“Usurp the body. Become your avatar. Be the glitch.”
— Legacy Russell, Glitch Feminism. A Manifesto

How do we become chimeric in virtual space, and what new forms of embodiment, identity, and myth might emerge in the process?

This course explores glitched identities, extended selves, and hybrid bodies through avatar creation and world-building using Unity3D and a constellation of free and open-source tools, including generative AI systems. Working with unpredictability, glitch, and algorithmic co-creation, participants will develop speculative digital embodiments that resist fixed form.

Departing from the idea of a singular, stable self, the course is structured around Becoming Chimeric, an evolving artistic-research practice I have been developing in parallel with my PhD. This methodology approaches virtual embodiment as a glitched and generative construction: fluid, fractured, and multiply configured.

Drawing from glitch feminism, cyberfeminism, queer theory, and posthuman engagements with myth, monstrosity, and metamorphosis, we will rethink the avatar not as a digital proxy, but as a site of transformation and experimental self-figuration. Myth will serve as a conceptual lens for imagining non-normative, monstrous, and speculative identities in XR. Avatar design and world-building will be approached not just as technical tasks, but as artistic and affective processes that resist coherence and imagine new ways of being.

Hands-on sessions will focus on Unity3D as the primary platform, complemented by experimental AI and open-source tools for asset creation, avatar design, and world-building. These processes will be framed by historical and artistic references that contextualize the virtual as both an aesthetic and affective medium.
Practical exercises will move between the glitched, the grotesque, and the chimeric, not to simulate reality, but to invent dynamic frameworks for becoming otherwise.

“Emerging technologies can be used to capture the abstract, the confusing, the hidden, the complicated.”
— Claire Hentschker


To become chimeric is to resist coherence: to glitch, to graft, to mutate.

On the final lecture day, participants will present the projects developed during the semester. These projects should reflect on the lecture’s thematic focus and incorporate one or more of the tools introduced throughout the course.

To successfully complete the lecture, participants are required to:

• Develop a working project over the course of the semester

• Present the final project, including visual documentation

• Attend and actively participate in the lecture (minimum 75% attendance required)

• The lecture will be held in English.

• The practical component is designed to accommodate a range of experience levels, from beginners to advanced. No prior knowledge is required, but existing skills are welcome.

• Participants will need access to a laptop. If this is not possible, please contact the lecturer via email to discuss alternatives.

• Active participation and engagement are essential and required to complete the semester.