Deep Understanding through Embodied Stories| Sebastiaan Smink
In a world drowning in digital distractions, creative director Sebastiaan explores how we can use art, technology, and intentional design to create embodied experiences that anchor us in the present moment—transforming passive consumption into meaningful connection.
The Present Moment Crisis
"I've never heard someone say they felt present while scrolling Instagram," observes Sebastiaan, a creative director who's spent over a decade studying how we connect with experiences. "I've never heard someone say they felt connected with the now while watching Netflix."
This simple observation reveals a profound crisis of our time. We live in an age of unprecedented connectivity, yet genuine connection feels increasingly elusive. We're surrounded by "immersive" experiences—VR headsets, surround sound, interactive media—but somehow we're less present than ever.
The problem isn't technology itself. It's that we've confused entertainment with engagement, distraction with immersion, and awareness with presence.
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MAGICademy Podcast (00:00)
Awareness is not enough for people to really feel the importance of something. It's more bodily, more physical, and it's spiritual. You feel presence, not distracted. As simple as biking through the mountains and seeing a great view. Artistic moments, because like nature can be a form of art in itself, an advanced...
way of awareness.
Jiani (00:35)
Welcome to MAGICademy
Sebastiaan is an art director and immersive and creative media artists. He's been working in the industry for over a decade, bringing cross -disciplinary experiences, cross -industry experiences, and trying to find ways to help anchoring people in the present moment.
through the technologies of interactivity, storytelling, arts, immersive technologies.
has been working
United Nations, Red Bull, Amsterdam Fashion Week, and hopefully he get to travel sometimes with the mission around the globe. That would be super fun!
Sebastiaan (01:18)
in this world of a lot of distractions, especially digital distractions, social media and digital noise, we wanted to bring more presence to people's lives.
Jiani (01:24)
Yes.
Sebastiaan (01:34)
Nu is basically a translation,
In Dutch we would say het nu, but it would be the correct way of saying the now in Dutch. the new was easier for a lot of international people to say,
Jiani (01:42)
Het Nu
Sebastiaan (01:53)
and it would probably make more sense to a lot of people abroad. It was a nice sort of in between staying true to our Dutch heritage and also tailoring to like an international audience and clientele.
Jiani (02:11)
I love that. That reminds me of the book by Eckhart Tolle, The Power of
Sebastiaan (02:17)
I would say that art can really help to stop people in their tracks.
my background is in art. I am a media artist and I have a background in
quite some disciplines. I've been in a different life, a performing artist, a musician, but I've also organized nightlife events. I've made sculptures, I've made films. So I think art or maybe in a broader sense, creativity and creation is something
towards.
that wonders people, that maybe is a bit different, that is challenging people in maybe a conceptual way or maybe in a visual way.
It's a good way to get people's attention and to have them stop and rethink or reassess themselves, the world, ideas. So from a strategic point of view, art or creativity is a good vehicle to bring people to the present moment.
it's not only art. I think anything that people can do in real life or in the real world can be something that can pull them out of their distractions.
This can be as simple as having dinner with friends, which can be a very focused event or very, what we call a moment of presence, where you feel present and feel not distracted. When you're in good company, sharing a meal can be, can have maybe even more impact than a great work of art for some, or a walk through nature.
seeing like hiking through the mountains and seeing a great view from the top of the mountains can have the same impact. Reading a poem or a book in a small cafe can do the same. It's not that it is necessarily art that creates these moments of presence. It's, I think, these
You could say artistic moments because like nature can be a form of art in itself. It can feel artistic. That creates like these moments where we feel present. And one thing I feel and yeah, I have to find the people that will challenge this thought yet is that these moments don't happen when we're on social media.
Jiani (04:39)
Artistic moment. I love that
Sebastiaan (05:03)
I've never heard someone say, I felt so present while I was on Instagram. I've never heard someone say, ⁓ I felt so connected with the now while I was watching Netflix. So to me, more than it is about art, it is about experiencing something in the real world.
Jiani (05:23)
I'm gonna play devil's advocate a little bit here.
Sebastiaan (05:28)
That's good.
Jiani (05:37)
When people say, in some like immersed in the virtual digital space, like maybe in the Instagram, people just keep scrolling through all kinds of like shorts or like TikTok or YouTube shorts.
Netflix people are able to submerge in the stories that the episode is all about.
Is that type of experience sort of like immersion, like a digital immersion? Maybe not on the healthy side or can we, is there a possibility for us to recreate like near reality sort of immersion even in the digital space?
Sebastiaan (06:24)
Yeah, so I think first of all, good question. I struggle a lot with the word immersive. it's kind of a buzzword right now. It's getting thrown.
on every event right now. Like every event is an immersive event. it just sort of become this empty, meaningless concept. And so it's very hard to discuss what is an immersive experience. That's why I would like
to speak more of moments of presence. So when are you feeling present? When are you feeling connected with the moment? Instead of when you, for example, have forgotten about time and you're all of a sudden like, hey, wow, I've been scrolling for an hour and I didn't even realize it.
That's not a moment of presence. There's a moment of more of either escapism or forgetfulness, or it's not something you're actively aware of, but where you are, what you're doing. So I think for me, that distinction is more interesting. And then we can speak of like, are these digital experiences that are immersive?
Jiani (07:23)
you
Sebastiaan (07:46)
Are these experiences that connect you with the present moment or are these experiences that make you forget about the present moment? Is it escapism or is it entertainment? There's nothing wrong with entertainment. There's nothing wrong with a night of Netflix. But is it meaningful in that sense? And I think if you...
Jiani (07:50)
you
Mmm.
Mm.
Sebastiaan (08:14)
would consider it from that perspective, then yeah, I think social media, a lot of social media or a lot of Netflix shows or a lot of gaming is not primarily designed to make you feel present and in the moment and appreciative of the moment. It's more something to maybe to relax or to forget your
day job or to sort of don't worry about the things you had during the day. So I think that's more of the distinction I would make and I would also argue that especially for organizations or for brands or for people that want other people to connect with them, I would say they should
Aim for creating moments where people are in the present with them. Because that's more meaningful than just entertaining people and having letting them having a good time and forget about what they've been doing. Because then you're part of that stream of entertainment and noise that is already part of people's lives too much. And you can become one of those touch points in people's lives where there's not really any
Jiani (09:13)
Mmm.
That's true.
Sebastiaan (09:37)
resonance with them.
Jiani (09:38)
So it needs to have
meaning, it needs to be connected not to distraction but to the core essence of that reality, whatever that is.
Sebastiaan (10:01)
Yeah,
what I would like to argue and this is something I'm still working on this concept. I'm not totally sure how this idea works out, but like people talk a lot about awareness,
People need to be aware of, I don't know, climate change or whatever topic. I would argue that Awareness is not enough for people to really feel the importance of something. Presence will be something that is like awareness, but instead of just being cognitive, which is awareness, is cognitive, maybe emotional.
It's more bodily, more physical and it's spiritual. So it combines more the physical, the spiritual and the emotional into something that people really feel. If you're present, you're really in the moment you feel it. It's something in your body. It's something in your mind and it's something spiritual. So I see that more of a difference. I see it as a more of a, let's say an advanced way of awareness.
Jiani (11:12)
So I see. So a lot of times when we're thinking about awareness, it's like, it's all in here. ⁓ we need to be aware and however, we also have a body. We also have emotions and we also have spirituality. So being able to not only connect to here, but kind of connect to the body, to the emotion, to the spirituality is like a whole body, like embodied, embodied, immersive experience.
Sebastiaan (11:17)
Yeah.
It's an embodied
experience. Being present is an embodied experience, yeah.
Jiani (11:42)
Love that. Can you share with us some work, some embodied immersive experiences that you've created?
Sebastiaan (11:51)
Yeah, sure. So we can look at a art installation I made together with some other artists a couple of years ago. It was for the Rotterdam Art Week and the installation is...
meant to make people feel, embody the threats of the underwater noise pollution that is happening right now in our oceans around the
world. Not many people are aware of noise pollution underwater, but a lot of sea life is really affected by
oil drilling, big boats and other industrialization on and in the ocean. And we've tried to create an experience, an art installation where people could really feel what it could be like to be a sea mammal or a fish.
that is affected by ocean noise pollution. So I can share you the screen and a video and then we can have a look at that.
Jiani (13:19)
excited.
I need a moment to extract myself from that.
If I were the mammal, I probably won't sleep well. That's for sure.
Sebastiaan (14:30)
Yeah, we had some people that... Well, the reactions were quite... Visceral. Like, why it's like... Because this is a video and you already get like a sense of the loudness of the... Especially the audio. But the experience was actually made...
So you see people could walk into the space and the space had I believe 16 if I'm correct the grid of 16 LED light poles like little light towers, lighthouses and each light pole had a 360 degree speaker
above it and down. Altogether the speakers created a surround sound 360 degrees soundscape. So when you entered the space, you were really inside the audio. That in combination with the quite loud sound design and the sound effects of
boats and hammering
drilling industrial sounds coming flying over you really made some people at an ease while being in there which was also sort of part of the point to make that it's a bit eerie at times to be in there
Jiani (16:17)
Hmm.
Sebastiaan (16:20)
So where you see at the beginning of the video, it starts quite light, quite... In some sense fragile, with very thin sounds. There's... It's serene. There's not much weight to the experience. And then it builds towards this sort of...
impactful moment where all of a sudden there's this heavy thumping sound enters and gets people like shocked. This sort of thumping sound then repeats but also ends at a certain point with a more hopeful almost like
Sea Serenade where we mimicked the motion of the waves into synthesizer sounds. Actually in the video it's reversed because for the video it worked better to reverse it but like the part you hear in the middle so the more emotional tones that actually in the actual experience comes at the end to have people leave with like more of a hopeful
feeling instead of a feeling of doom and gloom. But yeah, there are moments that are a bit intense, I would say.
Jiani (17:45)
Yeah, and you've mentioned about the sound, so how sound is being designed in an immersive way, so we're not like listening to it, we're like living and present in it. You've used lights, like blinking, sometimes the frequency of it, the intensity of it changes.
What are some, I would say like, is there a formula? Is there some framework that whenever we're thinking about creating this immersive embodied immersive experience, here are a few elements that needs to be present, like sound, immersive sound and the light, or it really depends.
Sebastiaan (18:38)
Yeah, I think it really depends. I think for something to work, you need to know what story you want to tell or what message you want to tell. So in this case, it was very clear that it was about noise pollution on the water. So that's your framework. And then from there,
how I like to work. Well, we can say for this specific case study, there was already a sort of an idea to work with a spatial sound system. So the sound system we work with, like to work with immersive sound. So that was already there. So then we knew like sound would be our first medium. And then...
I think it could have been like just a sound experience where people would walk through, but I think the addition of the lights makes it...
It is funny, people are very... People are not aware of sound as much as of visuals. So you can make a sound experience, which is very pretty, but once you connect sound to visual, it will multiply the experience. And especially when they interact with each other. So when they're in sync. So when I, as you saw in the beginning, this little tick,
tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick that went around through the room. If that tick would be only there without the lights, people would have heard it, but they probably wouldn't have localized it that well. Our ears are not trained to that. Once we're adding lights to that and every tick we hear in the space is also accompanied by a light at the same space, your
way quicker to recognize where things are coming from. So the experience becomes more, I would say, three -dimensional, more spatial by combining the interactivity between lights and sound. This is not always what you need. I mean, it's not a formula for an immersive experience. I've made an artwork that had no interactivity, that had no sound, that was just a...
a sculpture but the sculpture had a design that had some interesting ways of working with optical illusions that made it interesting. It was a low tech in that sense a low tech design that still made people interested in it. I think and that's maybe where I want to go with this is it's not the technology
that makes an interesting experience.
Jiani (21:25)
Mm.
Sebastiaan (21:37)
It's understanding what you want to tell your storytelling and then understanding the tools you have and use them in a clever way. And I always like to strip things down to a certain core and try to keep it as minimal and as sort of
basic as possible because like a lot of immersive like a lot of people that say they make something an immersive experience or like but in general a lot of experiences or designs or whatever people tend to over rely on the technology or on the all the bells and whistles and ⁓ we have 20 speakers and hundreds of lights and we can do pyrotechnics and
Jiani (22:26)
you
Sebastiaan (22:29)
we have projection mapping. All those things have no impact if you don't know what you're trying to accomplish in that moment. So I think that's my philosophy at least that form follows function. And then it's really cool to work with super cool tech. And then it's really cool to work with like this sound system that was...
Jiani (22:46)
Mm.
Sebastiaan (22:56)
really unique and these really unique custom -made lights then you can also work with something really stripped down because you have a good sense of what you want trying to tell you don't need much you can use it in a very elegant way
Jiani (23:15)
beautiful. As we look into the future, you kind of tapped into the concept a little bit, regardless of what technology, artificial intelligence, virtual realities, and neural links, what 3 .0, whatever we name it, and then what you just said, the form follows the function. So it's kind of like a first principle thinking in experience creation. It's amazing. Are there any
startups or innovators or thought leaders in a space that you would recommend us to continuously learning about ways how we can make experience more embodied and immersive.
Sebastiaan (23:57)
you
Well, to react to your first part of your question about like all the technologies, yes, I believe, well, let me put it this way. I hope technology will move forward no matter what. So I hope that for, at least for myself, but also for other creators that we would keep seeing these technologies as tools and not as means to an end.
Yeah, I use AI technology, AI image generations to conceptualize ideas or to even in my own design processes. And it's really nice because it helps you. It creates speed, it creates ways to brainstorm with yourself, with your computer. But it is a tool. If you don't know what you're using the tool for, it becomes meaningless.
Jiani (24:45)
Mmm.
Sebastiaan (24:53)
So in that sense, I feel like...
I hope that that will be the future that we get more tools and it will democratize the way we create things and that more people can use these tools and more people can create cool stuff. I believe though that probably we will get flooded more due to these tools by distracting meaningless media content. And that
Jiani (25:08)
you
Sebastiaan (25:25)
we will be confronted with a lot of people that want that are trying to trick us either with deep fakes or with like promises that they can't keep because they are able to create worlds or they are able to create images that are not that are so realistic that we can't see if if it's real or not. So for me
Jiani (25:51)
Mm.
Sebastiaan (25:54)
this whole new innovation cycle that's happening right now is almost a testament to our philosophy that it probably will become more important to be in the now not only like spiritual but also in real life.
Jiani (26:14)
you
Sebastiaan (26:21)
to have moments in real life with people and to come together because it becomes harder to trust what we see online and in the digital space over the coming years.
Jiani (26:29)
Hmm.
Mm.
I appreciate you kind of anchoring the whole conversation back to the starting point is our ability to be present. It's sort of like a self leadership in a way is able to be aware that we're in the moment where we experienced destruction and being able to pull ourselves back from those destruction and anchor back into the embodied present moment.
on this planet, on this beautiful planet Earth. That's wonderful. Are there any particular startup thought leaders that you would recommend us to follow?
Sebastiaan (27:09)
Mmm.
This is a hard question.
Jiani (27:12)
This is one of the hard questions.
Sebastiaan (27:14)
well
I wouldn't say, maybe not a startup. I would maybe.
There's one name of a woman that pops into my mind. Her name is Es Devlin and she is a bit of the, I would say maybe a bit of the godmother of like immersive experiences or experience design. Her background actually is more in show design and in theater design, production design. So she did a lot of...
big shows where she designed stages but I think it is interesting to look into her work she done shows for Beyonce, Coldplay all the way to like big theater shows and I really like her creative approach
She has a nice, I think a documentary on Netflix on how she works, which I would really recommend. And a lot of cool videos and lectures on how she approaches her work. So I would say go check her out. And other than that, I wouldn't know right now.
Jiani (28:22)
you
I think one is godmother kind of level is more than enough. Wonderful. So, all right. So let me give a recap for our audience. So far
we've talked about it's important for us in the digitally distracted world. Go back to our center.
connect our mind, our emotion, our spirituality, and our body into this embodied immersive moment of what we call present.
experienced the deep ocean, sound pollution, kind of story through the lens of Sebastiaan and his immersive embodied experience design and how he
just based on that particular mission or objective or goal, he decided to leverage elements of 360 degree of sound, immersive sound, and also synchronized lights to help people not only hear immersively 360 -wise, but also anchor that sound together with the light and help to create this more...
real experiences in that.
also focused on the importance of it's not about technology, it's always about the message. We need to first develop a clarity of what message we wanted to deliver. then the form follows the function, follows the purpose. we also explored
similarities or differences between immersive experiences in a virtual world versus immersive experiences in the embodied world. And we came into a conclusion in this episode that it's ideal if we're able to anchor ourselves and our body and our mind and spirits in the reality. And sometimes it can be arts or it can be artistic experiences like
having dinner with your friends or going on a hike in the mountain breathing that oxygen and fresh air and see the birds and feel the wind and so...
Sebastiaan (30:37)
and all that to arrive in
a moment of presence.
Jiani (30:40)
The moment, the magic of the moment. Wonderful. So let's talk about your magic then, Sebastiaan What did you enjoy doing when you were 11, 12 years old? That time just disappeared or not disappear and you're like super present in the moment.
Sebastiaan (30:59)
I always wanted to become a comic book designer, writer. So I was big on drawing, especially comic books. I had these, back then you didn't have tutorials or YouTube. So I had all these sort of books on how to draw comics. And that was my thing, drawing. I drew a lot when I was 11. And...
I also was like, not anymore, but when I was younger, I also was a gamer. Besides that, I sort of regret that. I wish I was more of an outside kid. That's something I've always sort of, that's something I learned to appreciate when I got older. But I am happy that I always was like big on drawing and being creative in that sense.
Jiani (31:34)
You
that. Were there any particular challenges that you have to go through that helped to shape who you are as of now? 2024.
Sebastiaan (31:56)
Yeah, sure. I mean, I think the challenges of every kid growing up trying to find its way, its voice in the world.
I think the biggest challenge and that's still one of the biggest challenges is to stay true to yourself and not trying to mimic what others do. I think I have had and still have sometimes the tendency to put others really on like a pedestal, people that I admire.
really want to do what they are doing and sometimes forget like what I'm good at or what my purpose is or how I can use my own strengths to bring forth my own unique
skills. So I think now as I grow older, it gets easier, but I think that was one of the many struggles, especially in my young adulthood, where I really wanted to be someone or some like wanted to be acknowledged for my creativity and try to really
accomplish that by maybe mimicking others or latching on to like the skills and talents of other people and to really forget like myself in that. So I think that's probably a lifelong struggle to stay true to your own talents and to become comfortable in who you are in your own strengths and your own weaknesses and see that as your unique superpower.
Jiani (33:43)
I love that. What is your magic then? What is your superpower?
Sebastiaan (33:48)
I think I'm quite analytic for a creative and I think I'm quite creative for a scientist so to say. So I've also a background in, I've done my masters in
economics and entrepreneurship. So there is this sort of more scientific side to me, more of a learning analytical side to me. But I also really enjoy the arts and creating and making stuff. And I always felt that
Jiani (34:23)
Hehehehe
Sebastiaan (34:25)
that was in conflict. So those were two conflicting sides. But as I grow older, I feel, and that's also something I had to learn, that those things, those two sides can work together and can work in harmony. And I feel that a lot of, especially very creative people struggle to...
Jiani (34:30)
Yeah.
Sebastiaan (34:50)
struggle because they're not maybe not businessy enough or analytical enough or they just want to immerse themselves in their arts and they don't want to mind anything else which prevents them from growing or bringing their vision and their arts to the world. And on the other side I think there are a lot of very analytical people or scientific people or people that are very much in their heads.
thinking about things that could benefit from being a bit more creative and being a bit more free. And I think these two sides, or having been able to develop both sides in me is right now, after all these years, becoming maybe a bit of a superpower and maybe a bit of a magic that I have and that I...
Jiani (35:28)
you
Sebastiaan (35:46)
learn to appreciate about myself.
Jiani (35:48)
How do you live in the middle? How do you peacefully or happily live in this middle space?
Non -binaral, non -dichotomous.
Sebastiaan (36:06)
That's a good question. I think, yeah.
Yeah. You have to make space for both in time. So you have to allow yourself to, I mean, you can't switch like on a day, you can't switch three times between being creative and then being like,
I don't know, working on your taxes or doing some strategy sessions and then be super creative again. I mean, that's impossible. So you have to sort of, or at least I have to block out certain parts of the week for certain tasks and also like block out certain parts of my year for certain projects. And also I think...
I think you should try to avoid to over complicate things. I think a lot of things can be solved by making things more simple. So the creative process doesn't have to be super complicated. When I was really, the moments when I was reinvested in creating, it also became the moments where it became really complicated. Whereas now I know I have a sort of a limited time where I can create.
It has to be simple, quick, effective. I want to create something, it's for the sake of making something I like, something I consider beautiful or interesting. So those moments also have to, there needs to be some energy in those moments. And that can only happen when you approach it with a...
like a simple and an easy going mind. And the same goes with strategy and or more of the cognitive things you do. You need to also approach it with a more simple, easy going mind. And I think then there are a lot of similarities. I mean, solving a strategic problem or coming up with a concept for a client.
is both a creative and a strategic cognitive process. And the same is coming up with a great design. There are moments where you're creating and expressing yourself and there are moments where you're like need to problem solve because I don't know, the color palette is not working or the way you've arranged some things may make people confused. And then it becomes also more of a cognitive
cognitive challenge. So I think there's a lot of overlap and trying to simplify things and seeing those overlaps makes it easier to switch. But like for the true creative things or for the true moments where I need, I want to study and want to learn something. Yeah. I block out different parts of my week or of my year.
Jiani (38:50)
you
I love that. I think allowing the space, the space itself gives us permission to practice what we need and also have the simple mind. Don't think too much about it. This is your space. Do it. Beautiful. And thank you, Sebastiaan, for coming to the podcast today and sharing your wisdom, your insights, your perspectives and your stories.
and it was such a pleasure and immersive, embodied immersive experience talking with you, especially listening to that visual and acoustic stories that you created. Hope you get to explore more. And for folks who want to get connected with Sebastiaan,
his information is in the show note below and we encourage you to get together, create stories and create magic together for a lot of people.
Sebastiaan (39:53)
Thank you. Thank you for having me and thank you for the nice conversation.
What Presence Really Means
"Being present is an embodied experience," Sebastiaan explains. "It's not just mental—it's physical, emotional, and spiritual."
True presence isn't just cognitive awareness—knowing where you are and what you're doing. It's an embodied experience that engages your mind, emotions, body, and spirit simultaneously. When you're truly present, you feel it in your entire being.
Think about the last time you felt completely absorbed in a moment. Maybe it was sharing a meal with close friends, reaching a mountain summit after a challenging hike, or getting lost in creating something with your hands. These moments share a quality that's fundamentally different from passive consumption of digital media.
This distinction matters because it reveals why so much of our digital media consumption leaves us feeling empty despite being technically "engaged." Scrolling through feeds might capture our attention, but it doesn't cultivate presence. It's designed for escapism, not embodiment.
When Art Stops Us in Our Tracks
Certain experiences have the power to interrupt our autopilot mode and snap us into the present moment. Art—broadly defined—excels at this. But we're not just talking about paintings in galleries.
"Art or creativity is a good way to get people's attention and have them stop and rethink or reassess themselves, the world, ideas," Sebastiaan notes. This could be a powerful sculpture, but it could equally be a perfectly prepared meal, an unexpected conversation, or even a moment of natural beauty that makes you pause.
The key is that these experiences challenge us somehow—conceptually, visually, emotionally. They're different enough from our routine mental patterns that they demand our full attention.
This is why brands and organizations struggle to create meaningful connections. They're competing in a stream of entertainment and noise, trying to capture awareness rather than cultivate presence. But awareness is just the beginning. Presence is awareness plus emotional resonance plus physical engagement plus something that touches the spirit.
Making the Invisible Visceral
To understand how this works in practice, consider an art installation designed to make ocean noise pollution visceral rather than abstract. Most people are intellectually aware that industrial noise affects marine life, but this knowledge remains distant and cognitive.
The installation placed visitors inside a grid of LED light towers, each equipped with 360-degree speakers. As guests entered the space, they were surrounded by a soundscape that evolved from serene underwater ambiance to jarring industrial noise—oil drilling, massive ships, mechanical hammering—all flying overhead in three-dimensional audio space.
The synchronized lights amplified the experience. When visitors heard a sound from their left, a corresponding light flashed in that exact location. This wasn't just heard—it was felt, located, embodied. People's reactions were visceral. Some became genuinely uncomfortable, which was precisely the point.
"The reactions were quite visceral," Sebastiaan recalls. "Because when you entered the space, you were really inside the audio."
This installation succeeded because it transformed abstract knowledge into embodied understanding. Visitors didn't just learn about ocean noise pollution—they felt what it might be like to be a sea mammal trying to navigate a world filled with industrial noise.
Form Follows Feeling
The ocean installation worked because it started with a clear intention: empower people to feel the impact of underwater noise pollution. The technology—spatial audio, synchronized lighting—served that purpose rather than driving it.
This represents a crucial principle: form follows function, but in experience design, function is often about feeling. The most sophisticated technology in the world can't save a poorly conceived experience, while a simple, well-designed intervention can create a profound impact.
"It's not the technology that makes an interesting experience," Sebastiaan emphasizes. "It's understanding what you want to tell in your storytelling and then understanding the tools you have and use them in a clever (intentional) way."
The Future of Real
As AI generates increasingly convincing fake content and virtual worlds become more sophisticated, authentic, embodied experiences become more valuable, not less. We're entering an era where distinguishing real from artificial will be increasingly difficult in digital spaces.
This makes physical, present-moment experiences a kind of refuge—spaces where we can trust what we're experiencing because we're experiencing it with our full being, not just consuming it with our minds.
The future isn't about choosing between digital and physical, but about being more intentional about when we seek entertainment versus when we seek presence. Both have their place, but only one truly nourishes us.
The art of presence isn't about rejecting technology—it's about using technology, creativity, and intentional design to create moments where we remember what it feels like to be fully alive and awake in the world.
⭐ Connect with Sebastiaan
Hey there, my name is Sebastiaan. I'm a creative art director and media artist based in Amsterdam. I have over a decade of experience blending design, art, and storytelling into audiovisual (IRL) experiences. My work is diverse, covering areas like experiential design, film, music, installation art, branding, and even some coding. During my career, I collaborated with global brands like the United Nations, Amsterdam Fashion Week, Asics, Viacom, and Red Bull.
Sebastiaan’s MAGIC
Sebastiaan's unique gift lies in his ability to bridge seemingly opposing worlds—he's analytical enough for business yet creative enough for art, strategic enough for clients yet intuitive enough for meaningful expression. This rare combination allows him to translate complex ideas into visceral experiences, making the invisible tangible and the abstract deeply felt. It's a superpower born from years of learning to honor both sides of himself rather than choosing between them.
Writing Process
Initial Draft: Claude ai
Initial Story Revision: Dr. Jiani Wu
Guest Alignment Review: Sebastiaan Smink
Final Alignment Review: Dr. Jiani Wu
Initial Publication: Sep 23, 2025
Disclaimer:
AI technologies are harnessed to create initial content derived from genuine conversations. Human re-creation & review are used to ensure accuracy, relevance & quality.
