The Stories of Uchale
What is this about?
The Stories of Uchale began as an argument with the present: a century that emits more carbon than it consumes, fells thousand-year trees by machine in an afternoon, and lately even sinks its data centres into the ocean. The work answers with an inversion: a far future in which technology has surrendered to biology.
Uchale is a settlement on the Swahili coast of Tanganyika, now Tanzania, where the semiconductor is forbidden and nothing is manufactured that can be grown. Its servers are coral pillars humming under the sea, and its fishing stays gentle, because to trawl the reef is to bring down the public network. There is no money; life moves as exchanged time and given things. Every citizen carries the Chale, a woven mark descended from Makonde scarification, as identity and key.
The experience
The exhibited work is Arc 1, the threshold of this world. You arrive by sea as mgeni, a guest, and live a Swahili proverb rather than read it: "Mgeni njoo, mwenyeji apone", let the guest come, that the host may flourish. You follow light: firelight, fireflies, glowing cairns. Up the beach a fire is already lit for you. You sit on the woven mkeka beside Siti, the host, and are offered gifts, mangrove honey, a carved bao board, small true things of the coast, each carrying a story of everyday Swahili life.
There is no combat, no quest, no score and no interface. Nothing is asked of the guest except presence. Hospitality is the technology being demonstrated.
How it was made
I sent the proposal to the open call of the EdUHK Mixed Realities Art Lab (MReAL) Artists in Virtual Residence in January 2026, and it was accepted in February, one of six artists in the first round. From March to July 2026 we met online every month with the lab team and the other artists, for idea exchange, development and technical support.
I built the world in Unity with UdonSharp for VRChat, with all guidance placed in the world itself. The finished world was handed to the MReAL technical team, who brought it into the Museum of Alt. Futures, the MReAL exhibition world on VRChat. It opened online on 15 July 2026 as part of the MReAL 2026 Summer Exhibition, with each artist walking the audience through their world.
- Residency: March to July 2026
- Experience: 10 to 20 minutes, self-paced
- Platform: VRChat, PC VR
- Built with: Unity, UdonSharp
Visit the world
The Stories of Uchale lives in the Museum of Alt. Futures on VRChat. It runs on PC VR: you need VRChat on a PC with a VR headset.
🔗 Open the Museum of Alt. Futures in VRChat
Credits
- Bernard Masika, artist and developer
- Alex Mkwizu, narrative designer