Staging
Realities



24.–
26.09.
UMAK · X-Reality-Lab

Die Zukunft ist immer jetzt — The future is always now

Festival for Immersive Arts &
Digital Narratives Programme How to get in
The festivalThe X-Reality-Lab opens its doors for the first explorations

A festival for
immersive arts and
new realities

From 24 to 26 September 2026 the X-Reality-Lab at the UMAK opens its doors for the first time, for an extraordinary festival in cooperation with Schmiede Hallein. Staging Realities is a platform for everyone interested in art and technology, in new forms of storytelling, in immersive and interactive experience, in research and experiment.

The festival understands itself as a multidimensional space for performances, exhibitions, workshops, symposia and shared exchange between the virtual and the real. There is not only room to experience things, but room for encounters and for thinking about what is possible and impossible, and not least about how we want to live in the future.

“If the future is something we constantly imagine, then it is decided in the now — through the way we act, reflect and take responsibility.” Claudia Lehmann — Institut für Open Arts, co-lead of the X-Reality-Lab

3
Days
22
Works, performances & formats
165 m²
X-Reality-Lab floor area
8
Countries represented
The spaceUMAK · Universität Mozarteum Salzburg

X‑Reality‑Lab

The heart of the festival: a research laboratory of a new kind, and the stage for everything that happens inside it.

Inside the hexagonal X-Reality-Lab: a checkerboard floor and colour test charts projected across the walls, with a windmill, a sculpture and an equipment cart in the room. Shared, in 360°
Shape & imageA hexagonal room, with five of six walls and the floor fully covered by state-of-the-art 3D projection
Dimensions165 m² floor area, 8 m room height
SoundAn elaborate loudspeaker system driving 3D spatial audio, hidden behind the projection surfaces
TrackingLiDAR lasers and OptiTrack motion capture follow people, objects and robots in real time
UseNarrative formats, performative settings, live concerts, experienced together rather than through a headset

Photo: Christian Schneider, May 2026

Significant parts of the lab’s equipment are funded by the FFG and co-financed by the European Union under the EFRE programme (efre.gv.at).

mozXR

Open-source framework for
Unreal Engine, Unity and TouchDesigner

mozXR is a modular open-source platform for collaborative XR productions, developed by Mozarteum University together with the Ars Electronica Futurelab. It wraps the core capabilities the lab depends on: multi-screen and cluster-synced nDisplay rendering, spatial tracking and spatial audio, together with deployment and debugging workflows — so artists can prepare, code and test their stagings for the room. All projects shown in the Lab were built using mozXR.

Artist in Residence

Built in the room,
for the room

Three residency projects, each developed inside the X-Reality-Lab itself.

Three visitors kneel among illuminated miniature buildings spread across the lab floor, around a red-lit console.
Artist in Residence · Premiere

The Model Nation

Studio Noclip · International

An interactive journey through an abandoned Chilean miniature theme park, rebuilt as a virtual nation that visitors re-curate together, and eventually break.

Coming soon
Image pending
Artist in Residence · XR Experience

Merging Visions

Merve Sahin · Austria

An examination of Salzburg, the Mönchsberg and the festival buildings that dig into the rock: the city and the mountain as one layered, living twin.

Coming soon
Visitors silhouetted in a vast hall filled with drifting coloured light particles from Nohlab’s Journey.
Artist in Residence · Award-winning

Journey

Nohlab · Turkey

Fascinating image worlds: four minutes inside the birth of a photon, from the moment light approaches the eye to the instant the brain makes it visible.

Coming soon
And 19 moreAcross the lab and the whole building

The full programme

Coming soon

In the X‑Reality‑Lab 8

  • The Model NationStudio Noclip · International
  • Merging VisionsMerve Sahin · AT
  • JourneyNohlab · TR
  • Choosing NewsIXA · DE / Futurelab · AT
  • Opening NightElementarstrategien & DJ T.K. · DE
  • KI EntschlüsselnPolycular · AT
  • Visual MusicBauer / Döttlinger · AT
  • Schmiede26 Hackathon ShowingsVarious artists

Outside the lab 14

  • Instructions for UseChris Salter & team · CH
  • Intermedia StatesChris Salter & team · CH
  • A Long GoodbyeVoet & Maes · BE
  • Less than 5Gr of SaffronMotevalymeidanshah · IR/FR
  • Music for SmartphonesThe Smartphone Orchestra · NL
  • AncestorsThe Smartphone Orchestra · NL
  • Science Fiction LaborGold Extra · AT
  • Festival CinemaThree feature films
  • PI14537Kürstner & Vogel & Sievers · DE
  • Liquid KnowledgeThomas Ballhausen & guests
  • Future TechnologiesSymposium
  • Creation and CollaborationSymposium
  • Meet the Artist sessionsDiscussion forum
  • RadIOA (Radio IOA)Karen Werner · Mobile radio
More works are coming soon on the programme page.
TicketsOn sale now

How to
get in

Most of the programme you can simply walk into, but a handful of works run for a few people at a time, and those are the ones to plan around. The room holds what it holds.

Walk in

The X-Reality-Lab runs on the room itself: full-surface projection, spatial audio, real-time tracking. The Model Nation, Journey, Merging Visions, Choosing News, the hackathon showings, the symposi, the festival cinema and the Opening Night need no headset and no booking: you are in the work with everyone else in the space.

Music for Smartphones needs nothing but a charged phone and a browser. No app.

Book a slot

  • Ancestors — 24–48 persons.
  • Instructions for Use — 4 people per 20-minute slot, in headsets.
  • Intermedia States — one person at a time, about 25 minutes.
  • VR works — A Long Goodbye and Less than 5Gr of Saffron, seated, in headsets.

Slots are booked on site.

DatesThursday 24 to Saturday 26 September 2026 · X-Reality-Lab, UMAK, Schwarzstraße 36, 5020 Salzburg
Price3-day pass €30
On saleNow

3-day pass €30 — one ticket for all three days.

Buy tickets
VisitGetting there

Salzburg,
UMAK

The venue

X-Reality-Lab
Universität Mozarteum Salzburg — UMAK
Schwarzstraße 36 · 5020 Salzburg · Austria

The lab sits in the new UMAK building on the Salzburger Kurgarten, a few minutes on foot from Mirabellplatz and the Altstadt.

Off-site on Friday evening: Schmiede Hallein, Pernerinsel, Hallein.

Explore

  • X-Reality-Lab — The Model Nation, Merging Visions and Journey, Choosing News, Visual Music, the hackathon showings and the Opening Night
  • Festival cinema — three feature films across the three days
  • Festival centre — Liquid Knowledge, the bar, and RadIOA (Radio IOA) broadcasting live
  • Seminar and rehearsal rooms — the VR works, the smartphone performances and the symposia

Access & care

  • Everything in the lab runs on the room itself, so no headset is needed for the 360° works
  • The mixed-reality works and the VR films use headsets in scheduled slots
  • Some pieces use strong light, sound and motion; flagged at the entrance to each space

Accessibility details for the UMAK building are still being confirmed.

Partners

Who makes
this possible

CooperationSchmiede Hallein — festival co-host and hackathon partner.
TechnologyArs Electronica Futurelab — joint development of mozXR, and co-developer of Choosing News with the Institut für Experimentelle Angelegenheiten.
Guest worksImmersive Arts Space, Zurich (ZHdK) — supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Atlas V / Unframed Collection — VR distribution.
SponsorsKEY-WI Music — sound and DJ equipment rental, Salzburg, since 1990. MAKAvA - organic, caffeinated mate tea-based iced tea produced in Austria · Fat Monk Deli Bowls - all about fresh bowls that make your body and mind happy. · my Indigo - Healthy and freshly prepared salads, bowls and hot pot.
FundingSignificant parts of the X-Reality-Lab’s equipment are funded by the FFG and co-financed by the European Union under the EFRE programme.
Good to know

FAQ

Where does it take place?+
At the Universität Mozarteum’s UMAK building on the Salzburger Kurgarten, Schwarzstraße 36, 5020 Salzburg.
Do I need a headset or any prior knowledge?+
No.
How do the slot-based works work?+
Most projects are walk-in. A few need a slot booked on site, because of limited numbers of people at a time.
Is the festival accessible?+
Some pieces use strong light, sound and motion; these are flagged at the entrance to each space. A full accessibility statement for the UMAK building will be published here.
Can I join the hackathon?+
The hackathon runs in cooperation with Schmiede Hallein and its results are presented as the Hackathon Showings in the X-Reality-Lab. For additional information, see the Schmiede Hallein website.
What is the artist-in-residence programme?+
Artists-in-residence develop work specifically for the X-Reality-Lab. In 2025, there was an open call for funded projects with the goal of exploring the possibilities of the X-Reality Lab.
What happens after the festival?+
From October 2026 the new international master’s programme Immersive Arts & Digital Narratives starts, making the X-Reality-Lab the central research and production environment for the next generation of artists working between art, technology and digital storytelling.
I’m press — who do I talk to?+
Sandra Steindl, PR & Marketing at the Universität Mozarteum — sandra.steindl@moz.ac.at.
With your wristbandFestival partners around the corner
my Indigo
Indigo Bowls

Show your XR festival wristband and get a homemade drink of your choice free with any order from €6.90: Sodasquash, Erdbeer-Rhabarber or Icetea.

Fat Monk Deli Bowls
Deli bowls

20% off your favourite bowl at Fat Monk for festival visitors.

MAKAvA delighted ice tea
Delighted ice tea

MAKAvA keeps the festival, and the lab, refreshed across all three days.