early age when he went to the takeover of Alcatraz by First Nation students in 1969 with his Grandmother and Uncle. Since that time he has participated in the defense of Native Nations as a member of their warrior societies and by promoting their struggles though media, as he had the first weekly radio program on Native issues on WBAI 99.5 FM in NYC. From 1978 to 1983. He was also raised in the tradition of his people, which has helped him to organize Native Nations’ governmental structures in preparation for federal recognition. He is a well-known traditional dancer and singer.

Tecumseh Ceaser is a Native American artist and cultural consultant. He is of Matinecock Tribe of Queens and Long Island Turkey clan, Wampanoag Pokanaoket band, Montaukett, and Blackfoot. Tecumseh is currently the North American Advisor for the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus at the United Nations, where he advocates for Indigenous Americans’ rights to member states, NGOs, and other indigenous nations. He has also provided cultural education to universities, museums, and institutions including the Saint Johns University, Socrates Sculpture Park, Flushing Town hall, and New York University. As an artist, Tecumseh makes jewelry using the ancient art of wampum shell carving, a practice his tribe has been using for centuries. For more information or to get in touch with him, visit www.nativetec.biz.