Illya Szilak is a Brooklyn-based writer, artist, immersive storyteller, and physician. Her long-time artistic partner is Cyril Tsiboulski. Their work is interactive, wildly cross-disciplinary (including dance, virtual and physical installation, VR, fashion, photography, writing, and film), and highly collaborative. It defies boundaries between digital and virtual production, research, and art-making.
SELECTED WORKS
Fly Angel Soul (2024)
Short film shot entirely in a bespoke interactive VR set. Volumetric video filming sponsored by Microsoft.
Quills Fest World (2022)
Bespoke interactive metaverse world. Creative producer and co-director.
Ordinary Gesture (2021)
VR performance/installation, in collaboration with Raja Feather Kelly (The Strange Loop). Premiered at Quills Fest, Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
In My Own Skin (2021)
Handmade textiles, photography, and virtual installation in VRChat. Premiered at CPH:DOX, Denmark.
Queerskins: ARK (2020)
Virtual reality experience, funded and co-produced by Intel Studios and filmed on the largest 3D volumetric capture stage in the world. Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival.
vr.queerskins.com/ark
Queerskins: a love story (2018) Virtual reality.
vr.queerskins.com
- – Awarded Special Jury Prize in VR, Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab
- – Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, April 2018
- – Commissioned month-long solo exhibition/installation at the Toronto International Film Festival Bell Lightbox Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 2018
- – Selected for exhibition at the Seattle International Film Festival, SIGGRAPH 2018, and the Geneva International Film Festival
- – Commissioned site-specific installations at the LA Film Festival, the Houston Cinematic Arts Festival, and muvlab, Mexico City, October 2018 Queerskins: a novel (2012) Interactive multimedia web narrative. online.queerskins.com
- – Selected for the Electronic Literature Collection, Vol. 3 collection.eliterature.org/3
- – Recognized by the Webby Awards, Best of Net Art, 2013
- – Exhibited at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France, 2013
- – Exhibited at the 5th International Digital Storytelling Conference, Ankara, Turkey, 2013
Illya Szilak / 1
Reconstructing Mayakovsky (2008) Interactive web narrative. reconstructingmayakovsky.com
- – Presented by Prof. Arnaud Regnauld (Paris 8), “L’imaginaire machinique,” Université de Lille, April 2015
- – Selected for the Electronic Literature Collection, Vol. 2, 2011
- – Exhibited at the Electronic Literature Conference, Brown University, 2011
- – Jury pick, Japan Media Arts Festival, Tokyo, 2010
- – Exhibited at Filmwinter Festival, Stuttgart, Germany, 2009
- – Animation shown in eight short film festivals, including the Melbourne International Festival of Animation AWARDS, GRANTS, LABS, AND RESIDENCIES
2023 Young-Howze Theater Award, “360” Award for VR Show of the Year, for Queerskins: ARK 2022 First Creative Technologists in Residence, Oregon Shakespeare Festival
2021 Jerome Foundation Film Production Grant
2021 Ars Electronica Creative Producers Program
2019 Special Jury Prize in VR for Queerskins: a love story, Columbia University School of the Arts Digital Storytelling Lab
2019 Peabody Futures of Media Award
2018 Commissioned installation and exhibition, Rice University Media Center, Houston, TX
2018 Commissioned installation and exhibition, LA Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Commissioned installation, Inside/Out Festival, Toronto International Film Festival Bell Lightbox Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2018 Future Innovators Summit, invited participant, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
2018 Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes Commission
2018 Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant
2017 Prototype Hybrid Non-Fiction Tribeca All Access Grant, Tribeca Film Institute/MacArthur Foundation
2016 Curated five-hour presentation of electronic literature and poetry, The Kitchen, New York, NY thekitchen.org
2016 New Frontiers Grant, Sundance Institute/Arcus Foundation 2016 Digital Narratives Lab Fellowship, Banff Arts Centre, Canada 2016 Oculus Launchpad Lab
2015 Forward/Story Lab
PUBLICATIONS
2024 “Exploring the Ethical Dimensions of Virtual Production.” Fonseca, Journal of Communication 28.1: 47–64. revistas-fonseca.com
2021 “Empathy as Aesthetic Sympathy in Virtual Reality: Lessons from Queerskins: ARK.” The International Journal of New Media.
Illya Szilak / 2
2019 “Do Cyborgs Dream of iPhone Apps? The Body and Storytelling in the Digital Imaginary.” In Structures of Thought and the Digital Imaginary: On the Emerging Shapes of Immersive, Narrative and Database Arts, edited by Sandy Baldwin and Roderick Coover. Bloomsbury Academic Press. Planned publication.
2018 “Storytelling at the End of the World: Cinema and Narrativity in Virtual Reality.” Formes d(e l’)Apocalypse. Bibliothèque numérique Paris 8. Accessed October 9, 2018. octaviana.fr
2015 “The Body of Michael Brown: A Response to Kenneth Goldsmith.” Portuguese translation, Sibila (Brazilian poetry and criticism journal), July 2015. Originally published in The Huffington Post, March 2015.
2015 “Towards Minor Digital Forms: E-lit and the Art of Failure.” Electronic Book Review, August 2, 2015. electronicbookreview.com
2013 “Last Words and Final Numbers.” The Jonestown Report 15, San Diego State University, November 2013.
2012 “A Rare Glimpse into the North Korean Soul.” Reuters, July 17, 2012.
Series of essays on digital literature, The Huffington Post. Several have been cited in books
and assigned on university digital humanities syllabi. huffpost.com/author/iszilak-228 SELECTED PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
2023 2023
2023
2022
2021
2021 October 2018 August 2018 June 2016 March 2016
October 2014 June 2014 March 2014
Frontiers Talk, “Performing Life: Generating New Realities through Theatre and XR,” SIGGRAPH, Los Angeles, CA
Frontiers Workshop, “All the Metaverse’s a Stage: Theatrical Strategies for Blended Realities,” SIGGRAPH, Los Angeles, CA
“This Is Not a Person, Part 2,” SXSW, Austin, TX
“This Is Not a Person,” SXSW, Austin, TX
“Making Emotional Connections with Volumetric Video,” SXSW
“Aesthetics and Empathy: Why Art Matters,” Games for Change Conference
Keynote, “Creating Empathy in VR,” VR Fest MX, Mexico City, Mexico
Invited talk, “Storytelling in VR: Lessons Learned,” SIGGRAPH 2018, Vancouver, Canada
Invited talk, “Narrativity in Virtual Reality,” Electronic Literature Organization Conference
Invited talk, “The Failure of Narrative: Cinema and Storytelling at the End of the World,” Forms of Apocalypse symposium, Université Paris 8
Keynote, Critical Dialogue Series, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA Keynote, Electronic Literature Organization Conference, Milwaukee, WI Reading/performance, The Kitchen, New York, NY
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
March 2019 February 2019
August 2018
“Storytelling Primer,” six-hour class, IFP Made in NYC Media Center, New York, NY Artist talk, Digital Fictions, University of Colorado, Boulder. Most recent of numerous artist
talks in university classrooms and public venues. vr.queerskins.com/talks
“Storytelling in Virtual Reality,” two-day (eight-hour) workshop, VRMX, Mexico City, Mexico
