This September, Agog joins the global immersive community in celebrating the 10th anniversary of Venice Immersive, one of the world’s leading showcases for immersive art and storytelling. Impact-driven immersive work is especially well represented this year. Three Agog-supported projects have been selected for the festival, including Solwata, which was co-produced by Agog alongside Human Rights Watch and NowHere Media, Out of the Ashes, and Empire at Sea.
Beyond the festival lineup, Agog is partnering with Venice Immersive to host a series of conversations, hands-on experiences, and community gatherings designed to strengthen connections across the immersive ecosystem.
Whether you’re attending Venice for a single day or the full week, we hope you’ll join us.
Agog Programming at Venice Immersive
The Smart Glasses Petting Zoo: Taming the Next Generation of Wearables
September 3–6
Daily | 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. CEST
Venice Immersive Island (Lazzaretto Vecchio), Entrance
Step into the future of spatial storytelling. Get hands-on with different models of smart glasses, chat with expert docents, and find inspiration for your next immersive project.
Untethered Imagination: A Participatory Design Lab for the Next Decade of Immersive Storytelling
September 5
10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CEST
Venice Immersive Island (Lazzaretto Vecchio), Spazio Incontri Immersivo
A participatory design lab for the next decade of immersive storytelling with Courtney Cogburn and Kamal Sinclair. Limited capacity.
Please note:
This is a participatory workshop, and we’ll be doing collaborative imagining and making together. We’ll be fully analog for this session. To get the most out of our limited time together, we ask that participants plan to join us for the full session, and commit to being fully present throughout. Phones and computers off, please!
The Venice Hive Mind: Open Conversations on Immersive Storytelling
September 5
Two sessions:
2–3 p.m. CEST
3:30–4:30 p.m. CEST
Venice Immersive Island (Lazzaretto Vecchio), Spazio Incontri Immersivo
Bring your questions, ideas, and challenges to The Venice Hive Mind, an informal peer-learning exchange tapping into the collective expertise of the immersive community.
Join small-group conversations on co-creation, choosing the right technology for your story, unlocking imagination, distribution, Gaussian splatting, and more. Sessions will be hosted by creators and leaders from across the field, including Myriam Achard, Erica Bower, Courtney Cogburn, Celine Daemen, Peter Flaherty, Chloe Lee, David Massey, Gayatri Parameswaran, Nonny de la Peña, David Rosenberg, Kamal Sinclair, Lafiya Watson, with additional participants to be announced.
Session 1: 2–3 p.m. RSVP →
Session 2: 3:30–4:30 p.m. RSVP →
Meet the Creators
September 5
5:30–7 p.m. CEST
Venice Immersive Island (Lazzaretto Vecchio), Meet the Creators Area
Open to all Venice Immersive attendees
Hear from the teams behind five projects featured at Venice Immersive, including Agog-supported works Solwata, Out of the Ashes, and Empire at Sea, alongside Spomyny, and Eyes of Shame (Gédos Akys).
La Laguna Parla
September 5
7–8 p.m. CEST
Venice Immersive Island (Lazzaretto Vecchio), Meet the Creators Area
Open to all Venice Immersive attendees
Experience a new collective performance from The Smartphone Orchestra in collaboration with the European Confluence of the Waterbodies.
Present/Future: A Reception Toasting the Next Decade of XR
September 5
8–9:30 p.m. CEST
Venice Immersive Island (Lazzaretto Vecchio), Meet the Creators Area
Open to all Venice Immersive attendees
Join creators, curators, technologists, and partners as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Venice Immersive and toast the next decade of immersive storytelling.
After the Festival
Venice Immersive x Agog House in VRChat
September 22
11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT
VRChat and streaming live on YouTube
Save the date for a special Agog House conversation with Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac, curators of Venice Immersive, as they reflect on the festival’s first decade, share behind-the-scenes insights, and discuss where immersive storytelling is headed next. After the conversation, join us for a World Hop with Venice Immersive Worlds Gallery Producer Mike Salmon.
Agog-Supported Projects at Venice Immersive
Solwata
Solwata is an immersive documentary created by NowHere Media and co-produced by Human Rights Watch and Agog that follows communities in Solomon Islands confronting rising seas and difficult decisions about relocation. Combining investigative journalism with immersive storytelling, the experience explores climate change through deeply personal stories of place, resilience, and community.
Out of the Ashes
Supported through Agog’s grantmaking program, Out of the Ashes is an immersive documentary that reconstructs neighborhoods lost in the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Using volumetric capture, photogrammetry, Gaussian splatting, and AI, the project creates a navigable record of homes, memories, and communities affected by climate disaster.
Empire at Sea
Supported through Agog’s grantmaking program, Empire at Sea is a solarpunk augmented reality drama imagining a community of climate researchers attempting to build a sustainable future aboard an offshore platform. The work explores climate adaptation through speculative storytelling and participatory worldbuilding.