Immersive Content
Niki Smit | Monobanda
Solving social problems with play, that is what play developers Niki Smit and Simon van der Linden from Monobanda design and develop. In collaboration with scientists, psychologists and healthcare experts, they use playful behavior as a gateway and vehicle for positive behavioral change.
Niki's work is strongly focused on researching and developing new forms of play in which he explores and pushes the boundaries of play and embodied interaction. His passion lies in creating projects that connect the human body, the physical space and the virtual world in surprising ways. His work fills the space between art, science and education. The collaboration between art and science gives him the opportunity to contextualize and validate his work.
He co-founded ExploreDEEP, in which he creates meditative, breath-driven VR experiences, and is co-director of Soulpaint. In this VR experience, the player is invited to discover and imagine where in their body they experience their emotions: by 'drawing' your own emotions in a virtual body, and then 'step into the body' and 'embody'. By merging creativity and self-care in this experience, a safe context is created to create, reflect, share and connect with others.
Niki Smit is co-founder of Monobanda (2008), creative director and play designer. He studied Art & Technology, Interactive Performance Design at the Utrecht School of the Arts (2008). In addition to directing several award-winning interactive experiences, Smit received the Dutch Directors Guild award for Best digital Storytelling in 2019.
