Welcome to the 5th XRMust Awards! 2024 has not been an easy year for XR, with a general context that is not very conducive to the development of innovation in culture. However, there have never been so many opportunities for immersive creation. While online activity outside video games has been limited to a few major titles, it’s what’s happening in LBVR that remains interesting. Exhibitions in museums and the development of location-based projects are attracting huge crowds.
It was a less surprising year in terms of festivals and events, where while the general quality of the experiences was still high, there were few real surprises or risk-taking. So it’s not surprising that the winners of the XRMust Awards reflect the activity of the biggest events (Venice and SXSW in particular). The hybridity of formats and the desire to move towards more installations means that access to the works is certainly more complex, but it also enriches the creation of many innovative ideas. What will happen in 2025?
Some notes on the process of this vote:
- It is a public, online vote: this raises questions every year. How to see the works? How to vote without seeing ALL the works? This is a legitimate but insoluble problem. We simply look back on the past 12 months, calling on the XR community (very active online) to reward the experiments that stood out. It’s not only a quality vote, but also a joyful call for participation – even if we notice that the winners are always projects that have been widely noticed at festivals for their quality 😉
- We choose to mix all types of experiences (360, 6DOF, interactive, online, …) to reward the best of them. It is assumed, in the idea that the XR is a melting pot of common creation whose forms are multiple. The categories have been revised this year to better reflect this idea of hybrid creation. This puts all the works on the same level, and should encourage the idea that, whatever the format, what’s important is the artistry: the design, the story, etc.
- The number of online voters this year, with our new system is 237. The winners are therefore not simply chosen, but on the contrary benefit from a sufficient number of votes to be legitimate.
- This is also the occasion to wish you a nice year 2025. We’re currently working on a new platform which should be ready by the end of the year, and should offer more information and details on immersive creation in general. Stay tuned! If you want to contact us to update your information on the site, it’s always here: yo@xrmust.com
Thanks to our jury (still very international!): Justin Baillargeon, Ph.D. (Professor, Podcaster, Canada), Kees Driessen (journalist, Netherlands), Laetitia Bochud (Advisor, Facilitator, Curator, Switzerland), Ondřej Moravec (Director, Curator, Czech Republic), Lazaros Boudakidis (Curator, Greece) Antony Vitillo (AR/VR Developer, Entrepreneur, Consultant, blogger, skarredghost.com, Italy) AND Agnese Pietrobon (Italy) + Mathieu Gayet (France) for XRMust. 😘
And if you’re looking for more insights on 2024’s immersive activity, you can always check on Lance Weiler’s list of 50+ Immersive Things that mix storytelling, performance, play, design & code. Or follow Ana Brzezińska on Substack for inspiration.
Previous results
XRMust Awards 2024 – FINAL RESULTS
BEST NON-FICTION WORK
- All I Know About Teacher Li (Zhuzmo – USA) (Listen to the Voices of VR Episode)
- Soul Paint (Sarah Ticho, Niki Smit – UK, The Netherlands) (Listen to the Voices of VR Episode)
- The Guardians of Jade Mountain (Hayoun Kwon – France, Taiwan) (Listen to the Voices of VR Episode)
BEST SOUND DESIGN
- The Art of Change (Simone Fougnier, Vincent Rooijers – Italy, The Netherlands, USA)
- Uncanny Alley: A New Day (Stephen Butchko, Rick Treweek – USA, South Africa) (See our interviews Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3)
- A Simple Silence (Craig Quintero – Taiwan)
BEST INTERACTIVE / PERFORMANCE
- Uncanny Alley: A New Day (Stephen Butchko, Rick Treweek – USA, South Africa)
- Free UR Head (Tung-Yen Chou, Taiwan) (See our interview)
- Oto’s Planet (Gwenael François – Luxembourg, Canada, France)
BEST SPATIAL DESIGN / CREATIVE WORK
- The Art of Change (Simone Fougnier, Vincent Rooijers – Italy, The Netherlands, USA)
- Champ de Bataille (Battlefield) (François Vautier – France, Luxembourg, Belgium) (See the behind-the-scene at Unframed)
- Oto’s Planet (Gwenael François – Luxembourg, Canada, France)
BEST SPATIAL DESIGN / CREATIVE WORK
- Oto’s Planet (Gwenael François – Luxembourg, Canada, France) (See our interview)
- The Tent (Rory Mitchell – USA) (Listen to the Voices of VR Episode)
- Human Violins (Ioana Mischie – Romania, France) (See our interview)
BEST 2024 EXPERIENCE
- The Art of Change (Simone Fougnier, Vincent Rooijers – Italy, The Netherlands, USA) (Listen to the Voices of VR episode)
- Soul Paint (Sarah Ticho, Niki Smit – UK, The Netherlands)
- Free UR Head (Tung-Yen Chou, Taiwan)
