Creative practice meets historical inquiry.

Immersive history

Founded at the University of Minnesota, Piocent contributes to research and heritage collaborations throughout the Americas

Storytelling in archival and historical work is inherently spacial and embodied. Creative books and narrative archives draw upon the sensory and emotional experiences of readers to form living connections with the past. These emerging paradigms open new possibilities for teaching and research in history, but they also create design and literary challenges for archival usability, accessibility, and scholarly rigor. Piocent investigates how immersive methods can be applied to archival practice, develops tools for digital preservation, and explores new methods of embodied interaction for historical pedagogy and research. We do this while keeping true to our devotion to innovating classical archival management.

Whether through the metaverse or a classical, curated collection, archives should tell a story and immerse the users into a world that lets them experience the material for themselves, as if they were there to experience it first hand.

The Rides is a virtual reality history game designed to explore the 1961 Freedom Rides. This collaborative project will combine a creative and interactive book project with an immersive VR experience.

Our vision

History education often struggles to move beyond static archives or traditional lectures. At Piocent, we focus our efforts on bridging these worlds—helping universities and public history organizations create immersive learning environments that combine archival depth with innovative tools. By uniting classical archival management with immersive historical teaching, we make it possible to preserve collections while also developing academic courses where students don’t just study history—they experience it.