AFFR x Nieuwe Instituut: Realitiesⁿ

Realitiesⁿ was AFFR’s inaugural immersive media programme, marking a significant expansion of the festival’s scope. Bringing together projects across diverse media and formats, the exhibition explored how AR, VR and XR technologies transform how we conceptualise, narrate, and experience space. Immersive media continues a lineage of architectural tools of representation, from perspective drawings, axonometrics, and parametric volumes.

Realitiesⁿ presented immersive media not as a novelty, but as a natural evolution in the architect’s toolbox, a set of technologies that offer unprecedented modes of storytelling, embodiment, and empathy. The exhibition unfolded in two sections: Traces, which engages with real-world sites and histories through documentation and reconstruction, and Encounters, where speculative narratives invite reflection on memory, identity and belonging.

With the installations: Energeia (Ugo Arsac, 2022), Address Unknown: Fukushima Now (Arif Khan, 2024), Lagares do Alvará (Pedro Gil Farias & Hugo Pilate, 2024), 21-22 China & 21-22 USA (Thierry Loa, 2023), The Tent (Rory Mitchell, 2024), Now I Live Here (Hannah Kersten, 2024) and Capital City (Elian Somers, 2022)

Realitiesⁿ took place between 9 and 26 October at Nieuwe Instituut, the main location of AFFR 2025’s immersive media programme. The exhibition could be visited with an AFFR ticket during the festival, and afterwards as a regular visitor to Nieuwe Instituut.

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