STEMarts Lab

Taos, NM

Space Messengers A.I  Exploring a Participatory Universe

Step into an immersive universe where data, light, motion, sound, and artificial intelligence converge. Space Messengers A.I. invites you to explore a living constellation of messages from youth and communities in Taos and around the world. As your silhouette interacts with the cosmic display, and your reflections spark poetic responses from the A.I. Messenger, you become part of an evolving conversation about the universe and our shared future. Add your voice, and be guided by STEMarts Youth Ambassadors through this participatory experience at The PASEO Festival.

Thanks to our sponsors: Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Google Code Next, Space Valley Foundation, Encantado Foundation, J3 Fund, Taos Community Foundation, LOR Foundation, Creative Industries Division, NMarts

Space Messengers A.I. is an immersive SciArt installation that merges light, sound, motion, and responsive artificial intelligence technology to create a dynamic multisensory display with audience input.

Since 2020, Space Messengers has been traveling around the world collecting messages from youth, scientists, artists, and cultural leaders through workshops, expert exchanges, and public events. This year’s installation is the culmination of these workshops—highlighting the voices of our future leaders through creative expression and public engagement to serve as a living conversation with the universe.

At the heart of the project is a guiding question:

What is our place in the universe—and how can reflecting on cosmic phenomena, scientific discovery, and the intersection of technology, ethics, and society inspire greater care for each other, our planet, and our shared future?

STEMarts Youth Ambassadors from Northern New Mexico will be on site to guide visitors through the Space Messengers experience and share insights from their own STEAM journeys. Through year-round STEMarts programming, participating students engage with science, ethics, and emerging technologies, contributing their reflections on space, society, and the future to the exhibit. 

How It Works

Space Messengers A.I. uses large format digital media projections and data visualizations to facilitate festivalgoers’ reflections on humanity’s place in the universe. 

The installation merges responsive A.I. technology, science, art, and collective inquiry with two interactive stations:

At the message submission station, participants are asked to think about a question, a brief insight, or a message they can leave behind for the young leaders of our future. Participants’ contributions form part of an evolving dataset that powers a growing global knowledge base. Their reflections are fed directly to the A.I. Messenger, powered by a science-informed and ethically guided Large Language Model (LLM), so they can see their queries appear in real time on the projection wall.

At the gesture-based silhouette station, visitors step in front of the projection wall where a sensing camera mirrors their movement in a glowing digital silhouette and allows them to interact with the ‘space messages’ by using their body gestures to zoom in and out, selecting text and video messages from the dataset. The experience transforms participant reflections into a poetic, expressive landscape of light and motion.

The A.I. Messenger draws on the expertise of an interdisciplinary team to categorize, cluster, and reconfigure the information near instantly, revealing patterns in the data through a visual display inspired by the cosmic web—the vast structure that connects galaxies across the universe. Through this immersive and participatory experience, every festivalgoer becomes part of a living conversation—helping to shape how we imagine the universe and our role within it. 

The multisensory experience is further enriched by a responsive soundscape that blends space sounds from NASA, environmental recordings, voice samples, and synthesized audio. As participants move through the space, their gestures trigger ambient tones and layered voices creating a stimulating environment where sound, motion, and meaning converge.

Inspiration

Inspired by physicist John Archibald Wheeler’s concept of a “participatory universe”—suggesting that the universe is not a static entity but rather one that is actively shaped and brought into being by conscious observers—the installation invites participants to consider their role in shaping reality through inquiry, reflection, and observation.  In alignment with this year’s festival theme, "Thresholds," the interactive SciArt production invites audiences to explore the evolving boundary between human consciousness and artificial intelligence. In 2025, with support from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, STEMarts Lab deepened the experience through the integration of artificial intelligence, and more specifically, A.I. for good.

 “This iteration deepens the participatory and poetic dimensions of the work while exploring how A.I. can serve as a tool for reimagining humanity through inquiry, reflection, and creativity,” says Agnes Chavez, Creative Director.

The Team

Creative Director: Agnes Chavez
Artists: Markus Dorninger / OMAi
Creative Coders: Remy Dumas, Roy Macdonald
Sound Design: David Novack
LLM Developer: Bethany Rivera
Installation Director: Ian Harrison
Video Editing: Malu Tavares, Ivan Rodriguez Holguin
Tech Director: Chris Conard
Social Media: Julia Doke

Scientific and Cultural Advisors / Content Contributors

Dr. Steven Goldfarb, Dr. Nicole Lloyd-Ronning, Dr. Julia Blue Bird, Steve Tamayo, Michelle Hanlon, Frank Tavares, Dr. Greg Cajete, Catarina Pombo Nabais, Dr. Andrea Albert, Sophia Dagnello, Arwen Hubbard, Manuel Montoya

STEMarts Youth Ambassadors

Shaylee Mirabal, Taylor Streit, HattieRose Briddell, Tulasi LoPriore, Flora Mack, Samara Elliot, Juliana Lucero, Feliciana Mitchell-Gonzales, Sirena Quezada, Victor Quezada, Wyatt Wade, Emma Allen, Alyssa Valdez, Sophia Bates, Julia Doke, Ivan Rodriguez, Captain Kireev, Kenn Dejan, Una Maitre, Zion Flores

VIP Volunteers

Pilar L. Robledo, Carey Beam, Dr. Julia Blue Bird, Juniper Leherissey

_______

AstroTour [AR]: A New Way To See The Stars

AstroTour [AR] invites us to pause, look up, and reconnect with the night sky. This immersive SciArt experience blends astronomy, storytelling, and augmented reality to transform dark skies into portals of curiosity and imagination. 

Led by STEMarts Ambassadors, the traveling event features youth-designed AR Astro Stations that illuminate constellations through digital art, cultural narratives, and speculative futures—all guided by the next generation of STEAM leaders. 

AstroTour [AR] is part of the STEMarts Lab STEAM TEAM program, where students explore space science, digital media XR, and A.I. Under the mentorship of Arwen Hubbard, NASA Solar System Ambassador, and Ian Harrison, XR creative coder and instructor, youth participants study the astronomical events happening at the time of the festival—and then design coded generative art overlays that align with real constellations in augmented reality (AR), weaving together cultural stories, space science, and technology into a shared public experience that inspires wonder. 

We use GPS-driven astronomical mapping to calculate the real-time positions of stars and constellations, aligning the coded student artwork precisely with the night sky to be viewed from anywhere in the world.

How to Interact with AstroTour [AR]

 1. Scan the AR Marker
 Use your smartphone or device to scan the QR code on this podium. This launches the AstroTour AR viewer directly in your browser.

 2. Hold Up Your Device to the Sky
 Point your phone toward the night sky or ceiling. You'll begin to see AR constellation art layered over the stars. These animations were created by students and are linked to real-time celestial events.

AstroYouth Guides

Shaylee Mirabal, Taylor Streit, HattieRose Briddell, Tulasi LoPriore, Flora Mack, Samara Elliot, Juliana Lucero, Feliciana Mitchell-Gonzales, Sirena Quezada, Victor Quezada, Wyatt Wade, Emma Allen, Alyssa Valdez, Sophia Bates, Julia Doke, Ivan Rodriguez, Captain Kireev, Kenn Dejan, Una Maitre, Zion Flores

Want to join the AstroYouth program? Register here.

www.stemarts.com