Immersive storytelling at Sonar 2023

The Neon Pack, an immersive experience by XR Stories Research Fellow, Dr Nick Bax, has been selected as part of the annual Sonar festival taking place in Barcelona from 15 – 17 June 2023. 

Now in its 30th year, Sonar brings together creatives from across performance, music, science and technology to share innovations and forge connections between audiences, genres and disciplines.

The Neon Pack will exhibit in the Realities+D project area alongside prototypes, experimental music technology and augmented and virtual reality tools and experiences from 14 other international artists and technologists. 

Developed as part of Protopian Tales, a project commissioned by Hope Works and funded by XR Stories, The Neon Pack is a 360 virtual reality experience set in a future where XR technology blends seamlessly into society.

The experience has recently evolved to include an Augmented Reality (AR) iteration that features as part of Look Up, Sheffield, an AR art trail occupying the rooftops of buildings around Sheffield City Centre. 

In addition to his research role, Nick is founder and Creative Director at Sheffield-based Human Studio. Nick and his team are currently exploring how to integrate The Neon Pack into live performance. 

Nick comments: “Reactions to the Neon Pack have been fantastic and I’m looking forward to presenting the experience to a new audience at Sonar. I’m fascinated by the multiple interpretations that seem to be provoked by The Neon Pack and how attendees’ comments might be used to inform future development of the experience, and of subsequent Protopian Tales.”

Published on 5 June 2023

Filed under: XR Stories