“Re-Worldings at MIT of Beaver Terrapolis Terristories” presented by Singha

This paper weaves through the terristories of MIT’s institutional and indigenous histories that inspired the creation of Stata Island – a social virtual world. Through spatial narratives, this work probes into the institutional symbols of MIT’s Building 20 time capsule and Tim, the beaver mascot. In this virtual world, MIT’s Stata Center building is rewilded into an interspecies cohabitation of beavers and humans, reclaiming ‘nature’s engineer’ as a worlding agent. The land around Stata Center is reclaimed by the waters alluding to the marshlands and colonial history of the region and as well as the potential climate futures. In doing so, this work invokes the coexistence of pluriversal worlds that are forced to disappear at the very moment the one-world world is brought into reality. Furthermore, this work highlights the potential of harnessing game engines for worlding practices. Stata Island can be experienced at https://www.stataisland.com/