Live performances, panel discussions, film screenings, and question and answer sessions are just a few of the exciting events planned for New York City’s 2025 Tribeca Festival. An extensive portion of its offerings is committed to immersive experiences that highlight cutting-edge narrative methods that go beyond the realms of conventional cinema and television through the use of VR, AR, and AI.
Over the past decade, the festival has grown to include cutting-edge innovation that challenges traditional narrative art forms. Beautifully crafted settings transport viewers to imaginative realms like intricate biological landscapes or cosmic explosions through time-lapse films or computer-generated images in these immersive artworks.
This year’s virtual reality and augmented reality exhibit, with the subject “In Search of Us,” features eleven projects that tackle significant human issues. Some of the topics covered in these works include transphobia, gun violence, climate change, school shootings, and AI. To maximise audience engagement, the most impactful exhibits merge cutting-edge immersive technology with compelling emotional narratives.
Using mixed reality, the poignant installation “Fragile Home” by Ondřej Moravec and Victoria Lopukhina mimics the experience of a besieged Ukrainian family. Put on your VR goggles and step into a realistic recreation of your house, complete with a dining table, a comfy couch, and a slumbering cat.
A house in ruins, with graffiti representing Russian military domination on it, suddenly appears in the photograph. Destruction and normalcy stand in stark contrast, drawing attention to the tremendous harm that many have suffered and evoking a profound feeling of loss and violation. On the other hand, the remaining belongings stand for perseverance when challenged.
Another immersive experience where players assume the role of a dog exploring a perilous area is “Scent,” a first-person cinematic game by Alan Kwan. Even while it witnesses terrible assaults on humans and the environment, the dog aids the souls of the dead in finding rebirth. Playing the game can make you think about the relationship between environmental destruction and human misery.
Idris Brewster, Michele Stephenson, and Joe Brewster’s “There Goes Nikki” is an AR garden exploration experience. A virtual environment that combines literary art with interactive technology with the recitation of “Quilting the Black-eyed Pea (We are Going to Mars)” by the late poet Nikki Giovanni.
The experimental work “AI & Me: The Confessional and AI Ego” by Daniela Nedovescu and Octavian Mot reveals the evaluation abilities of AI. The technology uses a person’s facial expressions and body language to create personality assessments that may range from endearing to downright nasty. A digital gallery of preferred human profiles features the modified images of the AI’s selected humans, highlighting the complex and often sarcastic character of AI.
A few performances, some of which are entirely AI-generated, celebrate cultural expression. By combining spoken word, dance, and symbolic imagery, the virtual reality performance “Uncharted” by Kidus Hailesilassie honours the storytelling traditions and pan-African languages. In contrast, “New Maqam City” by MIPSTERZ puts users in the shoes of DJs, allowing them to craft immersive musical experiences by modifying rhythmic drum patterns common to Muslim communities worldwide.
Ryat Yezbick and Milo Talwani’s “The Innocence of Unknowing” is an AI-powered video essay that they developed in collaboration with the MIT Open Documentary Lab. It takes place in an online classroom setting and uses that setting to examine the media’s portrayal of mass shootings and the impact they have on viewers.
“In the Current of Being” by Cameron Kostopoulos is a really moving installation. Wearing virtual reality goggles and strapped onto a chair with electrodes connected to different regions of the body, participants engage in this haptic VR experience. The film is based on the true story of Carolyn Mercer, who suffered through the brutal electroshock conversion therapy she endured as a teenager in an effort to hide her transgender identity. By delivering physical electric shocks in tandem with visual signals, the experience generates real pain and suffering, which forces early session withdrawal and conveys an intense feeling of the severity of aversion treatment.
A two-part augmented reality project created by Lesiba Mabitsela, Meghna Singh, and Simon Wood titled “The Power Loom and The Founders Pillars” broadens the festival’s scope beyond the exhibition location at 161 Water Street. The slave trade took place on Wall Street in the 18th century, and this site-specific digital artwork at the New York Stock Exchange, located six blocks away, uses a smartphone app to bring attention to the plight of the people sold as slaves there.
Following the conclusion of the Tribeca Festival on June 15th, the public will continue to have access to the “In Search of Us” immersive event until June 29th. The cooperation between the Immersive Media Institute, Onassis ONX, and Agog highlights the increasing importance of immersive technologies in contemporary storytelling, showcasing their ability to tackle social issues and increase audience empathy.
