“A growing interest in telling big stories through a language that’s much closer to cinema than in the past” – Liz Rosenthal, Michel Reilhac (Venice Immersive 2025)

Nearly ten years after the first edition of the world’s largest international immersive event, Venice Immersive returns with a section that’s richer and broader than ever, both in content… and in space.

We spoke with Biennale consultants Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac to find out what to expect from this year’s edition of Venice Immersive and to take a closer look at a lineup that closely explores the relationship between cinema and immersive media, as well as between immersive experiences and new narrative and technological directions – a lineup that looks beyond safe perspectives to offer visitors something truly new.

Venice Immersive 2025: bigger, bolder, and more immersive than ever

MICHEL REILHAC – This edition of Venice Immersive has been an intense one to build. One of the main reasons is the clear trend we’re seeing in the projects submitted and then selected: they are incredibly space greedy.

There’s a definite move toward large-scale installations, but on a scale we’ve never seen before. And that raises a real challenge for us as a festival, especially as we’re presenting 69 projects this year.

LIZ ROSENTHAL – We’ve selected 30 projects in competition, 11 in our Best of Experiences section, 23 in Best of Worlds – the out of competition section, and 5 from the Biennale College Immersive.

It’s our largest edition ever, with a massive competition lineup that includes 20 works out of 30 directed by women – something we’re really proud of. We’re also representing 26 different countries.

Such a wide and varied selection has required a new vision for the Venice Immersive spaces, especially in regard to the larger  installations we are showcasing this year. 

M. R. – One of them is a collaboration with the Biennale Danza, the first ever. Wayne McGregor’s new piece for the Biennale Danza, On the Other Earth, will be featured in our Best Of Experiences section. It’s the only project that is not located on the immersive island: it will be presented at the Arsenale in Venice, so for the first time, we’ll have a large-scale installation there as part of Venice Immersive.

L. R. – What’s great about this choice is that it brings together visitors who are there to explore the Biennale Architettura and the Venice Immersive audiences. It’s a beautiful synergy that will bring new audiences to Venice Immersive and vice versa.

Another large installation we are hosting this year is Blanca Li’s L’Ombre, and for that we’re using an additional space on the island, which is managed by the Polo museale del Veneto.

So, we’re definitely changing things around quite a bit on Lazzaretto Vecchio. We’re repurposing the space where the conference room used to be to host more works there, and move the talks into an outside structure in the second garden where the Immersive Market one-to-one meetings previously took place. The Venice Immersive Market area is expanding as well. So it’s a major reshuffle. We simply needed a lot more space.

M. R. – Another important change this year is that we’re no longer organising the exhibition by sections, like having separate areas for the Competition or Best Of. Everything is going to be mixed. We couldn’t allocate fixed zones for each category, so even the Biennale College pieces and the Market will be integrated directly into the exhibition area. It’s all going to form one big mosaic of projects.

A growing trend: cinematic narratives in XR

M. R. – On the thematic side, we’ve noticed a clear trend across both the submissions and the final selection this year: a move toward more cinematographic storytelling.

There’s a growing interest in telling big stories or traditional ones through a language that’s much closer to cinema than in the past. Some bold experiments are emerging in this space, and we’re even seeing contributions from well-known names in the film industry, including Hollywood figures whose work will be shown in VR for the first time.

So on the one hand, there’s a stronger interest from the filmmaking community in XR, and on the other, a noticeable shift in narrative style. There’s an increasing desire to explore XR as a genuinely narrative-driven medium.

L. R. – And that’s something that’s reflected across our programming. We’re seeing this also with the new generation of headsets, starting with the Apple Vision Pro. While earlier devices were very focused on games and interactivity, there’s now a real push from their entertainment divisions to explore what immersive cinema could become.

For this reason, one of the big projects we’re showing is going to be presented on the new Google-Samsung Moohan headset. It’s the first time an immersive film will be showcased in a public setting on this new device. The project is Asteroid by Doug Liman and it’s a big genre piece, a space adventure which integrates Google’s Gemini voice AI.

The experience has some interactive elements, particularly through voice interaction. Technically, it’s an augmented 180-degree video app where you engage with one of the characters in the story, played by DK Metcalf the NFL (a/n National Football League) star who you help in their mission. 

Doug Liman, director of very well-known movies such as The Bourne Identity (2002), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and the recent Road House (2024), is directing the piece, and that’s already big news. But even more exciting is that this marks the launch of the project on the new Moohan headset. It’s a major statement that Google and Samsung have chosen to premiere it here, at Venice, at an A-list film festival, rather than at a tech developer event.

Building on what Michel said about cinematic themes and storytelling, we are also exhibiting some key cinematic projects that  have launched on Apple Vision Pro produced by their immersive video team.

One of them is Submerged, in our Best Of section, directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Edward Berger (director of the recent Conclave). The story is set in a submarine during the Second World War and for the shoot, they recreated a full-scale submarine and shot it in Malta.

Then there’s Ice Dive, directed by Charlotte Mikkelborg. Ice Dive is the third episode of the documentary series Adventure that follows athletes as they take on awe-inspiring challenges in spectacular locations. It was filmed in Iceland and follows freediver Ant Williams attempting the longest swim under ice ever recorded. The build-up, and the setting is just incredible.

Another standout piece that really pushes into cinematic territory is Singing Chen’s latest project, The Clouds are 2000 Meters High. It’s a remarkable piece where you follow the story of Guan after his wife’s tragic death, who receives her unfinished novel that intertwines with the story of the endangered snow leopard and an indigenous Taiwanese tribe’s sacred origin myth.

You’re taken on a surreal narrative journey through a spatial environment, free roaming, where you truly have the sensation of stepping into a cinematic story. She uses Gaussian splats in a way never previously seen in an extraordinary way to “film” live action and immerse the viewer in the scenes.

Another visually impressive cinematic project is Mulan 2125, a Chinese production by Zheng Wang, Mo Huang, Jianjun Guo and Yanfeng Wang, created for Apple Vision Pro. It’s a sci-fi action narrative where the level of CGI is exceptional, some of the best we have seen.

M. R. – Cinema coming big time into XR is a great trend because it helps us reach a broader audience by offering a more spectacular dimension but rooted in a more familiar aesthetic language. Bringing star names into the immersive field also means drawing more media attention to the work. So we see this as a very positive shift. And beyond the big names and production quality, the stories being told are genuinely exciting and relevant.

Embracing Complexity, Boldness, and Emotional Truth in XR

M. R. – There’s another welcome trend that we noticed this year, an evolution of what I’d call “less of the moral lowest common denominator” trend that has dominated XR until now.

We’ve seen so many works that sit firmly on the right side of the fence, always taking the morally correct position, whether it’s on climate change, political issues, or health. There’s been a lot of content focused on showing the right way to think and behave.

But very few projects have been provocative, daring, more complex or bold, as any form of contemporary artistic expression should be.

L. R. – And emotionally engaging, too. Works that truly speak to human emotion and the way we connect with one another.

M. R. – What we’re seeing now is creators stepping outside of the self-censorship and moral policing that’s often been imposed by major platforms. These platforms have long discouraged content that strays from a kind of sanitized, family-values framework.

That’s why we’ve ended up with so many projects that are “safe”, well-behaved, and centered on the same global issues we see on the news but always providing a simplified, black-and-white message. These works often lack the nuance and complexity that reflect real life. So we’re very happy to see more creators pushing beyond those moral constraints.

L. R. – For example, we have a project this year that we were so happy to include because it’s truly provocative, yet told with incredible sensitivity. It’s called Dark Rooms and it’s directed by Mads Damsbo, Anne Sofie Steen Sverdrup and Laurits Flensted Jensen.

Dark Rooms is an intimate experience designed for three viewers at a time. It’s a series of four chapters, each telling the story of individuals who are gender or sexually non-conforming. What’s remarkable is how aesthetically elevated the piece is – not voyeuristic at all. Provocative, certainly, but also poetic and imaginative. You’re gently brought into their world, their backgrounds, and their deeply personal stories, including the literal and symbolic “dark rooms” they inhabit, not filtered through a lens of acceptability or correctness.

Keeping the human complexity in the age of AI

M. R. – In the submissions we received, we noticed several works attempting to tell stories about human emotions and relationships – whether friendships, family ties, or romantic connections. But many of them did this by reducing those relationships to almost algorithmic models.

Those pieces often felt incredibly dry. They aimed to map out human emotions and connections as if they could be broken down into patterns or templates, ending up stripping the experiences of all their complexity.

It was concerning to see this trend, because in trying to fit emotion into rigid structures, these works ended up emptying them of their emotional truth. This tendency is something we believe we need to be very cautious about.

L. R. – To a certain extent, technology platforms, social media, and AI are commodifying us – grouping people into categories in ways that are often troubling. The biases baked into these platforms and AI models can be really problematic. That’s why works that use these technologies need to do so with care and intention.

Many of the projects we’ve seen both in our submissions and at other festivals have raised concerns in this regard. Some perpetuate the flaws of AI models without offering critical context, while others come across as superficial. They either replicate existing issues or fail to engage deeply with the technology they’re using.

Technical care is also essential: without it, the whole illusion can easily fall apart. That’s why we focused on works where the technology doesn’t get in the way, where AI is used subtly, even invisibly, to support the experience.

Discovering AI at Venice Immersive

L. R. – Staying on the thematics of AI, there’s a very simple but powerful piece called Empathy Creatures by Swiss director Mélodie Mousset. It’s about engaging with and feeding a little bird. On paper, it sounds incredibly simple, but it ended up being one of the projects Michel and I felt had the most seamless use of AI in terms of character interaction. 

There’s also The Great Orator by Daniel Ernst. It’s a project that’s been in development for a very long time, and we were thrilled to finally see the completed version. It’s a beautifully told piece, a commentary on synthetic society that’s both imaginative and unsettling.

M. R. – Daniel Ernst has done everything himself. It’s truly a one-man production. You’re immersed in a world that feels strange and unfamiliar. It begins in a cozy, old-fashioned apartment. But everywhere around you, you hear the voice of a woman, a sort of cheap healer inspired by Jomanda, a real figure from the Netherlands in the 1970s.

As the experience unfolds, you leave the apartment only to discover that it’s actually located inside a massive technological warehouse. And beyond that, you step into an enormous, endless parking lot, with millions of cars, but not a single person. Through loudspeakers across this vast space, the same voice continues to speak. It even recognizes you by name, and it’s absolutely eerie. The absence of people in a world so clearly shaped by them creates a sense of deep unease. And that voice repeating shallow, almost meaningless advice haunts the environment. You feel like the only living being in a world built for someone else, long gone.

L. R. – There’s a beautifully subtle animated piece from Korea called 8pm & the Cat by Minhyuk Che. It tells the moving story of an illustrator who, at 8:00pm, is waiting for his girlfriend, Nina, to come home, like she does every evening. But she’s not coming – she was killed in a real-life crowd crush tragedy that happened in 2022 in Seoul, Korea.

The piece is about grief, about that moment frozen in time when he remembers waiting for her. It’s a generative, delicate, and incredibly moving piece that adopts a very gentle, poetic use of AI in service of a deeply emotional story.

M. R. – At this Venice Immersive there’s also a new piece by Craig Quintero called Blur, one of the most exciting installations we have this year. It’s produced by the Phi Centre in Montreal and co-directed by Craig Quintero and Phoebe Greenberg, who is also the founder and main creative force behind the Phi Centre.

The piece begins with a question of identity: what happens to the self in the context of cloning? It is a large-scale installation for six simultaneous viewers, which takes you through physical environments and carries the same artistic signature as his previous pieces, but now on a much grander and more ambitious scale.

The language of dance and movement in immersive form

L. R. – Dance is actually a major theme in our selection this year. Several projects approach it in very different ways. Two in particular stand out for their large-scale format. 

After the major milestone represented by Le Bal de Paris, Blanca Li is back with L’Ombre, a project loosely inspired by a Hans Christian Andersen story. It’s a mixed reality piece, designed for 50 to 200 simultaneous viewers in headsets, combining mixed reality with live dancers performing on scaffoldings.

M. R. – It’s very consistent with Blanca Li’s work as a choreographer. She’s created a kind of collage of scenes that explore our relationship with shadows and what happens when a shadow wants to break free. It’s visually stunning, and they’ve done things with mixed reality we haven’t seen before, really pushing the limits of blending physical and virtual performance.

L. R. – Most immersive shows are designed for a one-to-one experience. The fact that this one was conceived for an audience of 200 is extraordinary. At Venice, we’ll show it to about 50 people at a time, but the full version is an impressive technical and creative achievement.

One of the key pieces in connection to this thematic is obviously the aforementioned On the Other Earth, directed and choreographed by Wayne McGregor, recognized as one of the leading international choreographers and director of the Venice Dance Biennale. It explores a completely new form and technology: a giant 360 very high res LED screen paired with a mixed reality headset. It’s an entire setup of its own. There are no live performers, but the experience is a full-scale dance performance using this new mixed reality format. 

M. R. – The technology behind it is brand new, developed by Hong Kong Baptist University and Hong Kong Ballet in collaboration with Wayne’s Studio. It’s never been seen before and this will be the first time it’s used in such a high 18K resolution. The headsets are proprietary and specifically made for the piece.

What’s extraordinary is how the dancers on the screen can appear to detach from the screen and enter the physical space with you. It’s a play between a fully surrounding screen environment and this advanced holographic technology, where virtual performers seem to move into your real space. Something completely unprecedented.

L. R. – There’s also Collective Body, another dance-related piece that explores movement and physical connection. It’s a multiplayer experience developed by Sarah Silverblatt-Buser, an American choreographer and dancer based in Paris. The project is designed for four people but can accommodate up to twelve. It was commissioned through the Lincoln Center and developed as part of their Collider program.

Handcrafted visions at Venice Immersive

L. R. – What’s been really wonderful this year is the number of projects we’ve selected that have a beautifully painterly or handmade feel to them. One that stands out is an exceptional project from Lithuania called Creation of the Worlds (Pasaulių Sutvėrimas).

This new piece is by the same team behind Trail of Angels – Kristina Buožytė and Vitalijus Zukas – and also draws inspiration from the same Lithuanian painter Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. It’s a spectacular journey that takes you on a cyclical fairytale journey from the cosmic and the macro to the intimate and micro. It’s one of the most meditative and visually stunning experiences we’ve seen. 

What Lithuania is doing in terms of immersivity is pretty interesting. They’re focusing on national artists in a very intentional way, and they’ve managed to galvanize a strong sense of cultural identity. 

M. R. – It’s a great example of soft power. They’re promoting the work of a painter that very few people outside Lithuania know, and reimagining it as a contemporary digital art piece. It’s a compelling way of turning cultural heritage into something vibrant and relevant for today.

L. R. – Staying in that painterly, handmade space, there’s a beautiful poetic experience called A Long Goodbye by Kate Voet and Victor Maes. It’s a delicate and moving story of Ida, a 72-year-old pianist living with dementia. Her husband is trying to help her recover memories of their life together. The whole piece is gently animated, with a deeply handcrafted feel. 

Another project in this vein is Danse, Danse, Danse – Matisse, directed by Agnès Molia and Gordon and produced by Lucid Realities. Danse, Danse, Danse – Matisse is centered on the painter Henri Matisse and has the look of a handmade collage, like an animated art book. Really evocative and intimate.

And then we have Rose Bond’s new piece, 1968, which follows the format of her earlier Earth to Come, presented at Venice Immersive in 2024. 1968 is a group experience, viewed in a headset under a sound dome, exploring the transformative power of  protest movements. With Bond’s signature hand-drawn animation style, the visuals blend seamlessly with Massimiliano Borghesi’s spatialisation of inti figgis-vizueta’s ‘Seven Sides of Fire’,  through visuals and sound.

Creative communities in VRChat: the selection of Best of Worlds 

M. R. – Our commitment to exploring creativity in VRChat grows every year. I don’t even know how many worlds we viewed this year – probably over a hundred – and we ended up selecting 23. Thanks to our producer Mike Salmon, who does incredible scouting work for us, we’ve been able to explore a huge variety of worlds, spanning completely different styles and genres.

The level of creativity, technical skill, and vision these creators have is honestly mind-blowing. Many of them build these environments almost entirely on their own, often in a very short amount of time.

That’s why we still feel it’s absolutely crucial to represent these works in our gallery Best of Worlds, which is where we consistently find some of the most original creative energy in the immersive medium overall.

L. R. – These 23 selected worlds truly represent the essence of social and multiplayer forms. These world builders understand what it means to create experiences meant to be shared, to be journeyed through with others.

The worlds in VRChat are built around real presence and play. There’s a kind of inventiveness in how these creators approach format. They’re not just making experiences, they’re inventing a new language.

This year, we also have two very substantial worlds connected to Sony Music. Two of them, FZMZ Point Zero by ReeeznD, created around the well-known virtual band FZMZ, and Yorutouge by mikkabouzu and Kikuo, a hit Vocaloid music producer, were officially commissioned by Sony Music Japan.

It’s actually fascinating to see how the big studios like Sony are taking VRChat, especially in Japan, where there’s a massive community of world builders. There are major music events happening in these spaces, and these two worlds are up there as two of the most awe-inspiring worlds we’ve ever shown.

Evolution of VRChat worlds and world-building

M. R. – More and more VRChat worlds are moving completely away from the early anime aesthetics and first-generation avatar culture. Now, we’re seeing incredibly sophisticated environments. Some are built around gameplay and interaction, while others are quiet, contemplative spaces where there’s nothing to do except be present and explore. 

Worlds like DrMorro’s or Fins’ are creating spaces on an entirely different level. For instance, DrMorro is presenting at Venice a world called Ritual, which is so vast, so mesmerizing, that we decided to break it into two separate world-hops just to explore it fully. These are massive, intricate worlds that deserve time and completely challenge the caricature of avatars or anime-style experiences.

L. R. – And it’s fascinating to see major companies like Sony Music investing in these kinds of complex worlds. These spaces are becoming new hubs for expanding fandoms.

At the same time, for independent world builders, this is really just the beginning of what we might call the “creator economy” for VR. It’s still in its early stages.

M. R. – To us, creators like DrMorro or Fins are true masters. Their imagination, their creative vision, and their technical skill in building these worlds are extraordinary. One day, they’ll be recognized as pioneers, just like Eisenstein, Murnau, Dreyer or Charlie Chaplin were for cinema. These are the people laying the foundations for the art of immersive worldbuilding.

What they’re doing now may still be confined to the VRChat community, but it deserves much wider recognition. Unless you’ve actually been inside VRChat and experienced these worlds, you’re missing out on an entire facet of contemporary creative culture.

That’s why, for us, it’s essential to show these worlds: they represent some of the most important artistic work happening in immersive media today.

L. R. – And in the realm of social VR, VRChat is really at the forefront. It’s the space where we feel virtual social art and entertainment are truly being invented.

The art of storytelling in immersive games

L. R. – We have some amazing narrative games in this year’s selection, all included in our Best Of section since their publishing paths differ from traditional XR works. 

One that Michel and I found incredibly polished is Ghost Town by Fireproof Games. You play Edith, a paranormal detective exploring a visually stunning world. The game dynamic is satisfying, engaging enough for gamers, but it doesn’t disrupt the narrative flow. The environments are just breathtaking; we haven’t seen anything like it before in a game.

Another standout is Wall Town Wonders by Cyborn, a mixed reality game where you build a miniature town directly on your wall. But it’s not just world-building. There’s a strong narrative, and the characters come alive as you build. You’re physically engaging with the space, picking up pieces, kneeling down, placing characters. It’s so much fun!

Then there’s One True Path by Innerspace VR, known for A Fisherman’s Tale. It’s a complex, mind-bending narrative where you switch between two worlds to solve the mystery of a murdered writer diving into the plot of his final book to uncover the truth.

Another great example is The Midnight Walk by MoonHood, a Swedish-Brazilian-Indian co-production in a surreal, Tim Burton-style world. All the characters are handcrafted out of clay, and the atmosphere is slightly eerie, almost horror-tinged. It’s incredibly artistic.

What’s challenging for game studios right now is the lack of funding. Meta used to play a big role in financing many of these projects, but that support has dropped off. That’s why we’re especially keen to showcase these games: they’re inventing the narrative language of immersive media so we really feel it’s essential to support them, to support XR games that are rich in storytelling, world-building, and visual imagination. The future is uncertain, especially for financing, but that makes it even more important to highlight them now.

Beyond the headset: connection and shared presence

L. R. – A lot of the projects we’re showing this year use headsets, or they blend headset-based experiences with real-life performance. That combination – VR with physical or theatrical elements – is becoming increasingly important.

M. R. – We’re also welcoming two works from Cannes Immersive: Lili by Navid Khonsari and Vassiliki Khonsari in our Best Of section and The Exploding Girl (Le fille qui explose VR) by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, in competition.

L. R. – For projects that don’t use a headset, Lili is a standout. It’s a collaboration between iNK Stories, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Alambic Production. It’s a brilliant reinterpretation of Macbeth, set in Iran. Lili is the Lady Macbeth figure, and her husband is a militia commander in the regime, whom she’s pushing to rise through the ranks. It’s a chilling, powerful story, which plays with the metaphor of surveillance both thematically and physically. 

The installation, as shown in Cannes, involves walking into a room where you’re being observed from the moment you enter. While the game plays out on a flatscreen, you’re also being tracked by cameras on mobile devices. There’s a whole layer of interaction tied to the idea of being watched, making the gameplay both immersive and deeply unsettling.

L. R. – We also have a beautiful project in our Best of Experiences out of competition section called Constantinopoliad by Nadah El Shazly and Sister Silvester, who previously co-created Shadowtime (Venice Immersive 2023) with Deniz Tortum. It’s a very immersive and experiential piece, a collective reading and audio experience. You engage with a sculptural handmade book, pulling it apart, revealing pop-ups and hidden compartments, as a story unfolds through narration and shared discovery.

It tells the story of the Greek poet Cavafy “Constantinopoliad, an epic”, the journal the teenage Cavafy began when he and his family fled Alexandria; by lost and missing archives through time;  and by the ghosts, both erotic and historical, that visit the older Cavafy in his poems. You share the book with others, helping one another as you listen to the voiceover. It’s a visceral and intimate experience, with subtle production design and lighting.

We’re also showing Ancestors by Steye Hallema, which we both felt was incredibly important to include. Michel and I first tried it at IDFA, and we found it deeply engaging and emotionally powerful. It’s playful and reflective at the same time. 

M. R. – The way it brings people together is almost magical. You’re suddenly paired with someone you don’t know and your phones tell you you’re making a baby together. That moment creates a spontaneous connection. It’s very touching on a human level.

L. R. – A lot of experiences try to push you into difficult personal conversations, but this one creates a safe space. It opens the door to conversations that might otherwise be difficult. You feel safe, and you can share as much as you want, depending entirely on who you meet. At one point, you’re taken back in time and asked about your ancestors – and I had a beautiful moment talking about my grandmother. I think many people had those kinds of emotional exchanges.

M. R. – Another beautiful out-of-headset piece is Heartbeat, a French project created by Fanny Fortage. In this experience, you sit across from someone in semi-darkness, wearing wristbands that measure your heartbeats.

Those heartbeats are visualized on a screen behind the person facing you, and they see theirs behind you. A third wall shows both heartbeats side by side. A voice guides you through the experience, asking you to focus on each other, breathe, and sync. You never speak. You don’t move. The idea is to try to harmonize your heartbeats over 10 minutes.

It’s incredibly simple but remarkably effective. It makes you empathize in a physical, organic way. Through your heart, literally.

Nurturing the Future of Immersive Storytelling: Biennale College Immersive and Venice Gap-Financing Market

M. R. – The Biennale College Cinema – Immersive is truly an experimental incubator. We take a lot of risks in selecting projects and it’s hard to predict how they’ll turn out. But that’s part of the point. The outcomes are incredibly diverse, and the projects often try things we haven’t seen before. It’s a space for real innovation.

L. R. – Alongside that, Michel and I also curate the projects for the Gap Financing Market. Unlike other markets that might showcase 40 or 50 projects, we focus on a smaller number – 14 high-quality, well-developed works that we believe have a real chance of being completed and reaching audiences.

We aim to represent the state of the art across immersive forms and formats, and we’re very intentional about who we invite to attend. With a limited number of guest invitations to the market, we prioritize stakeholders who can really support the projects – content divisions of headset manufacturers, public and private funders, co-producing partners, foundations, distributors and venues.

They get access to the full Venice Immersive experience, so it’s also a chance for them to discover the full scope of what we’re doing. The market and the selection really complement each other. It’s a key meeting point for the field.

M. R. – We don’t have a formal system for tracking projects after they’ve passed through our market, but we stay in touch with many of the artists and companies. Most of them remain active in the circuit and reach out to us with updates. And often, they’re hoping to premiere in Venice, so they make a point of keeping us informed.

L. R. – You can see that continuity in this year’s lineup. The Clouds are 2000 Meters High by Singing Chen was in our market two years ago. The Great Orator by Daniel Ernst was part of the market in 2019. Ancestors by Steye Hallema was selected just last year.

M. R. – Also Goliath: Playing with Reality by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla (Anagram Studio) actually started in the Biennale College Cinema – Immersive in 2019, and their latest work, Impulse: Playing with Reality, that last year won the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize, came through the Market. These programs are really about building relationships and helping works evolve across time.

Looking back on nearly a decade of programming

M. R. – I think it’s fair to say we’re proud. We’ve put together the largest event of its kind in the world, both in terms of the number of world and international premieres, and the scale of the facility. Compared to other major events, there’s nothing quite like it.

Year after year, we’ve maintained the promise we made from the beginning. We’re still the only ones offering 3 major official awards for immersive works on the same level as cinema. And we’re proud to have sustained that effort, always supported by a community that continues to grow and returns to Venice in greater numbers every year.

That commitment has now become a responsibility, too. The community looks to Venice as the place to discover what’s next in immersive storytelling.

L. R. – And what’s fascinating is watching the field evolve. We’re constantly working with forms that are changing. The teams and artists we work with… it’s incredible what they create and how they keep transforming!

Craig Quintero is a perfect example of someone who’s grown with the medium: from exceptionally inventive 360 pieces to creating a larger scale multiplayer experience with this edition’s Blur. We love seeing how artists evolve and how they use Venice as a platform. Many wait for Venice to exhibit their work here.

At the same time, we’re very aware of how fragile the ecosystem is. Each year, starting the selection process feels like starting from scratch and, thankfully, we have an amazing team at the Biennale. 

But there’s always a bit of anticipation in the beginning, because the environment is so volatile. Every year there is some new hype cycle professing that “XR is dead”. For example now it’s all about AI.

But then, every year, the field evolves. The works become more sophisticated, more mature in form, and increasingly able to reach wider audiences. It’s proof that immersive is not only alive, but thriving. For anyone who says it’s not working, I just say: come to Venice!

M. R. – And we have to say, we’re incredibly lucky to have the support of the Biennale. They trust us completely to do what we do, and they provide us with the technical support we need.

L. R. – There’s no other organization that would do this, especially for an exhibition that runs just ten days. The Biennale is the perfect host. It’s multidimensional, and that’s exactly what this format demands. It embraces all the art forms that immersivity touches.

Venezia82 will open on August 27, but accreditation for Venice Immersive is already available for one or more days at this link. The first slot of experiences can be booked starting Monday, August 21, for the first three days of programming. The following booking dates will be August 23, 25, and 29.