XR@ANIMATEKA

This VR competition invites audiences into six animated worlds where stories are not only watched but experienced. Using virtual reality, interaction, movement and sound, the selected works explore how people understand themselves, remember the past and connect with others.

In Cycle, bodies and images move through an endless space of repetition, inviting us to think about rhythm, time and the patterns that shape our lives. Lesbian Simulator places the audience inside the experience of a lesbian girl, opening a conversation about identity, love, visibility and discrimination. In Lúcido, dreams become a shared space where love, loss, escapism and chosen family meet.

The programme also explores transformation and alienation. Being Gregor, inspired by Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, allows visitors to experience Gregor Samsa’s changing body and growing isolation from within. Less Than 5gr of Saffron begins with the simple act of preparing a familiar dish, but taste and smell bring a painful memory of home and loss to the surface. Finally, in Sunset Motel, the audience arrives at a motel where the room is not yet ready. The lobby and pool become a space of waiting, observation and fleeting encounters. Through this quiet, liminal environment, the work invites reflection on transience, presence and the moments between arrival and departure.

The programme offers an opportunity to discuss animation beyond the traditional screen: how stories can be interactive, how virtual spaces influence emotions, and how technology can help us experience perspectives different from our own. Reflect on identity, empathy, memory, migration, family and the ways artists transform personal experiences into shared worlds.