The Lab for Immersive Media at UT Austin was founded by Michael Baker and is run by Kyle Evans, an amazing artist, arts facilitator and professor. Before working for UT Kyle has a track record of doing serious performance arts in the community and for being a connectory for artists through his concurrent venture DadaLabs, a community centric space for creatives. Our visit was with Kyle and and lab maintainer Micheal. They gave us a full tour, explained their interactive wall that incorporates 16 camera tracking system that was truly amazing to experience. They discussed their interdisciplinary collaborations across campus. We discussed what future collaboration might look like and performances we would like to collaborate on. Our current hope is to have a Spring 2026 Synthposium where we host speakers from their lab and Dadalabs. We cannot thank Kyle enough for taking the time to show us the space.
The Grotto 101 Performance Space is run by Heather Barfield Ph.D. a performance artist, performance arts facilitator and active scholar. The Grotto 101 is located in south Austin and provides an intiment performance space for artists to perform and practice. We had some great coversations about her visiting and ideating about possible collaborations in BCS. We would like to thank Heather Barfield Ph.D. for hosting us.
Last but not least we went to Jerry’s House. We could write a whole book about Jerry’s House. Basically it is a house that was inhabited by Jerry Chamkis and is has been since bought and continued on as a private meeting space. The meet ups held there are legendary and so many stories are in the walls. Jerry was a polymath who worked at the Texas School for the Blind and also was a general hacking community connectory. It was a pleasure to get invited to stop by and see what people were up to.
TAMU Skaters Skateboard Features – Gabe
The TAMU Skaters student organization led by student org president Gabe and Faculty sponsor joey phd took on a summer skateboard feature building initiative. Based out of the porch of joey phd’s house, TAMU Skater org members worked together to build multiple skate features such as quarter pipes, p-rail and wedge ramp throughout the summer with Gabe taking on multiple solo sessions to keep the builds on track as many students go home for the summer. The results have been amazing with one ramp already making it to campus. The features all have wheels making them ultra portable to move around campus for various events. We look forward to see how they are painted and utilized over the coming fall 2025 semester.
Polar.Booth Book Pop Up
This is a video from Aug 2025 where Will (Aka Seesar) and joey setup at Roundtree Market, in Bryan, TX where Polar Photobooth hosted a book theme polaroid shoot and Sarah, aka @BudgetGirl had a book giveaway. It was a good time and Will and I definitely enjoyed taking the eurorack synth out. Currently it is all Behringer modules as I am still learning the whole world of eurorack, my hope is to slowly replace each module with my own DIY built ones by niche designers and cover the process. So stay tuned. And thank you to both Valerie and Sarah for hosting an amazing event! The Creative Media Lab looks forward to collaborating with Roundtree Market on multiple events and programming in the future.
Lab update
The Creative Media Lab has big physical changes happening. The biggest is a full remodeling and expansion of the Creative Media Lab’s space. As such the Creative Media Lab as a space has been moved into Bolton Hall’s basement into rooms 010, 013, 014 and 020. Yes a lot of rooms, but the results have been quite amicable and has given focus to the various offering.
010 – CML Podcast Studio
013 – Gaming and Media Lab
014 – Audio & Video Post Production Studio
020 – Sim Racing/VR and Storage Space.
With a remodel completion date forecasted for Fall of 2026 we will continue to give updates over the coming semesters.
We currently do still have access to Bolton 113 where we will continue to host meet ups as well until construction starts.
Love Craft Book & Instrument Build – Will
Jonathan Dissertation Update
Joey’s Personal Projects
Below are 5 projects joey documented over the summer, they represent his polymath approach to life and what hey enjoys to do on his spare time.
Acrylic Synth Project
Coming Soon
Jojo’s Daft Punk 5 Questions
This video came out of a project jojo had to do for school. Will (aka Dr. Connor) and joey phd work through all the albums by Daft Punk with Jojo after he was assigned to talk about a famous person and their impact. The video covers the 5 questions assigned and we think this video resonates pretty well in terms of showing how children’s enthusiasm for pop culture can serve as amazing learning tools.
This second video is an overview of the Nintendo Switch 2 which was launched in early June. Additionally we also have a video of the night of as it was it was true “release” experience. Moments like this are always fun to document and again see how they resonate with others experiences.
Ahhh “Project GTI,” the bane of joey’s existence this summer, this 2005 VW GTI had an oil cooler leaking oil into the coolant system. To say it was a big job for a shade tree mechanic would be an understatement. Joey literally just watched Youtube videos to learn how to fix the car and documented the journey.
It should be made clear that while the Convergent Media Collective documents many collegiate initiatives, it has no official ties to any universities programs. Many members may work for various Universities, but there are no official ties and the CMC represents only personal views.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Creative Media Lab is proud to post our Spring 2025 write up. To say we had a lot going on would be an understatement. Let’s get right into it.
Ph.D. students Dr. David Dockery and Dr. Valentina Aduen defended their dissertations. David’s was based around gaming analysis and Valentina’s focused on Texas Freedom Colonies in Texas. Additionally, Doctoral Candidate Rick Pulos continued working on his documentary and research on science fiction and fandom.
Weekly Meetups
Star Forge Meet Up – About two years ago Professor Joey Lopez joined Star Forge, a local makerspace developed by Texas A&M students. This space was originally located on South College Ave by (the now former) Hurricane Harry’s and now is located centrally on Texas Ave by the Target in College Station.
This spring we had a critical mass of interest in visiting the makerspace, so the CML students and faculty made the journey over to Star Forge where Professors Joey and Will showed off the project Will was working on and then worked with students on their projects for Will’s instrument building class. It was an overall great experience! Thank you to Star Forge for hosting us!
Lectures/Events
AfroFuturism Conference Feb 22nd – The second Afrofuturism Explored! 2025 conference took place on Texas A&M University campus towards the end of Black History Month. The one-day event featured a multitude of guest speakers, student presenters, intimate performances, and two keynote speakers comprising a full nine-to-five day of academic discourse and expressive creativity. The opening talk given by Will Connor, one of the organizers, outlined the event as a platform for relevant voices to be heard as well as providing a “much-needed” outlet for participants to listen as much as speak, and following the conference said in an interview that he felt the day of activities did just that.
The first panel featured Texas A&M students, starting with Justin Hopson who showed off his Afrofuturist-themed MFA video game project, The Duskfire Chronicles: Echoes of Tomorrow.
The first keynote speaker joined the conference via zoom next, bringing renowned Afrofturuist scholar Reynaldo Anderson to talk about his upcoming book Afrofuturism and World Order to be published by Ohio State University Press, reflecting his views on state of current affairs and how that is being reflected in Afrofuturist creativity today.
PVFA film studies scholar, Aurore Spiers, led a viewing and discussion of the short afrofuturist film The Afronauts, a film that takes an artistic look at the Zambian space program.
The second keynote speaker, Egyptologist Rita Lucarelli, came from University of Berkeley California to give an in-person talk on the historical and cultural references to Egypt in the music and performances of Sun Ra – an expansion of her article that appeared in Aegyptaica entitled “A Solar-Ship Voyage: The Ancient Egyptian Religion as Inspiration in the Life and Music of Sun Ra and the Astro-Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra.”
Faith Odele and Kevin Johnson both presented powerful deliveries of a selection of their Afrofuturist poetry and song, introducing a welcomed panel of creative output expressing personal connections to the day’s discourse.
The closing panel included TAMU’s own Mike Collins presenting a deep-dive (and exceptionally humorous) look at Ishmel Reed’s The Freelance Pallbearers, and Rebecca Hankins with Muhammed A. Ahmad discussing their joint work, “Islamicate Afrofuturism: Race, Religion, Science Fiction, and Beyond.”
Afrofuturism Explored! 2025 was rich with content pertinent to today’s setting and climate, affording the local BCS and university community to engage with both rigorous scholarship and creative expressiveness not presented elsewhere. The conference has hopefully been established as an annual event, now, and sponsored by Barnes & Noble, the Creative Media Lab, the Glasscock Center’s Science Fiction Working Group, the Visual Materials and Performance Culture research section, the Global Language and Culture department, and the College of Performance, Visualization, and Fine arts at Texas A&M University.
Cozy Gaming, March 6th – An enchanted evening video game studies and demos, “The event consisted of Texas A&M Professor and CML Co-Coordinator, Jonathan Guajardo, and his wife, cozy gaming aficionado and Texas A&M staff member, Areeba Guajardo, giving a 45 minute presentation about the origins and contemporary topics of cozy video games.” (read more)
Black Mountain Lecture, April 14th
On April 14th, in the Liberal Arts and Humanities building, CMJR Professor Jonathan Guajardo and PVFA Professor Stewart Ziff gave a presentation about the pedagogy of Black Mountain College and its influence on modern day educational initiatives.
Skateboard Deck Art Showcase, May 2nd
On May 2nd and 3rd, 2025 the Creative Media Lab hosted the first ever CML Skateboard Deck Art Show at Tavo Coffee. The event consisted of 14 Skateboards and 11 Artists. Music was provided by Seasar and Friends, a group of noise musicians who literally rocked the space and pierced through the air. We cannot thank everyone who came out and supported the show enough. We will definitely be hosting another show in the future. You can read more about the show and the artist on the show page.
Black Magic Cyborg Event Feb 28th
Following an impressive, unique concert held as part of Lorefest 2024, Jaycie Carver and Black Magic Cyborg (aka Brandon Lynch) were invited back to Texas A&M University to visit several classes and perform. The Austin-based dark ambient, improv, dungeon synth artists began their mini residency visiting several sections of Performance in World Cultures and the Introduction to Music Technology class to discuss and demonstrate dark ambient and dungeon synth culture and music, plus their self-made, one-of-a-kind instruments. Black Magic Cyborg and Jaycie Carver were joined by Jeff Morris and Will Connor in the PVFA recording studio where artist/music industry liaison and Grammy-award-winning engineer Toby Pipes recorded a series of pieces currently being mixed into a full release for the guest artists. The next day both musicians gave workshops and lectures to the Musical Instrument Construction as Culture class as well as the Electronic Music Literature through Practice class. Part of that visit was to work with and prepare any students interested in participating in the performance at the LAAH Black Box Theatre later that evening.
The show began at 7pm and started with Jaycie Carver improvising with her homemade noisemakers and found objects repurposed for musical performance. After 30 minutes, she was joined by Black Magic Cyborg, who introduced his arsenal of synth controllers set in cow and goat skulls, giving way to a short solo set by Lynch. Black Magic Cyborg invited Seesar (Will Connor) to the stage to add bicycle and other homemade instruments to the continuous soundscape, and eventually was rejoined by Jaycie Carver. Students from the Music Technology courses also were added to the mix featuring Kyle Briscoe performing with circuitry he built as part of a class project, culminating in Lynch distributing bones to audience members who used them as percussion instruments, bringing the performance to a rhythmic climax. The entirety of the show was accompanied by video synth artist Kang, who projected analogue visuals behind the performers that reacted to their music in real time.
Jaycie Carver’s and Black Magic Cyborg’s visit was undoubtedly thrilling and entertaining as much as it was educational, providing a special opportunity for students to both experience the music of two professional experimental artists and instrument makers, and also provided an outlet for students to get on stage and be part of the experience from a creator standpoint. Hopefully, these fine artists and others like them can come back to Texas A&M and enrich the students’ engagement with both their studies and personal development in the near future.
Chris Kallmyer | Cattle Lands April 11-12th
The Creative Media Lab and Will Connor’s electronic instrument building class worked with artist Chris Kallmyer to create art pieces for the Cattle Lands art show. Professor joey and Will even built a crazy large cowbell, check out the video to see it!
Workshops
Drone Workshop, March 1st- Kaye Cruz
On March 1st the Creative Media Lab hosted the first every Communication & Journalism hands on drone workshop for content creators and journalists. Facilitated by Jonathan Guajardo and led by Creative Media Collective member Kaye Cruz, the Drone Workshops consisted of classroom training in the morning and hands-on training in the afternoon. The students and faculty who participated really enjoyed the workshops and some went on to purchase their own drones.
Field Trips
LaTex Jan 25-26 – Will
Coming Soon!
Laredo, April 4th – Joey
On April 4th, along with the Department of Communication & Journalism’s journalist professors & students, joey phd traveled to Laredo, TX to meet with Texas A&M University International professors and students. The TAMU and TAMUI students with the guidance of professor Mariano Castillo conducted an interview about possible carcinogenic pollution by a local manufacturer with Rio Grande International Study Center.
Individual Projects
Will’s Dream Machine
Coming Soon…
Kaan McCormick –
Coming Soon – Robotics World Finals, Wedding, 12th man, HTC Vive, Gaming PC setup, Multi Camera Podcast
Sound of Music Commercial for TTC – By Rick Pulos
At the beginning of the semester, Rick was asked by The Theatre Company (TTC) to create a commercial for The Sound of Music to air on KBTX. He wanted to try to recreate the opening image of the film.
To do so, he reached out to the GroupMe for help and Leo Garza volunteered to use and operate his drone. TTC was super happy with the results! Thank you Leo!!! Check it out:
KBTX Magic Popcorn Commercial
Later in the semester, TTC asked Rick to produce a general commercial for the company. Rick collaborated with two actors and a small production team. After an initial brainstorming session with the lead actors, Rick created a 20+ shot list to tell the story of a theatre goer who enjoys magical popcorn while attending one of TTC’s shows. The production happened on a Wednesday night from 6:30-11:30. KAAN was there to assist and do his magic working the Creative Media Lab’s gimbal. We used our new lights for the production as well. Rick is still finalizing the commercial right now – it should be on air this summer! Thank you KAAN!!!!
Featuring: Darby Kingman, Jay Figueroa, and Lee Ann Littrell
Original score by Bran Kempf
Gimbal Operator + Production Assistant: KAAN
Production Assistance: Bryan Adams and Bryan Rodarte
BTS of the Magic Popcorn Commercial Shoot:
Bomi Running Documentary
The Run Bomi Run documentary continued through the Spring semester with joey, Bomi and Kayte Cruz traveling to the Irving, TX marathon. Bomi completed the marathon around 3 hours and 45 minutes, about an hour off pace. He is definitely learning a lot and is sign up for the Houston Marathon next. It has been a learning experience for everyone involved and it’s definitely helping us all grow.
Individual Accomplishments
Valentina Aduen – Valentina Aduen Ph.D. successfully defended her dissertation and will be a visiting professor Oberlin College in Ohio. Congratulations Dr. Aduen, we cannot wait to see the documentary!
On March 6th from 6pm – 8pm the the Texas A&M Department of Communication & Journalism Creative Media Lab & College of Performance Visualization & Fine Art’s hosted Cozy Video Game Night.
The event consisted of Texas A&M Professor Jonathan Guajardo and his wife, cozy gaming aficionado and Texas A&M staff member, Areeba Guajardo, giving a 45 minute presentation about the origins and contemporary topics of cozy video games. Their presentation was a hit with Areeba covering the contemporary origins of cozy gaming, including such staples as Animal Crossing, Ooblets, and Stardew Valley. Johnny covered his relationship to “cozy” horror games including Red Dead Redemption 2, Stray, and Fears to Fathom. He spoke about how, even after after beating Red Dead Redemption 2, he would still revisit the game to immerse himself in the open world by going fishing and exploring the various towns and woods for hours.
Following their presentation, we had multiple gaming consoles set up with cozy games galore, as well as several retro gaming consoles that were recently added to the Creative Media Lab’s library.
The College of Performance, Visualization, and Fine Arts (PVFA) provided pizza, soda, and snacks, and it was amazing turnout overall. The Creative Media Lab would like to give a big thank you to PVFA Professors Campbell and Sullivan for putting this collaboration together and helping coordinate this event.
Note: It should be made clear that while the Convergent Media Collective documents many collegiate initiatives, it has no official ties to any universities programs. Many members may work for various Universities, but there are no official ties and the CMC represents only personal views.
