Gelora: Embodied Alienation (2025) at iNVENTX

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Background: This research emerges from the intersection of posthuman studies, AR technology, and diaspora aesthetics, investigating how experiences of alienation can become generative forces for connection. The central hypothesis explores whether camera-mediated elemental rituals based on East Asian cosmology can transform fallen botanical matter into sites of uncanny recognition, where participants confront hybrid creatures that blur boundaries between plant and body, self and other. The research question asks: How can technological resurrection of discarded organic matter create new forms of posthuman kinship?

Contribution: The work contributes a novel framework for understanding alienation as a renewable resource rather than a condition of isolation. By developing an AR system where participants perform embodied gestures—scanning, dragging elemental dots, waiting for emergence—to resurrect "Gelora" (alien-hybrid beings), the research establishes new methodologies for interactive digital art that merge cultural cosmologies with technological interfaces. This approach demonstrates how SUSTAINAISSANCE principles can transform decomposition into digital resurrection, creating sustainable futures through embracing rather than resisting metamorphosis.

Significance: The work's SILVER award at MMU's INVENTX flagship event—among 54 peer-reviewed international submissions from five countries—validates its innovative approach to transforming alienation into connection. Within this competitive context fostering interdisciplinary conversations and cross-cultural exchanges, the research significantly advances discourse on conscious technological interaction. By proving estrangement can serve as foundation for posthuman kinship, the work provides crucial methodologies for artists, educators, and researchers seeking to create meaningful encounters with hybrid digital-organic entities. Its recognition at INVENTX confirms the broader relevance of using embodied technological rituals to open pathways between present awareness and speculative transformation.