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an immersive atlas of justice, memory and possibility

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The Hope Gap XR is an immersive storytelling platform built to close the distance between what we support and what we believe is possible.

We treat imagination as civic infrastructure. Working across geographies and issue areas, we translate research, policy, and community archives into embodied experiences — integrating immersive storytelling, somatic practice, and brain health research to strengthen collective imagination.

Our core theory: the capacity to imagine just futures is constrained not by a lack of empathy, but by the architecture of information — who controls it, how it circulates, and whose stories are deemed credible.

When histories are rendered invisible, imagination narrows.

We claim expansion.

what if justice wasn’t a dream but a direction?

The Hope Gap XR builds on existing research and public discourse across the U.S. reparations movement, climate justice, repatriation of cultural artifacts, and other evidence of social progress, as well as insights across psychology, education, economics, and public health worldwide.

These bodies of work inform the experience, translating data and story into an immersive environment that invites reflection, dialogue, and generative thinking.

If interested in hosting an exhibition at your museum, team retreat, conference, or convening, contact us.

For more on the stories, scholars, and movement that inform this work, see our intellectual lineage.

meet the team
our approach
A large, decorative archway with vibrant orange, black, and green tribal patterns stands in a desert landscape with mountains in the background and a blue sky with scattered clouds.
Colorful illuminated depiction of Earth showing continents and oceans against a black background.
Man with beard wearing a white shirt and a virtual reality headset in a room with other people, some also wearing VR headsets, and a woman sitting on a chair in the background.
An elderly woman in white clothing and sunglasses is smiling while floating against a black background with colorful confetti surrounding her.
A woman wearing a floral dress and a virtual reality headset is interacting with a virtual environment, raising one hand and looking ahead.

“isn’t the foundation of activism faith in what could be?"

- anana curtis

sand texture
People participating in a virtual reality experience in a room, seated in a circle, wearing VR headsets.
A man with gray, curly hair and a beard wearing a dark blue shirt with white dots, is adjusting a white virtual reality headset labeled Atlantic Fellowships, while holding it with both hands.
Three women wearing virtual reality headsets sitting in a room with a cork wall decorated with whiteboards. They are engaged in a virtual experience, with the woman in the center and the right holding their hands up, showing gestures.
Group of people sitting in a classroom or workshop, wearing virtual reality headsets, with a corkboard and posters on the wall behind them.

the hope gap xr premieres in oxford, uk

In July 2025, The Hope Gap XR work-in-progress premiered during the Atlantic Institute’s Global Convening, held at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. This experience tested concepts of immersion as empathy, storytelling at scale, and embodiment of hope.

view our progress
A collage with a black and white photo of a group of people sitting on benches in front of houses, a map, a businesswoman with jewelry, and the words 'Reparations: The US town paying its black residents.' There is a QR code and a note about reparations as a solution to economic disparity.
black sand texture
An informational poster about 'Windows of Opportunity,' a mobile augmented reality installation exploring reparative justice, including event details for May 1-2 in Los Angeles, and a call for supporting donations.
A woman speaking at a podium with a microphone during a presentation at an event titled 'RIOT T' organized by Black Future Newstand. The background features banners from USC Annenberg and Free Press.

proof of concept: windows of opportunity

“Windows of Opportunity” is a mobile phone-powered, augmented reality (AR) experience inspired by Linda Bilmes and Cornell William Brooks’ research on “Normalizing Reparations.” Set to a soundscape of policies that set precedents for reparations, the experience visualizes key symbols within Evanston, Illinois’ reparations movement — the first municipally-funded reparations policy in the United States.

view our progress

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currents of repair, channels of progress

background texture of beach
Colorful artistic representation of Earth with exaggerated continents and textured surface, set against a black background.
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