Armenian History x Digital Humanities

About this event

Immersive worlds, playable archives and experimental storytelling platforms. As part of the Armenian Institute’s 25th anniversary digital showcase, Dreams for Our Future, this event brings together three artists whose work explores the intersections of digital humanities, memory, and intergenerational storytelling through contemporary media practices. In the wake of genocide and displacement, histories are often fragmented across generations. Yet, emerging digital technologies are opening new pathways for reconnecting with the past, allowing artists and communities to preserve, reconstruct, and reimagine cultural histories in innovative and deeply personal ways. Highlighting three of the UK-based Armenian artists selected for Dreams for Our Future, the discussion will explore how digital media can serve as a tool for remembrance, archival intervention, and cultural continuity. Madeleine Kelleyan’s work engages virtual reality, digital cultural heritage and interactive storytelling to create meaningful connections between memory, place, and identity. Emily Jerjian’s immersive digital environments investigate perception, embodiment, and virtual space as sites of emotional and historical reflection. Alongside them, Alyssa Campbell brings a research-driven approach to digital memory and archival practice within the field of digital humanities. Together, these artists will reflect on how contemporary technologies can challenge historical erasure and foster new forms of intergenerational connection. Through their practices, the event considers how digital art and humanities can help imagine futures rooted in remembrance, resilience, and collective cultural memory. Mado Kelleyan is an artist and experience designer specialising in digital cultural heritage. Using immersive tools like VR and AR, she creates portals, interventions in physical and digital spaces that hold space for stories not so often told. Powerful yet empathetic, her work invites audiences to know through feeling, offering multi-sensory experiences that spark connection, interaction, and discovery. She holds an MA in Information Experience Design from the Royal College of Art and a BA in Textile Design from Central Saint Martins. Her work has been featured in Esquire Middle East , Stir World , Hyperallergic and the Dezeen Awards. She has exhibited at London Festival of Architecture, Breeze Film Festival, London Design Festival & The Museum of Contemporary Art, Belfast. Recent residencies include the Goethe Institut, Al Ma’mal Foundation & Safar Film Festival. Her VR project, Stories From My Grandmother’s House , is currently on tour as part of The Lost Paintings: A Prelude to Return . Commercially, she has over 10 years of experience designing interactive projects for clients including The Smithsonian, Bestival & IKEA. Emily Jerjian is a solo game developer exploring Armenian diasporic memory, identity and speculative futures through immersive virtual environments. She works across cinematic and interactive media, specialising in world-building, spatial storytelling and real-time artistry. With an MArch in Cinematic and Videogame Architecture and a BSc (Hons) in Architecture, she integrates spatial design principles with emerging GenAI-driven workflows to create interactive experiences grounded in authentic cultural and historical representation. Echoes of Home is a narrative game exploring the transgenerational impact of the Armenian Genocide on the diaspora, particularly the fear of cultural assimilation and the dilemmas of ‘moving on’. Players control Hagop, who feels disconnected from his Armenian roots, as he embarks on a journey of restoration in his ancestral homeland. Inspired by a familial archive of early 1900s Ottoman photographs, he encounters historical figures, architectural remnants and artefacts, reconnecting with and reclaiming his cultural heritage.