Virtual reality, expanded cinema and multisensory installations are coming to Cardiff as Wales Millennium Centre stakes its claim as one of the UK’s leading homes for immersive storytelling. Antonia Levay tells us more.
Wales Millennium Centre has long been synonymous with major theatre productions, musical premieres and world-class live performance. Increasingly, however, Cardiff Bay’s cultural landmark is looking beyond the traditional stage, embracing emerging technologies, immersive artforms and new ways of telling stories.
As audiences seek experiences that blur the boundaries between art, technology and participation, WMC is positioning itself at the forefront of a rapidly evolving creative landscape. From virtual reality cinema and multisensory installations to plans for a dedicated immersive performance venue, the venue is investing heavily in what it believes will be the future of cultural storytelling.
That vision takes a major step forward this summer with the launch of a new immersive storytelling season, bringing internationally acclaimed experiences from across the globe to Cardiff. Launching this month and running until January, the season gathers together a collection of groundbreaking works spanning virtual reality, expanded cinema, digital art and large-scale sensory installations.
Created by artists and studios whose work has appeared at multiple prestigious events – including the Venice Biennale and its associated International Film Festival, plus NYC’s annual Tribeca Festival – the programme places Cardiff firmly within an international network exploring the next generation of storytelling.
The announcement arrives at a significant moment for Wales Millennium Centre. Last month, the organisation hosted the inaugural Annwn Prize – the world’s first major award dedicated entirely to immersive storytelling, created in partnership with Crossover Labs. Looking further ahead, plans have been approved for a purpose-built immersive performance space inside the WMC, which they’re hoping will open in 2029. The venue will be the first of its kind in the UK, with capacity for 500 seated or 750 standing audience members and designed specifically for experiential and immersive work.
For David Massey, Senior Producer of Creative Technology and Storytelling at Wales Millennium Centre, the new season reflects a growing commitment to making Wales a destination for immersive culture. “Immersive storytelling is one of the most exciting creative frontiers in the world right now,” he says. “These works explore how we connect to ourselves, to each other and to the natural world through stories designed to be experienced from the inside.”
The season opens with Evolver, an acclaimed work from UK studio Marshmallow Laser Feast. Running from Thurs 23 July until Sun 30 Aug, it’s equal parts meditation, scientific exploration and sensory artwork. We the audience are invited on an extraordinary journey through the human body – narrated by Cate Blanchett, no less.
Participants follow the path of oxygen through the body’s internal ecosystem before arriving at a single breathing cell. Along the way, the experience reveals the profound connection between human life and the natural world through the simple act of breathing.
The project combines cutting-edge immersive technology with music from an impressive roster of artists – including Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, Jon Hopkins, Meredith Monk, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Howard Skempton. Executive producers include filmmaker Terrence Malick and legendary producer Edward R. Pressman.
From Tue 27 Oct until Sun 10 Jan, audiences will have the chance to experience FRAMERATE: Pulse Of The Earth, by artist collective ScanLAB Projects and billed as an expanded cinema experience. The work uses thousands of time-lapse scans captured across British landscapes to create a hypnotic portrait of a planet in constant flux.
Displayed across multiple screens and accompanied by an immersive soundtrack, the installation reveals patterns of erosion, growth, extraction and transformation that often remain invisible to the naked eye. Rather than delivering a straightforward environmental message, ScanLAB encourages viewers to consider the rhythms of geological and ecological time, offering a contemplative perspective on humanity’s relationship with the natural world.
Alongside these large-scale installations, Wales Millennium Centre will also launch a new VR Cinema programme, coinciding with the return of Llais festival this autumn.
Among the highlights is the Just For You Trilogy, a collection of immersive films from Taiwanese theatre-maker Craig Quintero. Bringing together three works originally shown at the aforementioned Venice and Tribeca fests, the trilogy explores memory, mortality and longing through intimate virtual reality experiences which place audiences directly inside the narrative.
The Art Of Change – created by Italian VR artist Simone Fougnier, aka Funilab, and Dutch electronic music producer DROELOE – blends music, animation and storytelling into a visually striking exploration of memory and identity. Created entirely within VR using Quill software, it showcases how virtual reality is increasingly becoming an artistic medium in its own right.
Canadian XR artist Chélanie Beaudin-Quintin’s Bodies Of Water offers another perspective, immersing audiences beneath the surface to experience a dreamlike underwater dance performance inspired by the relationship between human bodies and water.
There is also a distinctly Welsh contribution in Haunts, a VR experience from Lucy Hammond and Tom Chetwode-Barton which had its first showing in this venue in March. Set in 2006 and featuring the voice of Callum Scott Howells, who you’ll likely know from It’s A Sin among other things, the piece follows teenager Morgan as he navigates questions of identity and belonging in Llanberis. Combining archive footage, landscape imagery and music from Welsh artists including Super Furry Animals, John Cale and High Contrast, Haunts explores the collision between analogue and digital worlds at the dawn of the social media age.
Taken together, the season signals Wales Millennium Centre’s determination to become a leading hub for immersive creativity, connecting Welsh audiences with internationally significant work while helping shape what cultural experiences might look like in the decades ahead.
Evolver, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Thurs 23 July-Sun 30 Aug (tickets: £10-£12.50. Info: here); FRAMERATE: Pulse Of The Earth, Tue 27 Oct-Sun 10 Jan (tickets: £5. Info: here)
words ANTONIA LEVAY
