Professor Mattia Thibault translates across realities and explores mediated futures

What are your main research interests?

My research encompasses both physical spaces – particularly urban environments – and virtual spaces, including extended realities, video games and alternative mediatic worlds. My primary research interests are focused on understanding how we create meaning within these spaces. For instance, how do we interact with them through play, how do we tell stories about them, how do we represent ourselves in them?

Translation lies at the core of my research. Rather than focusing on translation between languages, I am interested in intersemiotic translation, or the process of translating content from one semiotic system to another. Translation also occurs between different realities, which is the focus of InterReal, my project funded with an ERC Starting Grant.

Technology is evolving at a tremendous pace and influencing social and cultural developments, and it is sometimes difficult to keep up. My research group frequently engages in speculative research, aiming to contribute to future visions by critiquing existing narratives and offering new alternatives for exploring what lies ahead.

Photo: Jonne Renvall / Tampere University

What makes your research significant?

We are constantly surrounded by narratives about the future that have been largely shaped by political interests or large corporations, such as Big Tech. So, what does our future hold? I believe research provides us with the tools to influence that future and the kind of world we are building. 

For instance, research allows us to critique and analyse narratives that often go unnoticed, because they are so seamlessly woven into the fabric of our everyday life that they become invisible. 

The world needs alternatives, and it is our responsibility as researchers to create them in collaboration with communities and stakeholders. This may include political discussions about how we want to organise society, as in our EU-funded Mobility Mindshift project, which focuses on tackling the challenge of mobility-based emissions in Tampere together with younger generations. Also, it could involve more practical initiatives, such as our NEXR project funded by Business Finland, which investigates the potential of low-threshold and spatially aware XR for the creative industries.

Where do you draw inspiration for your work as a professor?

I like to go for long walks to think. Many of my research ideas have emerged during these walks. It is important for me to carve out time for myself, time when I am not sitting in front of a computer or tied up in meetings. While digital tools can break our thought processes, stumbling upon frogs or deer in the woods offers a refreshing kind of interruption.

Researchers need to remain curious about their work, and my research group has been a great source of inspiration in recent years. I founded my InterReality Research Group almost three years ago. Working with early-career researchers is extremely rewarding as they are ambitious and full of ideas. While I try to support their professional development, I continue to learn from them through our collaboration.

Photo: Jonne Renvall / Tampere University

What would you want to study next and why?

I am keen to continue exploring how our mediascape evolves over the coming years. What will its users look like in the future? Today, people can create avatars to represent (or translate!) themselves in virtual worlds or choose to appear as, say, a cat on social VR. But could this idea be taken even further? Perhaps one could appear as a cloud, three bodies instead of one, or even a puddle of water. This would be a fascinating theme for further research.

From a disciplinary perspective, Semiotic research has a rich and well-established history in Finland, but I am concerned about its current trajectory. Many semioticians have now retired, and I worry that this valuable tradition is at risk of fading. I hope to help maintain their work relevant and, for example, find new ways to apply their theories in the future.

Finally, we are looking for innovative ways of collaborating with theatre arts students and researchers at Näty, especially in connection with motion capture technologies as a way to translate bodies across realities.

What do you do in your free time?

I am a playful person – I enjoy playing video and board games and building with Lego. I also have a deep interest in the arts, particularly literature and visual arts. I am an avid reader, and I like to visit museums.

I am currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and I like to read books from other eras. It serves as a reminder that we are but small threads in the fabric of history.