Realitiesⁿ - Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam

Realitiesⁿ is AFFR’s inaugural immersive media programme, marking a significant expansion of the festival’s scope. Bringing together projects across diverse media and formats, the exhibition explores how AR, VR and XR technologies transform how we conceptualise, narrate, and experience space. Immersive media continues a lineage of architectural tools of representation, from perspective drawings, axonometrics, and parametric volumes. Realitiesⁿ presents immersive media not as a novelty, but as a natural evolution in the architect’s toolbox, a set of technologies that offer unprecedented modes of storytelling, embodiment, and empathy. The exhibition unfolds in two sections: Traces, which engages with real-world sites and histories through documentation and reconstruction, and Encounters, where speculative narratives invite reflection on memory, identity and belonging. Installations Energeia (Ugo Arsac, 2022), Address Unknown: Fukushima Now (Arif Khan, 2024), Lagares do Alvará (Pedro Gil Farias & Hugo Pilate, 2024), 21-22 China & 21-22 USA (Thierry Loa, 2023), The Tent (Rory Mitchell, 2024), Now I Live Here (Hannah Kersten, 2024) and Capital City (Elian Somers, 2022). Credits: Festival director: Herman van Dongen Head of Programming: Cristina Ampatzidou Exhibition design: Yannick Verweij Concept & graphic design: Studio Beige Exhibition Technical Support: Indyvideo, Upscale XR, Nieuwe Instituut Exhibition Installation: Bouwko Landstra Immersive Media Project Management: Giulia Di Pietro Photography: Sander van Wettum