History and Future of Immersive Experiences: Ground-breaking Innovations and Failures

We often think of immersive or location-based experiences as relatively new forms of public entertainment driven by technological innovation such as Augmented (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR). In fact, there is a rich history of purpose-designed, audio-visually immersive architectural settings, such as the Panorama, Mareorama and Cineorama, that were concurrently developed alongside the cinema and which were shown to the public in London and Paris in the 18th and 19th centuries. These entertainment venues tell us an extraordinary yet little-explored story about risk, failure and reward that comes with such ground-breaking innovation. Coming to this topic from a practice-based, architectural as well as media archaeological angle, Professor Richard Koeck, Full Professor and Chair in Architecture and the Visual Arts, will also provide a glimpse into what kind of ground-breaking location-based experiences we might expect to see in the near future.

The lecture will be followed by a live Q&A session with special guest panellists Gavin Strange, Creative Director, Aardman; Ngaio Harding-Hill, Head of Attractions & Live Experiences, Aardman; and Roz Coleman, Producer, Punchdrunk.

[IMAGE: Title: Salle des fêtes of the 1900 Paris World Fair

Source: Published in Neurdein frères and Maurice Baschet. Le panorama, Exposition universelle. Paris: Librairie d'Art Ludovic Baschet, 1900]

This lecture is the first in the University of Liverpool's 2021 Series of Public Lectures in the Arts on the theme of WORD - IMAGE - POWER.

Presented by the University of Liverpool School of the Arts

Research supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council