Immersive fantasy based on digital nostalgia: Environmental narratives for Korea's millennials and Gen Z

In one sentence

Media artwork on pandemic single-use mask waste, framed through Millennial/Gen Z digital nostalgia and a fantasy narrative (ISEA 2025).

Abstract

This study introduces the media artwork Dear Passenger, Please Wear a Mask, designed to offer a layered exploration of single-use mask waste, which escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The piece reframes underappreciated ecological concerns by interweaving digital nostalgia and airline travel recollections of Millennials and Gen Z with a unique fantasy narrative. Via a point-and-click game and an immersive exhibition, participants traverse both virtual and real domains, facing ethical and environmental dilemmas. While it fosters empathy and potential action, resource use and post-experience engagement challenges persist.

Source: arXiv:2506.10013

When this paper is relevant

• You need environmental media art addressing pandemic waste
• You study works combining a game with an immersive installation across virtual and physical space

Related

• Exploring Critical Environmental Media Art Through the Digital Nostalgia of Millennials and Gen Z (2025)

Cite

Y. Doh, Joonhyung Bae (2025). Immersive fantasy based on digital nostalgia: Environmental narratives for Korea's millennials and Gen Z. Proc. 2025 Int. Symp. on Electronic Art (ISEA), Seoul, South Korea, May 23–29, 2025. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10013

@inproceedings{Doh2025immersive,
  title = {Immersive fantasy based on digital nostalgia: Environmental narratives for Korea's millennials and Gen Z},
  author = {Y. Doh and Joonhyung Bae},
  booktitle = {Proc. 2025 Int. Symp. on Electronic Art (ISEA), Seoul, South Korea, May 23–29, 2025},
  year = {2025},
  eprint = {2506.10013},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10013}
}

Machine-readable copy: /papers/immersive-fantasy-digital-nostalgia-2025.md