Queerskins: ark VR (co-produced by Intel Studios, currently in post-production) harnesses emerging technologies, including Intel’s 3D volumetric video capture technology , 360˚ stereoscopic video, drone-assisted photogrammetry, and spatial sound, to tell the story of a Catholic mother living in rural Missouri who reads the diary her estranged gay son has left behind, and allows herself to imagine him alive and in love. Entering the mother’s imagination, the visitor co-creates an intimate dance between the lovers through their own body position and movement. In this way, ark explores the tension between material historical embodied reality and transcendent virtuality. It asks visitors to consider what is lost and gained when touch and interaction become computer-mediated. The magical realist aesthetic of the VR will be extended into a physical installation that will incorporate spatial sound, video, photographs, objects and unique handmade costumes/undergarments designed by Mumbai based designer Loise Braganza. By putting on one of these wearable “soft machines,” visitors confront their own relationship to sexuality, gender, and physical body size and shape.