iMAL is launching Realities In Transition together with lead-partner Biennale Chroniques and in collaboration with LEV Gijon/Matadero, Kontejner, Ars Electronica, Dark Euphoria & V2.

Realities In Transition will focus on building a strong independent European XR creative and activist community, a think tank and practice sharing net, all within the context of the ever changing digital challenges in our society.

Realities in Transition is calling for creative XR projects that reimagine and expand the notions of XR while following a critical, reflective line of thought and promoting a common, open, sustainable XR at a European level. Seven projects will be invited to take part in a residency program at V2_ Lab in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

How we experience digital content is changing rapidly with the emergence of extended reality, or XR. XR brings together virtual, augmented and mixed reality to create a blended reality in which data seamlessly mingles with the physical environment. The impact of this new integrated world is becoming evident across society in domains such as education, health care, industry and culture. Inevitably, the opportunities XR presents also introduce critical issues relating to sustainability, ethics, data privacy, and unequal access to technology, to name a few examples.

XR tools offer creatives and artists compelling possibilities for building upon and challenging existing modes of content creation and storytelling while helping to develop original methodologies for producing new artistic media.

We consider art and design to be the appropriate experimental context for reflecting on the challenges and opportunities of XR. Art and design provide the imaginative scope to assess the impact of technological developments in a social context and investigate radical alternatives.