Yeohyun Ahn

Immsersive Healing with Creative Coding, 2025.
The study begins with a personal exploration of a life transformed by medical leave, focusing on experiences with open-heart surgery, cardiac rehabilitation, and the challenges of living with a long-term disability since April 2023. The journey began in spring 2023 in Madison, Wisconsin, where fear and uncertainty loomed as the presenter awaited surgery. To regain her heart health, she incorporated daily walks into her routine, capturing the changing landscapes through photography. Despite the emotional turmoil, she found beauty around her. A pivotal moment arrived on August 16, 2023, during the surgery, followed by intense physical pain that clouded her early recovery. After the surgery, she entered cardiac rehabilitation but often felt like a “dead man walking,” as her recovery progressed slowly, eventually leading to a long-term disability diagnosis. Her life became a cycle of pain and uncertainty, documented through photography that conveyed her emotional struggles. Meanwhile, her partner managed the family responsibilities. Facing physical limitations with traditional art, she turned to technology for expression, coding from home. From winter to spring 2024, she explored computational visual art, reflecting her frustrations and emotions in vibrant digital forms. This transdisciplinary project focuses on healing through creative coding, merging photography, graphic art, extended reality, and elements of artificial intelligence. The audience will navigate her journey from despair to recovery, enhanced with sound, video, and evocative imagery.

It is awarded the “Emerging Scholar Award 2025” at the Twentieth International Conference on the Arts in Society: The Art of Hospitality, hosted by Center for the Arts in Society, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, + Online from May 28-30, 2025.

Full Presentation to download: Immersive Healing with Creative Coding

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