Meetup archive
Five seasons
2024
2024
2020
2019
Season 1 · 2019
Episode 1
Nature
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
Episode 2
Film
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
ft. Nirma Madhoo & Divesh Naidoo
Episode 3
Performance
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
Episode 4
Art
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
ft. Ann Roberts, Gareth Steele & Rick Treweek
Episode 5
Gaming
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
ft. Ruan Rothmann, Pippa Tshabalala, Steven Tu & Daliso Ngoma
Episode 6
AR
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
ft. Mbangiso Mabaso, Oliver Mayhew & Divesh Naidoo
Episode 7
Fak'ugesi: #ImmersiveAfrica
· Tshimologong, Braamfontein
ft. Brian Afande & Kombo Chapfika
Episode 8
State of XR
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
ft. Steve Pinto
Episode 9
Nat Geo
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
ft. John Hilton, Kaitlyn Mullin & Ulrico Grech-Cumbo
Episode 10
XR in 2020
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
Season 2 · 2020
Episode 1
Healthcare
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
Episode 2
Design & Development
· TMRW Gallery, Rosebank
ft. Daliso Ngoma, Matthew Klein & Steven Tu
Episode 3
Education in XR
· AltspaceVR (online)
Episode 4
Remote Collaboration
· AltspaceVR (online)
ft. Rick Treweek & Steve Pinto
Episode 5
Immersive Audio
· AltspaceVR (online)
Episode 6
Immersive Community
· AltspaceVR (online)
ft. Arome Ibrahim
Episode 7
XR for All
· AltspaceVR (online)
ft. Brian Afande & Steve Pinto
Episode 8
Digital Creations
· AltspaceVR (online)
ft. Brooklyn J. Pakathi, Kirstin Lee Grey, Tarha McKenzie & Rati Muyambo
Episode 9
Ethics in XR
· AltspaceVR (online)
ft. Kavya Pearlman, Kent Bye & Malcolm Che
Episode 10
Fak'ugesi: Digital Identities
· AltspaceVR (online)
ft. Daliso Ngoma, Melisa Achoko Allela, Jason Stapleton, Joey Ekunwe, Johana Riquier & Vanessa Lorenzo Toquero
Episode 11
Virtual Storytellers
· AltspaceVR (online)
Season 3 · 2023
Episode 1
Ways to Use AR & VR
· Online
ft. Daliso Ngoma & Dale Deacon
Season 4 · 2024
Episode 1
Leaps & Bounds
· MIX, Rosebank
ft. Mic Balkind & Mmuso Mafisa
Watch on YouTubeEpisode 2
Women in XR
· MIX, Rosebank
ft. Lebo Leitch, Amy Bell & Aluta Null
Watch on YouTubeEpisode 3
Spring 2024
· MIX, Rosebank
ft. Luke Draper, Xopher Wallace & vonMash
Watch on YouTube
Season 5 · 2026
Episode 1
Welcome to the Future
· MIX, Rosebank
ft. Izak Potgieter & Karien van Biljon
Watch on YouTubeEpisode 2
Innovate Mzansi
· MIX, Rosebank
ft. Lauren Fletcher (IFAS), Adwoa Ankoma (Electric South) & Andrew McHenry
Watch on YouTubeEpisode 3
Virtualization
· MIX, Rosebank
ft. Kamikaze Chan (BB Interactive) & Gilbert K. (UJ)
Watch on YouTubeEpisode 5
Spatial
· Open Window, Blairgowrie
The people who stood up
Every night ran on someone sharing their work. Go see what they make.
Ulrico Grech-Cumbo
Founder · Habitat XR (Deep VR)
Immersive filmmaker and conservationist who built custom rigs to shoot the 360° wildebeest-crossing doc Exodus: The Great Migration. Habitat XR has taken Best in VR at the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival.
S1E1 Nature · S1E9 Nat Geo
Nirma Madhoo
XR director · Anatomy
Fashion designer turned XR director whose 360° fashion film Azimuth was shot in Durban. Her work has screened at SXSW, MUTEK, Berlinale EFM and SIGGRAPH Asia.
S1E2 Film
Divesh Naidoo
Founder · Simulon
Co-founded Dondoo Studios at 19, building VR and AR training sims for the likes of Glencore and Anglo American. Then founded Simulon, the iPhone app that drops film-quality 3D into real footage.
S1E2 Film · S1E6 AR
Mbongeni Fakudze
Fine artist · Fakudze Studios
Johannesburg painter known for his portraits, also working in sculpture, installation and multimedia. He made VR performance work for The Invisible Exhibition II at the Centre for the Less Good Idea.
S1E3 Performance
Stephen Hobbs
Co-director · The Trinity Session
Co-directs The Trinity Session with Marcus Neustetter, the Joburg art production team behind public art programmes like HBY in Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville, and Renaming the City for Ars Electronica.
S1E3 Performance
Ann Roberts
Director · TMRW Gallery
Ran TMRW, The Mixed Reality Workshop in Rosebank, putting VR, AR and 3D printing in artists' hands. Its Old Masters / New Realities show paired Lady Skollie with Gerard Sekoto. Season 1's home.
S1E4 Art
Gareth Steele
Art director · Eden Labs
Joburg art director and information designer working in VR, AR and 360° photo and video. He took Eden Labs' workshops to VCUarts Qatar.
S1E4 Art
Rick Treweek
Founder · Virtual Worlds Company
MetaRick has spent 15+ years building virtual worlds. His VRChat tour Uncanny Alley played Venice Immersive and won Best Immersive World at Raindance 2022.
S1E4 Art · S2E4 Remote Collaboration
Ruan Rothmann
Producer & lead designer · Free Lives
Programmer on Broforce at Cape Town's Free Lives, the studio behind VR brawler GORN, and co-creator of the original Terra Nil prototype.
S1E5 Gaming
Pippa Tshabalala
Gamer, artist & broadcaster
Presented PlayR and The Verge, SA's first local video game TV shows, and made game art from GTA screenshots. A long-time champion of women in gaming.
S1E5 Gaming
Steven Tu
Game maker · Twoplus Games · Make Games SA
Left an eight-year ad career to co-found Twoplus Games, showing Dead Run and Beat Attack at rAge. Their card game Cartel was a Cardboard Edison finalist.
S1E5 Gaming · S2E2 Design & Development
Daliso Ngoma
Co-founder · African Technopreneurs
Season 1's host. Since 2017 he has put VR and AR kit in South African hands with free demo days at schools and universities, and backed a pan-African XR hackathon with entrants from 16 countries.
S1E5 Gaming · S2E2 Design & Development · S2E3 Education in XR · S2E10 Fak'ugesi: Digital Identities · S3E1 Ways to Use AR & VR
Mbangiso Mabaso
Founder · Sisanda Tech
Electrical engineer who grew up at a school with no science kit. Sisanda Tech uses AR to put a science lab, dissections and all, on any learner's phone.
S1E6 AR
Oliver Mayhew
AR artist
AR artist who brought his work to our augmented reality night in 2019.
S1E6 AR
Brian Afande
Co-founder · BlackRhino VR (Kenya)
Nairobi XR pioneer whose BlackRhino VR co-produced Le Lac with Electric South, Best Digital Narrative at Sheffield Doc/Fest. He also runs XR Without Borders.
S1E7 Fak'ugesi: #ImmersiveAfrica · S2E7 XR for All
Kombo Chapfika
Fak'ugesi #ImmersiveAfrica
Shared the stage with Brian Afande at our Fak'ugesi #ImmersiveAfrica night at Tshimologong in 2019.
S1E7 Fak'ugesi: #ImmersiveAfrica
Steve Pinto
CEO · New Reality
Serial founder building VR tools that help people learn skills faster and cheaper. New Reality makes 3D digital twins of real spaces.
S1E8 State of XR · S2E4 Remote Collaboration · S2E7 XR for All
John Hilton
Project director · NatGeo Okavango Wilderness Project
Leads the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, and features in Nat Geo's 2019 doc Into the Okavango: a four-month, three-country expedition to protect the delta's source.
S1E9 Nat Geo
Kaitlyn Mullin
National Geographic
Brought National Geographic to our Nat Geo night in 2019, alongside the Okavango Wilderness Project team.
S1E9 Nat Geo
Dominic Eskofier
Ex-NVIDIA head of VR · Eden Europe
Co-founded r/oculus, VR Germany and EUVR.org, then led VR for NVIDIA across EMEAI before heading Eden Europe for the South African XR studio. A TEDxBrussels speaker.
S1E10 XR in 2020
Shmerah Passchier
VR director · Afrocyborg VR Collective
Co-founded the Afrocyborg VR Collective and wrote and directed The Eye of Rre Mutwa, an Afrofuturist VR homage to Credo Mutwa. Docs for MTV Base and SABC, and a PhD in VR.
S1E10 XR in 2020 · S2E3 Education in XR
Malcolm Che
Creative technologist · ex EDEN & Clearwater
Award-winning creative strategist and TEDx speaker who led VR/AR at Joburg content house Clearwater and worked at immersive studio EDEN, taking XR to brands, broadcast and the metaverse.
S2E1 Healthcare · S2E9 Ethics in XR
Brooklyn J. Pakathi
New media artist & curator
Transmedia artist and curator who was TMRW's curatorial director in 2019 and 2020, championing Global South artists working with new media.
S2E1 Healthcare · S2E8 Digital Creations
Dale Deacon
Founder · WE ARE VR
World builder behind WE ARE VR. Developer on Strangeways (Venice Immersive 2024) and DOLLHOUSE for Queer Imaginaries (IDFA DocLab 2024).
S2E1 Healthcare · S3E1 Ways to Use AR & VR
Matthew Klein
Unity / VR developer
Unity and VR developer who joined us to talk design and development for virtual reality.
S2E2 Design & Development
Herman Myburgh
Head · UJ Metaverse Research Unit
Dr Herman Myburgh heads UJ's Metaverse Research Unit and developed Toor|Bos, the VR experience UJ premiered at the 2025 Klein Karoo National Arts Festival.
S2E3 Education in XR
Sean Devonport
Audio developer · immersiveDSP
Spatial audio developer whose Rhodes MSc took 3D audio rendering to distributed processors, letting the ImmerGO system drive any loudspeaker array. Presented at ISEA2018.
S2E5 Immersive Audio
Samkelo Mahlalela
Spatial audio · VR 360 DOP · composer
360° camera operator, DOP and spatial audio recordist who designed VR sound for Africa's largest cinematic VR studio. He also scored Rising Star, ESO's fulldome planetarium film on South African astronomy.
S2E5 Immersive Audio
Arome Ibrahim
Executive director · Immersive Tech Africa
Leads Nigerian nonprofit Immersive Tech Africa and convenes the XR Innovation Summit. Won Digital Lab Africa's XR category in 2021 for Virtuality Africa.
S2E6 Immersive Community
Kirstin Lee Grey
Founder · Different Immersive
VR storyteller who, as Electric South's cultural producer, helped launch the first Electric Africa VR Festival. Her Other Behemoth Creatures went to VR Days Amsterdam and IFFR.
S2E8 Digital Creations
Tarha McKenzie
Programme manager · Electric South
Cape Town programme and distribution manager in African cinema since 2011: Electric South, former Encounters festival manager, and Climate Story Lab Africa.
S2E8 Digital Creations
Rati Muyambo
Communications · Electric South
Ratidzo "Rati" Muyambo ran Electric South's social media and blog from 2019 to 2022, telling the stories of African immersive artists.
S2E8 Digital Creations
Kavya Pearlman
Founder · XR Safety Initiative
The "Cyber Guardian" founded XRSI, the nonprofit behind the XRSI Privacy and Safety Framework. Previously head of security for Second Life at Linden Lab.
S2E9 Ethics in XR
Kent Bye
Host · Voices of VR
Philosopher, oral historian and experiential journalist who has hosted the Voices of VR podcast since 2014: more than 1,200 episodes on immersive storytelling, design and XR ethics.
S2E9 Ethics in XR
Melisa Achoko Allela
Creative technologist · Kenya
Nairobi creative technologist reimagining African orature in VR with Sigana: Tales of Lawino. Digital Lab Africa 2020 winner, Electric South Fellow and RISD Movement Lab Fellow.
S2E10 Fak'ugesi: Digital Identities
Jason Stapleton
Creative technologist · Electric South
Cape Town creative technologist with 20+ years in 3D and VR/AR, from LiDAR and photogrammetry to social VR worlds. Produced isiLimela at Biennale College Cinema VR.
S2E10 Fak'ugesi: Digital Identities
Joey Ekunwe
3D / XR artist · Nigeria
Nigerian 3D and XR artist who joined us twice in 2020: Digital Identities, then Virtual Storytellers.
S2E10 Fak'ugesi: Digital Identities · S2E11 Virtual Storytellers
Johana Riquier
Founder · Gamerging Solutions
Games and emerging-tech strategist who went from Unity to founding Gamerging Solutions. GI 100 Game Changer 2020, GIA Mentor of the Year 2021, Global Game Jam board member.
S2E10 Fak'ugesi: Digital Identities
Vanessa Lorenzo Toquero
Designer & bio-artist · Hackuarium
Lausanne designer and biohacker weaving microbiology, electronics and living organisms into installations. Co-presides the Hackuarium biohackerspace.
S2E10 Fak'ugesi: Digital Identities
Judith Okonkwo
Founder · Ìmísí 3D
Founded Ìmísí 3D, Lagos's XR creation lab, in 2016 and set up AR/VR Africa. Co-led the African XR report: 326 pages mapping the XR ecosystem across 20 countries.
S2E11 Virtual Storytellers
Skhumbuzo Dlomo
VR cinematographer & editor
Shot, edited and did VFX for The Eye of Rre Mutwa, an Afrofuturist VR short at the 2020 National Arts Festival, and edited the 360° film Exodus: The Great Migration for Habitat XR.
S2E11 Virtual Storytellers
Mic Balkind
Founder · SodaWorld
Built SodaWorld in the 2020 lockdown: a VRChat twin of Joburg's Soda Studios streaming live African music into the metaverse. A Venice Immersive 2022 Special Project.
S4E1 Leaps & Bounds
Mmuso Mafisa
CEO · Veza Interactive
Leads Veza Interactive, a Joburg XR studio making immersive learning apps for schools. Flew the SA flag at the 2023 Creative Business Cup finale in Copenhagen.
S4E1 Leaps & Bounds
Lebo Leitch
Immersive producer
Producer of Owl House, a South African immersive project selected for Biennale College Cinema Immersive 2024-25 in Venice. Mentors in immersive storytelling at XRCC.
S4E2 Women in XR
Amy Bell
AR designer
South African AR designer making Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok effects for brands including Avon, Sony Music and Reebok.
S4E2 Women in XR
Aluta Null
Digital artist · XR & game developer
Joburg digital artist and game dev whose glitchy XR work PHANTOM, on mental illness, won Best XR at the 2023 Fak'ugesi Awards and played in IDFA DocLab's competition.
S4E2 Women in XR
Luke Draper
Game designer · creative technologist
Wits-trained game designer behind Hero Entertainment, whose AR filter Musical Theatre Roulette reached about 9 million people. Best Gaming Solution at the MTN App of the Year Awards.
S4E3 Spring 2024
Xopher Wallace
AR artist · photographer
Anonymous artist in a black bodysuit fusing photography and AR in his Sleepwalker series. Curated Fak'ugesi's Afridelic Trip face-filter show; profiled by CNN.
S4E3 Spring 2024
vonMash
Digital artist · Afridelic art
Coined Afridelic art, a psychedelic take on Afrofuturism rooted in African mysticism. Shown with NFT gallery USURPA at RMB Latitudes 2023.
S4E3 Spring 2024
Izak Potgieter
XR researcher · UJ · Glassbox 3D
Dr Izak Potgieter co-led UJ's AR reconstruction of the 500-year-old Melville Koppies iron smelter and built Virtual Reality Historic Sophiatown from residents' memories.
S5E1 Welcome to the Future
Karien van Biljon
Cinematic VR artisan · Habitat XR
Editor and cinematic VR artisan at Habitat XR, crafting 360° wildlife films like Marine Serengeti, Great African Sea Forest and Nature in Motion.
S5E1 Welcome to the Future
Lauren Fletcher
Audiovisual projects · French Institute of SA
Connects French and South African film, games and digital arts at IFAS, after 12+ years curating Fak'ugesi exhibitions and the Creativate Digital Arts Festival.
S5E2 Innovate Mzansi
Adwoa Ankoma
Director of Policy & Research · Electric South
Attorney and Fulbright alumna championing Africa's creative tech sector at Electric South, after leading TikTok's public policy across Sub-Saharan Africa. Founder of Creatives Represented.
S5E2 Innovate Mzansi
Andrew McHenry
Co-chair · Mobile Monday SA
Co-chairs Mobile Monday South Africa, with 20+ years in tech, from heading Packard Bell NEC SA to founding Aqua Online.
S5E2 Innovate Mzansi
Kamikaze Chan
Director · BB Interactive
South African 3D artist behind BB Interactive's optimised robot avatars for VRChat and VTubers, from the TRINITY line to RE: KEMONO.
S5E3 Virtualization
Gilbert K.
Head · UJ Library VR Lab
Heads the University of Johannesburg's VR lab, opened at the UJ Library in March 2026 for VR and AR teaching, research and student projects.
S5E3 Virtualization