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Troy Rainbow

Troy Rainbow

PhD Candidate
Arts, Design & Architecture
School of Art & Deisgn

Email: t.rainbow@unsw.edu.au

Supervisors: Anna Munster, Alex Davies

Troy Rainbow is a composer, performer and mixed-reality artist. His work focuses on subjective psychological experience. He holds a Master of Music and is a current PhD candidate at UNSW. His research is on creating virtual theatre environments that explore the Phenomenology of Schizophrenic Experience.

In 2021, Troy wrote, directed, produced and composed the XR experience ‘The Door in Question’ – an immersive experience that places people at the centre of a psychotic episode. It was featured in Age, Broadsheet and Timeout & received funding from the Australia Council, Melbourne and Stonnington City Councils.

In 2018, Troy created and produced a five-sense Virtual Reality experience ‘Want it to End’. The work featured at VIVID, Melbourne Music Week and West Projections festivals.

In 2021, Troy presented at the Games for Change conference on the topic of ‘Creating a technodramaturgy for mental health experiences.’

Troy is the Director of Sleepless Footscray Festival – a multi-sensory, multidisciplinary festival focused on celebrating the cultural diversity of the Melbourne suburb of Footscray.

My practice-based PhD research is focused on the creation of Extended Reality (XR) and transmedia storytelling experiences, which convey and explore experiences of schizophrenia and delusional belief systems.

Journal Articles

  • Rainbow, T. (2021). Opening The Door in Question: Simulating schizophrenia and psychosis in XR and transmedia experiences. Games for Change Asia-Pacific Journal, 1, 147–177. 
  • Rainbow, T. (2019). Want it To End: Towards a Virtual Theatre Environment. Seeing the Inaudible, Hearing the Invisible - Proceedings from the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2019.
  • The Guardian feature on the 2025 work, which gives a strong sense of the structure and scale.  
  • Article in The Age, 2021 
  • The ArtsHub review, which emphasises the spread across empty rooms, streets and interactive systems.  
  • Games for Change – conference presentation. 

Talk Links