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Aaron Koblin

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Aaron Koblin is an artist, designer and programmer who works with data visualization, crowdsourcing and immersive media.[1] He led the Data Arts Team at Google from 2008 to 2015 and then co-founded the immersive media company Vrse, later renamed Within, with director Chris Milk.[2][3] Within made the Within app for cinematic virtual reality, multi-user VR pieces such as Life of Us, and the VR fitness service Supernatural, and was acquired by Meta Platforms in February 2023.[4][5] After the acquisition, Meta described him as head of studio for Supernatural.[6] In 2026 he and Milk began rebuilding Supernatural under a new independent company, Supernatural Health.[7]

Before working in VR, Koblin was known for data and crowdsourced artworks, including Flight Patterns, The Sheep Market, the data-driven Radiohead video House of Cards (captured with LiDAR and structured light scanners instead of cameras), and interactive music videos made with Milk.[8][9] He received the 2014 National Design Award for Interaction Design from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.[8]

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Checked career, project, funding, award and Supernatural Health claims against Koblin's own site, Cooper Hewitt, Grammy.com, MIT, Nature (Crossref), TED, Forbes (archived), the Google Maps blog, TechCrunch, Scientific American, Variety (archived), Road to VR, The Hollywood Reporter (archived), Use All Five, Webby Awards, CNET (archived), Meta, UploadVR, with.in and the Supernatural Health FAQ. About review dates.

Education and early work

Koblin earned an MFA in Design|Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).[2][10] Flight Patterns began at UCLA as a series of experiments for Celestial Mechanics, a planetarium-based artwork by Scott Hessels and Gabriel Dunne, in 2005.[11][12] The piece traces a single 24-hour period of domestic airline traffic over North America from Federal Aviation Administration data: Koblin took flight positions reported every three minutes, interpolated each plane's path and drew the results in the Processing programming environment.[12] His project page lists a National Science Foundation first-place award for science visualization among the work's honors.[11]

The Sheep Market is a collection of 10,000 drawings of sheep made by workers on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, each paid US$0.02 to "draw a sheep facing left".[13] Koblin later told the design studio Use All Five that he sold the drawings in bulk, which he said the terms of service allowed, and called this "perhaps a problematic aspect of this system".[14]

House of Cards (2008)

Radiohead's video for "House of Cards", released through Google in July 2008, used no cameras or lights. Director James Frost made it from 3D scan data: a Geometric Informatics structured-light scanner recorded close shots of the singers, and a Velodyne LIDAR scanner recorded landscapes and wide scenes.[9][15] Scientific American credited the idea to Koblin, then described as an electronic artist and researcher at UCLA, and TechCrunch reported that he handled the technology.[15][9] The LIDAR unit used 64 lasers to build an XYZ point cloud of each scene. Google hosted an interactive viewer on code.google.com, and the band released the data so that developers could make their own versions.[9] Koblin's project page describes it as an open-source "music video without video".[16]

Google Data Arts Team (2008-2015)

Koblin created and led the Data Arts Team at Google from 2008 to 2015.[2][10] In 2010 MIT listed him as a technology lead at Google Creative Lab when he held its Abramowitz Award as a visiting artist, and in 2012 the journal Nature described him as head of the Data Arts Team in Google's Creative Lab.[17][18] He spoke at TED2011 in March 2011 about his flight, mobile phone and crowdsourced projects.[19]

Several of his projects from this period were made with director Chris Milk, who later became his business partner:

  • The Wilderness Downtown (August 2010) was an interactive HTML5 piece set to Arcade Fire's "We Used to Wait". It was set in the neighborhood where each viewer grew up, using Google Maps and Street View imagery of that place. Milk created it with Arcade Fire and members of Google's team, and Koblin announced it on Google's Maps blog as a member of Google Creative Lab.[20][21]
  • The Johnny Cash Project is a music video for Johnny Cash's "Ain't No Grave" in which each frame is drawn by a different participant.[22] Cooper Hewitt calls it the first crowdsourced music video.[8] It was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, with Milk, Jennifer Heath, Koblin and Rick Rubin credited.[23]
  • This Exquisite Forest (2012-2014) was an online collaborative animation project and an installation at Tate Modern. Visitors extended existing animations into branching stories shaped like trees.[24][18]

Other work includes eCLOUD, a sculpture at San Jose International Airport whose polycarbonate tiles change between transparent and opaque in patterns driven by real-time weather data, made with Dan Goods of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Nik Hafermaas of Art Center College of Design.[25]

Vrse and Within (2015-2023)

Koblin left Google in 2015 to start Vrse, a virtual reality company.[14] Road to VR describes Vrse as an immersive film company founded in 2014 by Milk and Koblin; Gray Area's 2016 festival biography gives Koblin's title as co-founder and chief technology officer.[3][10] In a September 2015 interview he argued that VR could be "so much more than a tool for gaming", naming storytelling, education, science, medicine, architecture and communication, and said that the feeling of presence made empathy "a huge unexpected side effect of VR".[14]

On 16 June 2016 Vrse renamed itself Within and announced a US$12.56 million Series A round from investors including 21st Century Fox, Andreessen Horowitz, Raine Ventures, WME, Live Nation, Vice Media, Annapurna Pictures and Legendary Pictures. The Within app launched on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift the same day, adding to existing iOS, Android and Samsung Gear VR versions.[26] Koblin, as co-founder and CTO, told Variety that the new name reflected a goal of not focusing on a single slice of immersive technology. He said VR was often associated with gaming, an area Within was not focused on: "For us, it's very much about immersive storytelling." He said the money would go into the company's technology platform and into mobile VR, and called Google's Daydream platform "very exciting". Within had 19 employees at the time.[26]

Within's first real-time, interactive experience was Life of Us, created by Milk and Koblin, which premiered at the Sundance New Frontier program in 2017.[27] Participants embody a series of characters that evolve into humans, alongside another person who joins the experience, and the modulation of their voices changes with each new character.[28] In an interview for the Voices of VR podcast, Koblin talked about voice modulation latency, the environment as a primary feature of VR, and the balance between film storytelling and game interaction.[28] The piece was produced with Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures and scored by Pharrell Williams, and it later ran at IMAX VR Experience Centres.[27] In July 2017 Within raised a US$40 million Series B round led by Temasek and Emerson Collective, bringing its total funding to US$56.6 million.[27] Interviewed on the Webby Podcast that December, Koblin said he found VR "incredibly refreshing" because "I stand up, I use my body, I move around".[29]

According to a letter on Within's website signed by Milk and Koblin as co-founders, the company went on to make the multiplayer VR stories Chorus and Lambchild Superstar, the augmented reality reading app Wonderscope for children, and then Supernatural, a VR fitness service for Meta Quest headsets. The same letter announced that the Within app would shut down in February 2023.[4] Meta announced its plan to buy Within in 2021; the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal, and Meta said on 8 February 2023 that the acquisition had closed.[5][30]

Supernatural at Meta and after

In October 2023 Meta's announcement of Quest headset bundles with a year of Supernatural quoted Koblin as "Head of Studio for Supernatural".[6] In January 2026 Meta said Supernatural would no longer receive new content or feature updates.[31] In June 2026 Meta handed the service back to an independent company, Supernatural Health, which says it is run by "the original founders and coaches, along with a small core team" and plans to relaunch the VR service in fall 2026. UploadVR reported that the company said the service was being rebuilt by Milk and Koblin with returning coaches and a small core team, and that Meta's existing version would remain available through 3 December 2026.[7][32] His personal website describes him as "Founder of Within, makers of Supernatural".[1]

Recognition

Year Recognition Notes
2010 Abramowitz Award, MIT Visiting artist; listed as technology lead, Google Creative Lab[17]
2011 Grammy nomination, Best Short Form Music Video Ain't No Grave / The Johnny Cash Project, 53rd Annual Grammy Awards[23]
2014 National Design Award for Interaction Design Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum[8]

Forbes included Koblin, then 29 and creative director of Google's Data Arts Team, in its 30 Under 30 list for art and design.[33] Cooper Hewitt's award citation states that his work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Centre Pompidou.[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Aaron Koblin. "Aaron Koblin". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Aaron Koblin. "Info". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/?p=138. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Paul James (2016-06-17). "'Vrse' Becomes 'Within' and Announces Over $12M in Funding". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/vrse-becomes-within-and-announces-over-12m-in-funding/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chris Milk, Aaron Koblin. "Within". Within. https://with.in/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Scott Stein (2023-02-08). "Meta Completes Acquisition of VR Fitness Company Within". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/meta-completes-acquisition-of-vr-fitness-company-within/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Supernatural Introduces Subscription Bundles with Meta Quest 2 + 3". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. 2023-10-24. https://www.meta.com/blog/supernatural-quest-3-bundle-promo-discount-vr-fitness/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Craig Storm (2026-06-03). "Supernatural To Return Under New Independent Company As Coaches Rejoin Platform". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/supernatural-to-return-under-new-independent-company-as-coaches-rejoin-platform/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 "2014 National Design Award Winners". Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. https://web.archive.org/web/20230930161033/https://www.cooperhewitt.org/national-design-awards/2014-national-design-award-winners/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Radiohead Partners With Google For Music Video Launch". TechCrunch. 2008-07-14. https://techcrunch.com/2008/07/14/radiohead-partners-with-google-for-music-video-launch/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Aaron Koblin". Gray Area Festival 2016. Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. https://2016.grayareafestival.io/?p=381. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Aaron Koblin. "Flight Patterns". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/work/flightpatterns/index.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Andrea Lipps (2015-08-05). "Flight Patterns". Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2015/08/05/flight-patterns/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  13. ↑ Aaron Koblin. "The Sheep Market". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/project/the-sheep-market/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Ryan Ernst (2015-09-15). "The Future of Virtual Reality - Now: Aaron Koblin of Vrse Talks Shop with Use All Five". Use All Five. https://www.useallfive.com/thoughts/the-future-of-virtual-reality-now-aaron-koblin-of-vrse-talks-shop-with-use-all-five. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Christie Nicholson (2008-07-15). "Radiohead launches new camera-less video". Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/news-blog/radiohead-launches-new-camera-less-2008-07-15/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  16. ↑ Aaron Koblin. "House of Cards". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/project/house-of-cards/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Visiting Artists Roster". MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology. https://arts.mit.edu/cast/visiting-artists-roster/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Jascha Hoffman (2012-06-06). "Q&A: The data visualizer". Nature, vol. 486, p. 33. https://doi.org/10.1038/486033a. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  19. ↑ Aaron Koblin (2011-03). "Visualizing ourselves ... with crowd-sourced data". TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/aaron_koblin_visualizing_ourselves_with_crowd_sourced_data. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  20. ↑ Aaron Koblin (2010-08-30). "Street View and The Wilderness Downtown". Google Lat Long. Google. https://maps.googleblog.com/2010/08/street-view-and-wilderness-downtown.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  21. ↑ Aaron Koblin. "The Wilderness Downtown". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/project/the-wilderness-downtown/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  22. ↑ Aaron Koblin. "Johnny Cash Project". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/project/johnny-cash-project/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Aaron Koblin". Grammy.com. Recording Academy. https://www.grammy.com/artists/aaron-koblin/9928. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  24. ↑ Aaron Koblin. "This Exquisite Forest". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/project/this-exquisite-forest/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  25. ↑ Aaron Koblin. "eCLOUD". aaronkoblin.com. https://www.aaronkoblin.com/project/ecloud/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Janko Roettgers (2016-06-16). "Virtual Reality Startup Vrse Rebrands As Within, Raises $12.56M from Fox, Legendary Pictures and Others". Variety. https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/vrse-within-series-a-chris-milk-1201796161/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Carolyn Giardina (2017-07-26). "Virtual and Augmented Reality Firm Within Raises $40M in Series B Funding". The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/virtual-augmented-reality-firm-raises-40m-series-b-funding-1024522/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Kent Bye (2017-02-14). "'Life of Us': An Embodied & Social Story of Human Evolution". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/life-of-us-an-embodied-social-story-of-human-evolution/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  29. ↑ "S2 EP 7: Aaron Koblin, Co-Founder and CTO, WITHIN". The Webby Awards. 2017-12-05. https://webbyawards.com/s2-ep-7-aaron-koblin-co-founder-and-cto-within. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  30. ↑ Scott Hayden (2023-02-27). "Meta Wins Bid to Acquire VR Fitness Studio Behind 'Supernatural' as FTC Abandons Suit". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/report-meta-wins-ftc-acquisition-within-vr-app/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  31. ↑ Ian Hamilton, David Heaney (2026-01-13). "Supernatural Will No Longer Get New Content Or Features". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/supernatural-coaches-face-same-fate-as-oculus-home-echo-arena/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  32. ↑ "FAQ". Supernatural. Supernatural Health. https://www.wearesupernatural.com/faq. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  33. ↑ "30 Under 30: Art & Design". Forbes. https://web.archive.org/web/20120103152520/http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkl45ffim/aaron-koblin-creative-director-data-arts-team-google-29/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
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