Abstract

How can glove puppetry, a cherished Taiwanese folk art, continue to evolve and find new meaning through emerging technologies?
This project integrates VR hand gesture recognition, multi-user interactive puppeteering, and motion capture gloves to create an immersive glove puppetry performance system, using technology to promote and revitalize this cultural heritage. Our work consists of two main components: performance and audience participation. The performer wears a VR headset to interact with virtual puppets in real time, blending tradition with digital performance. The audience can control one of five classic puppet roles through VR or mobile phone and engage in multi-user interactions.
Honored with the 2024 Taiwan NSTC Future Tech Award and a 2025 SXSW Innovation Awards finalist, this project has also been showcased at Ars Electronica, Siggraph Asia XR, and other international exhibitions, highlighting its impact on immersive interaction and traditional art innovation.
More than just a puppeteering system, our work offers a bridge between the past and the future—a means of keeping cultural memory alive while exploring new artistic frontiers.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Chun-Cheng Hsu is a Visiting Scholar at Harvard CAMLab (2024-2025) and a professor at the Institute of Applied Arts, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. He serves as the Vice Chair of Taiwan CHI and Editor of the Journal of Design. Previously, he was the Director of the Institute of Applied Arts (2020-2023) and a Fulbright Fellow at MIT (2013-2014). His works have been showcased at esteemed institutions and events, including the National Palace Museum, MoCA Taipei, NTMoFA, Ars Electronica, SXSW, ACM CHI, and SIGGRAPH. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles on the topics intertwined with design, art, and technology.

Event Information

• Free and open to public
• Artist Talk
  March 28, 2025 (Friday), 2:00 – 2:40 PM ET
• Exhibition & Performance
  March 28, 2025 (Friday), 2:00 – 5:00 PM ET
  March 29, 2025 (Saturday), 2:00 – 5:00 PM ET
• CAMLab Cave, Lower Level, 485 Broadway, Harvard University