Indigenous Science Mixed Reality Exhibit
yuutka: The Place of Acorn
yuutka (YOOT-kah, “The Place of Acorn” in Chochenyo) is an interactive mixed reality exhibit at the Lawrence Hall of Science, co-created over three years with the East Bay Ohlone community, a Native American people of the San Francisco Bay Area. Throughout the co-design process, community members not only learned and passed on Indigenous ecological knowledge and mixed reality technologies, but also translated their worldview into the exhibit’s interaction logic, inviting the public to experience the Ohlone ecological perspective through embodied interaction.
The exhibit invites visitors to take part in the Ohlone people’s acorn gathering practice as a way of experiencing their relational ties with more-than-human lives. Visitors “win” by collecting only what they need from the second drop of acorns, leaving the first drop for the other species that depend on them, in contrast to typical games that reward maximizing human gain. Guidance comes from 94-year-old Auntie Dottie, Dolores Lamiera Galvan, matriarch of the East Bay Ohlone people, whose role reflects the tradition of honoring Elders and recognizing humans as caretakers of the land.
Role /
HCI Designer
Prototype Developer
Community Workshop Designer + Facilitator
Team /
Ari Krakowski, Jedda Foreman, Kimiko Ryokai, Sarah Olsen, Devin A. Cavero, Vincent Medina, Louis Trevino, Deirdre McDonald Greene, East Bay Ohlone Community, Yuqi Tian, Ethan M. Tam, Jupitr Studio
Year /
2026
Location /
The Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, California, United States
Co-Design Process
Final Exhibit Concept Design
Setting
State Diagram
