John Desnoyers-Stewart, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies
Other Titles: Critical Future Studio/Lab
Email: desnoyej@mail.ubc.ca

Research Summary

Immersive Technology (XR); Rewilding technology; Research-Creation; Interactive Art; Connecting to Nature; Virtual Reality; Critical Design; Embodied Interaction; Social Connection; Transformative Experience; Research in-the-Wild.

Courses & Teaching

Media Studies

Biography

Dr. John Desnoyers-Stewart is an interdisciplinary artist/researcher and postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Critical Future Studio/Lab. He integrates artistic practice with engineering knowledge to create innovative artworks to connect people and evoke new perspectives on our shared physical reality. He has exhibited his multi-user mixed reality installations, Star-Stuff, Eve 3.0, and more in over 80 exhibitions at art galleries and festivals around the world. Through his art and research, he explores positive social applications of mixed reality, investigating its potential to connect us more deeply to ourselves, each other, and our surrounding physical reality.

Websites

ispace.iat.sfu.ca/person/john-desnoyers-stewart

Degrees

PhD in Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University, 2024; MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies (Creative Tech and Computer Science), University of Regina, 2018; BASc in Industrial Systems Engineering (Co-Op), University of Regina, 2011

Selected Publications & Presentations

2026

Ekaterina R. Stepanova, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Kristina Höök, and Bernhard E. Riecke. Ethereal Virtual Touch for Embodied Telepresent Connection: Applying Pseudo-haptics in Social Virtual Reality. DIS ‘26, Singapore. June 13–17, 2026, 17 p. ACM.

Ekaterina R. Stepanova, John Desnoyers-Stewart, and Berhard E. Riecke. Diffusing Social Boundaries through Virtual Bodies: How Mixed Reality Embodied Experiences Can Foster Social Connection. CHI ‘26, Barcelona, Spain. April 13–17, 2026, 19 p. ACM.

Bahman Fakouri, John Desnoyers-Stewart, and Megan L. Smith. Making Future Climate Projection Data Tangible: The Truth Machine’s AI-Powered Visualization Pipeline. ISEA ’26. Dubai, UAE. April 10–19, 2026.

2025

John Desnoyers-Stewart, Alissa Antle, and Bernhard E. Riecke. Being in Virtual Worlds: how interaction, environment, and touch shape embodiment in immersive experiences. CHI ‘25, Yokohama, Japan. April 26–May 1, 2025, 16 p. ACM. doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713586

John Desnoyers-Stewart, Noah Miller, and Bernhard E. Riecke. Synedelica: Mixed Reality Reimagined. Proceedings of the ACM in Computer Graphics Interactive Techniques (PACMCGIT), 8(3), 12 p.

John Desnoyers-Stewart, and Brad Necyk. Kingdom of Illumination VR: Shining a Light on New Techniques for Immersive Video. Proceedings of EVA London 2025, London, UK, July 7–11, 2025. 2 p.

2024

John Desnoyers-Stewart, Margherita Bergamo Meneghini, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, and Bernhard E. Riecke. Real Human Touch: Performer-Facilitated Touch Enhances Presence and Embodiment in Immersive Performance. Frontiers in Virtual Reality 4:1336581.

Margherita Bergamo Meneghini, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Daniel González-Franco, and Veronica Boniotti. Eve 3.0: stories of our extreme selves. Proceedings of EVA London 2024, London, UK, July 8–12, 2024.

2023

John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, Patrick Liu, Alexandra Kitson, Vladislav Ryzhov, Patrick P. Pennefather, and Bernhard E. Riecke. Embodied Telepresent Connection (ETC): Exploring Virtual Social Touch Through Pseudohaptics. CHI ’23 Extended Abstracts. Hamburg, Germany, Apr 23–28, 2023, 7 p. ACM.

Patrick Liu, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, and Bernhard E. Riecke. Breath of Light: A Meditative Installation Reimagining Shared Breathing. Leonardo 56(5). 471–477 doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_02401

Noah Miller, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ashu Adhikari, Alexandra Kitson, Patrick P. Pennefather, Denise Quesnel, Katharina Brauns, Anika Friedl-Werner, Alexander Stahn, and Bernhard E. Riecke. Awedyssey: Eliciting Self-transcendent Emotions in Virtual Reality to Support Wellbeing. DIS ’23. Pittsburg, PA, Jul 10–14, 2023. 23 p. ACM.

2022

John Desnoyers-Stewart. Star-Stuff: a shared immersive experience in space. ISEA ’22: Possibilities, Barcelona, Spain. June 10–16, 2022, 8 p.

Lark Spartin and John Desnoyers-Stewart. Digital Relationality: Relational aesthetics in contemporary interactive art. Proceedings of EVA London 2022, London, UK, July 4–8, 2022, 8 p.

Ekaterina R. Stepanova, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Kristina Höök, and Bernhard E. Riecke, Strategies for Fostering a Genuine Feeling of Connection in Technologically Mediated Systems. CHI’ 22, New Orleans, LA, USA. April 30–May 5, 2022, 38 p. ACM.

2020

John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, Bernhard Riecke, and Patrick Pennefather. Body RemiXer: Extending Bodies to Stimulate Social Connection Through an Immersive Installation. Leonardo, 53(4), 394–400.

Ekaterina R. Stepanova, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Philippe Pasquier, and Bernhard E. Riecke. JeL: Breathing Together to Connect with Others and Nature. DIS ’20. Eindhoven, NL, July 6–10, 2020, 14 p. ACM.

John Desnoyers-Stewart. Engaging with a CHI Paper Through Embodied Action: A Situated Analysis of “Design for Collaborative Survival.” CHI ’20 Extended Abstracts, Honolulu, HI, USA. April 25–30, 2020, 11 p. ACM.

2019

John Desnoyers-Stewart, Megan L. Smith, and Bernhard E. Riecke. “Transcending the Virtual Mirror Stage: Embodying the virtual self through the digital mirror.” In Radical Immersions: Navigating Between Virtual / Physical Environments and Information Bubbles. Proceedings of DRHA 2019, London, UK, Sep 8-10, 2019, pp. 156–67. [article]

Megan L. Smith, John Desnoyers-Stewart, and Gregory Kratzig. Designing Virtual Reality Tools: making simulated interventions feel and act like their real counterparts. In Proceedings of I/ITSEC 2019, Orlando, USA, Dec 2–6, 2019, 13 p. [article]

Megan L. Smith and John Desnoyers-Stewart. Riding Through Walls: a journey in physical computing through Google Street View. Proceedings of EVA London 2019, London, UK, July 8–11,2019, 8 p.

2018

John Desnoyers-Stewart, David Gerhard, and Megan L. Smith Augmenting a MIDI Keyboard Using Virtual Interfaces. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 66(6), 439–447.

John Desnoyers-Stewart, David Gerhard, and Megan L. Smith, (2018, December). “Augmenting Virtuality with a Synchronized Dynamic Musical Interface: a user evaluation of a Mixed Reality MIDI Keyboard.” In Music Technology with Swing. LNCS. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 540–557.

Selected Grants & Awards

Canada Council for the Arts: Concept to Realization (2026-2027)
Canada Council for the Arts: Sector Innovation and Development (2025-2026)
Canada Council for the Arts: Concept to Realization (2022-2023)
Canada Council for the Arts Research and Creation Grant (2021-2022)

Selected Awards & Distinctions

SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2025-2028)
SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (2018-2023)
Helmut & Hugo Eppich Family Graduate Scholarship (2024)
BC Arts Council Scholarship (2023)
UBC Okanagan FCCS Sessional Faculty Research Award (2022)
Engineers Canada TD Meloche-Monnex Scholarship (2019)
National Academy of Sciences Student Fellows Symposium Award (2018)
Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunity Graduate Scholarship (2017)

Exhibitions

Vox.Infold II: Mojuba [XR interactive music video] lead: Ruby Singh, with Lark Spartin.

Star-Stuff: a way for the universe to know itself [multi-user VR] music by Dale Nichols. Available on Oculus Quest

Thresholds: Stories of Our Inner Selves [multi-user VR performance] with Margherita Bergamo Menenghini, Veronica Boniotti, Mark Lee, Maria Leon Arraez, Daniel González Franco, Kirstin Huber, Amira-Sade Moodie, Dale Nichols and many more. Produced by Compagnie Voix.

  • V-Unframed 2025. Alliance Française Vancouver, Vancouver, BC. Nov. 20–23, 2025.
  • SIGGRAPH Spatial Storytelling 2025. Vancouver, BC. August 14, 2025.
  • Dance and/as Technology. UQAM, Montreal, QC, Canada, May 2, 2024.
  • ZED Festival 2023. Bologna, Italy. 12–17 October 2023.
  • TIFAWT Rabat Digital Arts. Rabat, Morocco. May 15–21, 2023.
  • Recto VRso 2023. Laval, France. April 12–14, 2023.
  • Tanzahoi 2022. Hamburg, Germany. September 9–18 2022.

Sonic Bloom [Interactive Projection] with Ruby Singh

  • Art Out Side. PoMo Arts. Port Moody, BC. August 4, 2025.
  • Indian Summer Festival: Horizons. Vancouver Playhouse, Vancouver, BC. July 10, 2025.

Liyana [Interactive Projection] with Simphiwe Buthelezi.

  • Iziko South African National Gallery. Cape Town, South Africa. 2026.
  • Vancouver Biennale Int’l Artist Residency Program 2025. Vancouver, BC. September 9–12, 2025.

Neumadasos [Immersive Breathing Installation] with Ekaterina Stepanova, Shamina Senaratne, Vasiliki Tsaknaki and Ruby Singh.

Bardo [interactive installation] with Pravin Pillay, music by Ruby Singh.

Créaction: Symbiosis [multi-user VR] with Sonya Khalfallah Riahi.

Body RemiXer [multi-user online virtual reality experience] with Ekaterina Stepanova, Bernhard Riecke and Patrick Pennefather.

  • Recto VRso @Vancouver 2020. Online and at Alliance Française Vancouver, October 2-4, 2020.
  • The Fun Palace Carnival of Mixed Realities, Center for Digital Media, Vancouver, BC, Canada, June 25, 2019.
  • JeL [Collaborative Breathing installation] with Ekaterina Stepanova, Philippe Pasquier, and Bernhard Riecke. The Fun Palace Carnival of Mixed Realities, Center for Digital Media, Vancouver, BC, Canada, June 25, 2019.

Transcending Perception [Multi-user mixed reality installation/performance]

  • Digital Carnival, Richmond World Festival 2019, Richmond, BC. August 30–31, 2019. With Performances by: Robyn Murray, Kestrel Paton, Charlotte Telfer-Wan, Annabelle Wong, Sarah U.
  • Nuit Blanche Regina, Regina, SK, September 29, 2018. With assistance from Yujie Gao and Performances by: Carla Harris, WL Altman, Helen Pridmore, Krista Solheim, Tara Solheim, and Clinton Ackerman.
  • Fifth Parallel Gallery, Regina, SK, April 17–27, 2018. With performances by: WL Altman, Helen Pridmore, Clinton Ackerman, and Megan L. Smith.

Professional Services/Affiliations/Committees

Critical Future Studio/Lab
UBC Emerging Media Lab

 

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