https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/1708 2026-11-06T09:57:53Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150769 Title: Designing, developing, and evaluating XR experiences – selected aspects Authors: Antonopoulou, Caterina; Arsenopoulou, Natalia; Calì, Fabrizio; Papageorgopoulou, Penny; Rizopoulos, Charalampos Abstract: This paper aims to highlight various aspects of the design, development, and evaluation processes of immersive XR experiences. It focuses on the creative and expressive aspects of virtual environments (VEs), following the design and implementation processes of artistic VEs as conducted by the under- graduate students of the Department of Digital Arts and Cinema at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the Department of Digital Arts at the University of Malta (UoM), in the course of three laboratory classes of Digital Artistic Creation and Immersive Experience Design, during the academic years 2020–2021 and 2022–2023. Medium-related challenges are discussed in relation to the design and implementation of user interaction, 3D content creation, 3D composition and social engagement in VEs. Furthermore, theoretical approaches of storytelling within VEs and the narrative design process of artistic VEs are discussed. Selected case studies from the students’ virtual artworks are analysed in relation to the applied narrative types and structures. As a further elaboration on the evaluation of XR experiences, a CAVE system is analysed in terms of various characteristics that may affect the quality of the experience. 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146807 Title: The emergence of layers and structures in photography Authors: Borg, Trevor Abstract: This essay by Prof. Trevor Borg explores the multifaceted photographic practice of Joseph P. Smith as presented in his retrospective exhibition, STILL TIME (2026). Borg analyses how Smith constructs fluid narratives of "place" by blending documentary realism, ethnography, and geometric abstraction. The text examines the dual nature of photography to simultaneously reveal and conceal, transforming specific architectural, urban, and natural landscapes into tightly cropped, decontextualized layers of meaning. Drawing on spatial theories from thinkers like de Certeau, Lefebvre, and Sontag, Borg highlights how Smith's imagery captures everything from weathered, decaying vernacular spaces to structured contemporary architecture, ultimately inviting viewers to actively inhabit and reconstruct these visual narratives through their own imagination. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146806 Title: Practice, knowledge and collaboration Abstract: This graduation oration, delivered by Professor Trevor Borg at the University of Malta, explores the evolving landscape of contemporary art and design practice within higher education. Emphasizing "Practice as Research" (PaR), the address articulates how artistic production, material engagement, and creative making generate unique forms of qualitative, non-propositional knowledge. Professor Borg highlights the transformative power of cross-disciplinary collaboration, hybrid research methodologies, and the systemic role of productive experimentation and failure in institutional research frameworks. The text underscores the university's vital responsibility to cultivate flexible, safe, and reflexive environments that encourage students to embrace uncertainty, challenge normative assumptions, and contribute meaningfully to the broader knowledge economy. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145416 Title: Resonant forms [Multimedia exposition] Authors: Galea, Matthew Abstract: This Exposition documents my research across media and the struggles I at times face with aligning the various artistic practices that I undertake. I approach this initially through the notion of resonance as a metaphor.; The paper that originally defined the topic of this exposition explores resonance not only as an acoustic or affective phenomenon but as a critical and sculptural strategy within contemporary artistic research. Drawing from my hybrid practice ranging across sculpture, software-based systems, intermedia installation, and tattooing, I argue for a continued reconceptualisation of sculpture as an event, a force, and a site of transformative encounter. More specifically this exposition attempts to align my practice as a tattoo practitioner with that of a sculptor. Whilst I have lived with this "contradiction" without problems through my artistic career. Tattooing has always been placed on the back burner academically, as there is no real academic discourse on tattooing as an artistic practice, nor any real fora for discussing this. In my work, however, both as a sculptor and as an academic, tattooing has been a solid foundation that has a very strong influence on my approaches and aesthetic considerations. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z