Tery Spataro & Cosmic Cats & Flying Cupcakes
Stories, Systems, and Speculative Futures
2025 Summary
2025 was a year of deep making—where speculative fiction, AI-driven cinema, music personas, poetry, and visual design intertwined. Some projects lived publicly on festival screens and museum walls; others unfolded quietly through paid, confidential collaborations. All of them shared a common inquiry: how do stories shape consciousness, and how does technology expand the way we tell them?
This report captures the worlds built, the collaborators embraced, and the momentum carrying forward.
I. Original IP & Author-Led Worlds
Laundrygate
Role: Author · World-builder
-
Laundrygate: Strange Stories About the Future (published 2020) – this is a collection of surreal short stories examining the unintended consequences of innovation on human imagination and society.
-
Laundrygate: the Verse (published 2025) – this “madcap adventure” follows the first book’s characters as they navigate a deeper shift in culture and reality, questioning what remains “real” in a world where life and destiny can be engineered.
In 2025, the Laundrygate universe expanded beyond the page—into visual storytelling, character explorations, and short-form media. The series continues to examine technological change through emotion, culture, humor, and imagination, laying the groundwork for its final book and the concluding chapter of Laundrygate Chronicles.
Strange Place
Role: Author · Visual storyteller
A contemplative visual book centered on liminality, cosmic wisdom, and inner landscapes. Strange Place remains a philosophical anchor—quietly informing the tone and emotional depth of the wider body of work.
II. Film, Animation & Generative Cinema
Confidential Paid Creative Project
Role: Creative collaborator
A long-form, paid, confidential project developed throughout 2025, intertwining:
-
Storytelling
-
Motion graphics
-
Music
-
Poetry
This work advanced sustained AI-driven cinematic workflows while honoring collaborator confidentiality. The project stands as a major technical and artistic milestone, demonstrating AI as a vehicle for layered, emotionally resonant storytelling.
The Bride
Role: Creator · Visual storyteller
-
Selected for 6 film festivals
-
A cross-disciplinary collaboration blending:
-
AI-generated cinematic imagery
-
Traditional poetry
-
Original music composition
-
Collaborators
-
Poetry by Greg Masters
-
Music and composition by Vito Ricci
the Bride explores myth, ritual, femininity, and transformation—positioning AI cinema as a meeting ground between traditional art forms and emerging technology. the Bride is distributed through Rad TV.
Beyond Darkness
-
Selected for 8 film festivals
An introspective film examining fear, emergence, and illumination, reinforcing narrative-first AI filmmaking. Beyond Darkness is distributed through Rad TV.
White Out
-
Selected for 1 film festival and 3 exhibitions
-
Fugitive Commons AI Animation and Video Art Contest six month exhibition through the Loop Art Critique at Lynn NFT Art Museum (BRIC Boca Raton)
- Included in the Boiling Point Pavilion as part of the Wrong Biennale.
-
Exhibition at Mesa Contemporary Art Museum
Weird
-
Fugitive Commons AI Animation and Video Art Contest six month exhibition through the Loop Art Critique at Lynn NFT Art Museum (BRIC Boca Raton)
A celebration of the strange—affirming experimental storytelling as a strength.
III. Short-Form Series & Absurdist Storytelling
Tales from Space
Role: Creator · Writer · Director
A dry, absurdist sci-fi animated series based on the Tales from Space graphic novel. In 2025, development focused on scripts, visual tests, and generative animation workflows—setting the stage for new episodes. Tales from Space is distributed through Rad TV:
IV. Creative Collaborations & Shared IP
Collaboration with JBR Visuals
Perfect Code
A music-driven AI short film blending rhythm, abstraction, and speculative identity.
Perfect was first screened at the AI Film 3 Festival in Phoenix, AZ at the AMC Theaters.
Lily Madison
A fully realized fictional pop artist developed as transmedia IP. Lily Madison is distributed through Rad TV.
My role included visual identity, persona development, AI-generated imagery, and narrative continuity—creating a scalable model for virtual musicians.
V. Design & Publishing
Book Cover Design
Role: Designer · Visual storyteller
-
Cover design for Jacqueline Strayer (BrandYOUtation)
-
Cover design for Kent Irwin (From Stuck to Strategic)
These projects bridged narrative clarity, author branding, and visual storytelling.
VI. Innovation & Applied Creative Strategy
Collaboration with ATOM Innovation
With: Yani and Jodi Deros | ATOM Innovation
Creative and strategic collaboration applying storytelling and speculative thinking to innovation research and emerging-technology challenges—demonstrating narrative as a tool for insight and alignment.
VII. Education, Community & Creative Leadership
Though the Link and Sapna Foundation
-
Circle of Creation – artist-led exploration and mentorship
-
EnterCircle – creativity, AI, and empowerment programming
Additional activities included panels, workshops, and conversations at NFT.NYC, AI Film3, JAX Fuse Film Festival, and AIArtToday daily X Spaces.
VIII. Creative Production & Thought Leadership Collaboration
Future Evolution of Consciousness With Tom Lombardo
In 2025, I collaborated with futurist and philosopher Tom Lombardo on the launch of his new educational series, Future Evolution of Consciousness—a deep exploration of human evolution, future intelligence, and expanded awareness.
-
Creative production for 10 webinar events
This collaboration bridged philosophy, education, and speculative art, reinforcing the role of visual storytelling in shaping how we understand humanity’s possible futures.
Closing Reflections · What’s Coming Next
In 2025, I participated in Creative Production Partnerships (CPP) with leading AI platforms—working at the intersection of experimentation, narrative design, and emerging creative tools. These partnerships included Luma AI Labs, Higgsfield and Invisible Studios.
These collaborations focused on testing, stretching, and demonstrating what generative video and animation can do when guided by story, intention, and craft.
2025 reaffirmed that stories are systems—and systems shape how we imagine the future.
Coming soon:
-
New episodes for Tales from Space
-
The beginning of the final Laundrygate book and the concluding chapter of Laundrygate Chronicles
-
New music videos and reveals of Lily Madison with JBR Visuals
-
Development of creative work for a film with a well-known director and filmmaker, alongside other stellar AI creators
-
Collaboration with an author and screenwriter
-
Official release of Quantum Time through Saatchi Art
-
More short films expanding the far-out and weird collection
- Cosmic Cats and Flying Cupcakes continued relationship with Rad TV for distribution.
The work continues—curious, collaborative, and always in motion. You can review 2024 creative report: Reflections on 2024.
You can support my work by following me on social media, supporting Cosmic Cats & Flying Cupcakes on Rad TV, buying my books through Amazon.