Research Work

Dec 3, 2024
8 min read

Updated: May 6

Echoes of Home: A Living Archive

Interactive Research in Memory, Identity & Belonging

Where is your home? And what happens when “home” becomes something you have to constantly leave behind and rebuild?

I grew up moving between countries and homes, each time leaving behind something familiar. Over time, I realized that my memories of home existed less in the physical space and more in the moments, objects, and sensations that stayed with me. That realization became the foundation of this project.

Home is not a place—it’s a feeling we’re always rebuilding.

Echoes of Home is an immersive experience that explores the ideas of home, displacement, and belonging. Using interactive digital environments, real-time game engine technology, and AI-driven interaction, the project creates virtual spaces that evoke memory and emotion — inviting viewers to reflect on their own experiences and definitions of home.

At its core, Echoes of Home transforms digital space into a site for introspection and connection. While physical homes may be impermanent, an authentic inner home can be reclaimed and nurtured—a truth that endures through resilience, memory, and imagination.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/4a0c2c_0c4fd927ceea4ecd8dc38e10719a2091/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Research Statement

Echoes of Home explores how digital environments can recreate the emotional texture of memory and belonging in an increasingly fragmented world. The project asks:

How can technology recreate the emotional texture of home?

How can immersive media and AI-driven interaction transform abstract emotional states—such as displacement, memory, and home—into lived, participatory experiences?

At its core, the work reframes “home” not as a fixed place, but as something continuously rebuilt through memory, experience, and personal meaning.

Background & Conceptual Framework

The idea of home and the absence of it have been a constant presence in my life. Growing up between South Korea, Thailand, and the United States, I experienced home as something continually shifting. Rather than a fixed place, it became a series of temporary spaces, each carrying fragments of familiarity. Looking back, many of my earlier works were already attempting to hold onto these experiences. Some of my first 3D modeling projects recreated spaces I once lived in, while an earlier AR project translated personal objects into Tarot cards, each tied to a memory and a reason for its significance. These works reflect an ongoing desire to preserve what is no longer physically accessible.

Over time, I began to understand that homes do not reside solely in physical space. It exists in fragments—objects, routines, sensations, and moments that persist beyond place. This realization became the foundation of Echoes of Home, which explores how memory constructs and reshapes our understanding of belonging.

While rooted in personal experience, this inquiry reflects a broader global condition. According to the UNHCR (2024), over 122 million people are currently displaced worldwide. Beyond physical displacement, many experience emotional dislocation shaped by cultural, economic, and technological shifts. In this context, home becomes increasingly unstable—something continuously lost, redefined, and reconstructed. Research in psychology and anthropology suggests that attachment to place is fundamental to identity and well-being (Ben-Yoseph, 2000; Dossa & Golubovic, 2021). When disrupted, this attachment can result in a form of “emotional homelessness,” a condition that transcends geography and nationality.

Echoes of Home engages with this condition by transforming these invisible experiences into interactive, embodied encounters. The project is situated within contemporary practices in immersive and digital art that explore memory, space, and narrative. Works such as Chalkroom by Laurie Anderson use spatialized text and disembodiment to create fragmented narrative environments, while Delivery Dancer’s Sphere by Ayoung Kim presents layered digital landscapes that reflect broader social conditions. Interactive works like Eight Days at Home treat memory as an evolving archive.

The project is also informed by narrative exploration games that use the environment and objects as storytelling devices. A game called Unpacking influenced my approach through its portrayal of life progression via the act of unpacking. Without direct narration, the placement of everyday objects reveals an intimate story over time. This quiet, object-driven storytelling resonates with my own experience of home as something accumulated through movement. Similarly, Gone Home informs my use of environmental storytelling, where objects function as entry points into memory.

Building on these references, Echoes of Home shifts the focus toward personal introspection and audience participation. Rather than presenting memory as fixed or archival, the project treats it as fluid, generative, and co-created through interaction. By inviting participants to contribute their own reflections, the work expands beyond a singular narrative into a shared space where multiple meanings of home can emerge.

Ben-Yoseph, M. (2000). Longing for home: Displacement, memory, and identity.
Dossa, P., & Golubovic, J. (2021). Reimagining home in the wake of displacement.
UNHCR. (2024). Global trends: Forced displacement in 2023.
Laurie Anderson. Chalkroom. Laurie Anderson – Chalkroom
Ayoung Kim. (2022). Delivery Dancer’s Sphere. Ayoung Kim – Delivery Dancer’s Sphere
Unpacking. (2021). Unpacking Official Website

Project Description

Echoes of Home evolved into a collection of three interconnected works that together explore memory, reflection, and shared experiences.

The first is an interactive AR photo wall, featuring images of past homes reimagined through sketches and AI-generated visuals based on vivid personal descriptions. When viewed through a device, each image reveals layered memories tied to that space.

The second is the central experience, Echoes of Home, an interactive environment where participants move through a series of symbolic stages: a familiar interior, a chaotic landscape, and a personal refuge shaped by their own reflections. Objects serve as entry points into memory, each revealing fragments of narrative through short text and interaction. Through AI-guided dialogue, participants are invited to share their thoughts and memories of home through conversation, which are transformed into visual elements within the space.

The final component is an interactive guestbook, an open platform where visitors contribute a word or symbol that represents home to them. Over time, this becomes a growing archive of shared meanings.

Together, these three works form a collective exploration of home—moving from personal memory to shared reflection.

Research Goals & Methodology

The primary goal of Echoes of Home is to explore how immersive media and AI-driven interaction can translate abstract emotional states—such as displacement, memory, and belonging—into lived, participatory experiences. The project seeks to bridge technology and human experience, reimagining digital environments as spaces for empathy, reflection, and cross-cultural understanding.

This research is guided by the following objectives:

Reframe “home” as an evolving emotional process rather than a fixed location
Explore human–AI co-creation as a mode of interactive storytelling
Develop a framework for empathetic interaction within virtual environments
Advance interdisciplinary approaches to real-time media and immersive design

The project is developed in Unreal Engine 5, leveraging real-time rendering to construct layered, symbolic environments that evolve through player interaction. The experience unfolds across three interconnected stages—loss, reconstruction, and reclamation—each representing a phase of emotional transformation.

Methodologically, the work integrates:

AI-driven interaction for real-time dialogue and responsive narrative generation
Procedural environment design to create adaptive and evolving spaces
Generative imagery systems that translate user input into visual outcomes
User testing and iterative design to refine interaction, pacing, and emotional resonance

Together, these methods position Echoes of Home as both a creative work and a research framework for exploring how technology can support meaningful, reflective, and empathetic experiences.

AI Integration as Collaborative Process

One of the most distinctive aspects of Echoes of Home is the integration of artificial intelligence as a collaborative element rather than merely a technical tool. AI functions as an active participant in the storytelling process, enabling personalized experiences for each participant.

Two primary forms of AI integration were developed:

Conversational AI – Participants engage in dialogue with an echoing voice that prompts reflection on their memories of home. The system interprets these responses to guide the narrative and emotional progression of the experience.
Generative Image System – Participant input is transformed into visual elements that appear within the final refuge space, creating a personalized archive of memory. This process mirrors the fluid and interpretive nature of remembering.

This collaborative relationship between human emotion and algorithmic interpretation expands the expressive potential of digital media, allowing each experience to be unique and deeply personal.

Recognition and Impact

The development of Echoes of Home has been recognized through its selection as a finalist at GameFest 2026 in the categories of Experimental, Impact, and Art, where it was awarded Best in Visual Art. This recognition provided valuable insight into how audiences engage with the work and affirmed its potential as an immersive, emotionally driven experience.

The project has also been selected for participation in the group exhibition “Pleasure Engineered” at Accent Sisters in New York in May 2026. This opportunity expanded the work into a broader artistic context, situating it within contemporary conversations around interaction, technology, intimacy, and belonging.

Together, these recognitions highlight the project’s potential for continued development across both game and fine arts platforms, as well as its capacity to foster meaningful, shared experiences.

Future Direction

Echoes of Home explores how digital environments can become spaces for reflection, empathy, and connection. By transforming personal memory into a shared, interactive experience, the project invites participants to reconsider what home means in their own lives.

Moving forward, I aim to expand this work both in scale and medium while continuing to deepen its core ideas. As I transition into a career in academia, this project serves as a foundation for my ongoing research—using digital art and emerging technologies to create empathetic, cross-cultural experiences.

Ultimately, my goal is to develop interactive environments that bridge artistic practice and research, creating spaces where people can reflect, connect, and reimagine their relationship to home.

Read the Project Description section for a detailed explanation of the full collection:

Homes Reimagined (Interactive AR Photowall)
Echoes of Home (Interactive Experience)
Home is ______ . (Interactive Guestbook)

Scene Design and Iteration

Scene 1 – The Room: What We Leave Behind

Another move. Another goodbye.

The first scene establishes a sense of intimacy and familiarity. Designed as a personal, lived-in room, it contains meaningful objects that evoke memory and recognition. Early iterations explored different spatial arrangements and levels of detail to balance realism with emotional clarity. Through user testing and conceptual revisions, the scene evolved to emphasize a gradual sense of confusion and loss. As participants interact with objects, elements of the environment begin to dissolve into particles, symbolizing the fragility of memory and the experience of leaving home. Lighting and sound were carefully placed to create a warm yet melancholic atmosphere, reinforcing the emotional transition.

Environment preview

Scene 2 – The Street: Between Noise and Memory

The city hums with forgotten echoes.

The second scene represents a state of displacement and uncertainty. Initial concepts ranged from realistic urban environments to more abstract spatial compositions. Through iterative refinement, the final design embraced a surreal, fragmented street that blends cultural and linguistic elements. Street signs in multiple languages, shifting LED colors, and glitching transportation portals create a sense of disorientation while maintaining visual coherence. Ambient sound design, including echoes and distant urban noise, enhances the emotional tension. This scene serves as a liminal space, capturing the feeling of being between places, neither fully belonging nor entirely lost.

Environment preview

Scene 3 – The Garden: Gathering the Fragments

It's quiet now—like stepping into a memory.

The final scene marks a transition toward healing and reclamation. Unlike previous environments, this space is intentionally non-architectural, emphasizing openness and organic growth. Early design iterations explored various symbolic representations of refuge before settling on a nature-inspired environment. The absence of walls or rigid structures reflects an internalized sense of home. Elements such as foliage, soft lighting, and generative visual forms represent renewal and the reconstruction of identity. The polaroids are generated through participant interaction, reinforcing the idea that home is continuously shaped through personal reflection.

Scene 3 - Environment preview