Stacey Spiegel - New Media

New Media

From 1985-1987, Spiegel was a fellow at the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Study, from where he moved on to become Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto from 1992-1997. As a new media installation designer and artist, Spiegel worked early on with Dr. Rodney Hoinkes creating state-of-the-art digital installations at events such as DEAF (Dutch Electronic Arts Festival) in 1995 and 1996, Rotterdam City Festival (Safe Harbour, a harbour simulator of Marine Safety featuring a 360-degree Virtual Reality environment for experiencing the multicultural city of Rotterdam), MultiMediale, and Ars Electronica.

After years of exploring new media through art, in 1997 Spiegel joined with Hoinkes to start Immersion Studios (later renamed I-mmersion) to explore the potential of interactive films, theatres and classrooms. During the firm's existence from 1997–2006, I-mmersion was considered one of Canada's most innovative new media companies and a forerunner in the arena of social computing . Its products included the Immersion Cinema, a 180-degree HD digital cinema experience which has been installed in museums and science centres around the world, including Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota Florida, Discovery Center of Springfield Missouri, Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration in Connecticut, and The Smithsonian in Washington DC.

In 2006, Spiegel and Hoinkes re-invented their company under the name Parallel World Labs which operates in both Canada and Norway (the latter under the name PWLabs AS). PWLabs has produced numerous projects in Norway since 2007, including design of the Rockheim Museum of Pop and Rock Music in Trondheim, a popular cultural attraction which also received a nomination for European Museum of the Year 2012 - .

Since the mid-90s, Spiegel has produced and directed 40 major interactive projects, including installations for the likes of The Smithsonian Museum, British Science Museum, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and EXPO 2005. Spiegel has also worked with renowned experts and scientists such as Dr. Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic and founder and president of the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, where he created the experience at the center of the groundbreaking Immersion Institute in 2002. The Immersion Institute employed the same robotics used in sea exploration, wiring Monterey National Marine Sanctuary (on the U.S. west coast) to Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration (on the U.S. east coast) through a live digital feed enabling visitors, for the first time ever, to explore the sanctuary remotely in real time .