IMMENSIVA 2025 PROJECT PROPOSAL

Introduction and objectives

The IMMENSIVA Festival 2025, a digital culture event now in its sixth edition, titled XR SOCIAL BLOCKS (or Social Bricks XR), drives technological innovation, interdisciplinary creation, and, most importantly, social impact. After several past editions with a broad and experimental approach—exploring VR, AR, AI, performing arts, collaborations with research centers, etc.—this new edition takes a step further towards consolidating tangible results with scalability and long-term projection.

IMMENSIVA 2025 – XR SOCIAL BLOCKS will maintain the same format as previous editions, including:

• IMMENSIVA Artist Residency
• IMMENSIVA Day for professionals and institutions
• IMMENSIVA Expo

However, it will focus on more specific and evolved objectives:

Key goals of the project:

• Design prototypes that address inclusion, diversity, and environmental issues, integrating top-tier artistic and technological approaches.
• Train and empower artists, developers, and creators in AI and XR technologies to generate immersive narratives with a strong social emphasis.
• Build a legacy: Develop a modular ecosystem of immersive experiences (“XR Blocks”) that institutions (museums, universities, training centers) can license and adapt for their educational and cultural projects.
• Connect communities and institutions (educational and cultural) and enhance interdisciplinary collaboration, culminating in IMMENSIVA Day, a space for exhibition, demonstration, and networking with potential partners.

To achieve this, the adoption of an AI/XR Toolkit is proposed as the foundation for implementing XR Social Blocks, ensuring scalability and easy adaptation of prototypes to different contexts.

Justification and relevance

Today, extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies enable new forms of empathy and awareness regarding social issues (diversity, inclusion, climate crisis, etc.). While past IMMENSIVA editions focused on an experimental, multidisciplinary spectrum that merged art, technology, and creation, this edition aims to reinforce:

• The creation of high-quality technological and artistic prototypes with strong potential for scalability and distribution.
• A focus on high-impact social themes (inclusion, environment, diversity).
• The consolidation of results: The XR SOCIAL BLOCKS ecosystem will be easily transferable to other institutions (educational and cultural), ensuring long-term and broader impact.

Additionally, playful elements and dance are incorporated as key strengths that facilitate group cohesion and collective movement, promoting empathy and self-expression. These dynamics remain integrated within a broader and more strategic framework, focused on effectiveness and scalability.

For optimal impact, demonstrations should include a “playful” introduction that fosters empathy and self-expression, preparing participants to fully engage with the social messages in the second part.

General description of the proposal

3.1 Thematic Axis and Modular Blocks

The project is structured around the concept of immersive storytelling through “Blocks” (or Bricks). Each Block corresponds to a segment of the XR experience, which may include:

• Augmented or virtual reality scenes (visual and sound-based).
• AI-generated elements (music, animations, storytelling).
• Collective dynamics (movement, participatory choreography, symbolic gestures).
• Social focus (inclusion, gender equality, climate change, migration, etc.).

The immersive experience ecosystem will be developed in Unity, featuring built-in tools that facilitate integration and content editing, allowing teams to add or modify content without requiring advanced technical knowledge.

The AI/XR Toolkit will provide libraries and resources for modular content creation, simplifying the incorporation of AI and XR mechanics into each Block.

3.2 XR + AI Training and Creation

To ensure high-level productions, participants will receive a training program focused on:

• AI applied to creation: Visual environments, sound effects, AI-generated narratives.
• XR and Unity development: AR/VR, gesture control, modular timeline logic.
• Immersive and artistic storytelling: Storytelling, collective play, movement dynamics.
• Social orientation: Designing experiences that impact diversity and inclusion.

3.3 Prototypes and Legacy

The participating teams will co-create prototypes that will become part of the XR SOCIAL BLOCKS catalog. At the end of the program, these prototypes should:

• Demonstrate high artistic and technical quality.
• Deliver content focused on selected social areas (e.g., migration stories, inclusive dance dynamics, environmental awareness experiences, etc.).
• Be integrated into the final immersive experience ecosystem, ready for distribution and potential adoption by third parties.

The playful factor (movement, dance, collective choreography) will serve as an engagement and cohesion element, showcasing how XR fosters empathy, social interaction, and expression.

Project structure

The plan is organized into two overlapping phases:

1. Technological Development and Pre-production (March–September 2025)
   • Implementation of the XR SOCIAL BLOCKS immersive experience ecosystem in Unity.
   • AI integration for asset creation (visuals, sounds, narratives).
   • Validation of the modular architecture and preparation of the first Blocks templates.
2. IMMENSIVA Residency (June–October 2025)
   • Block 1: Introduction & Familiarization (Early June)
     • Introductory workshops (online/in-person) on XR, AI, and social storytelling.
     • Training in movement and collaborative dance dynamics as tools for group cohesion and empathy.
   • Block 2: Content Creation (July–September)
     • Multidisciplinary teams design and prototype their Blocks, merging social themes with AI, XR, and playful elements.
     • Weekly technical and artistic mentoring sessions.
   • Block 3: Production & Testing (September–October)
     • Final adjustments and testing of prototypes.
     • Preparation of demos and coordination for the public showcase.

As a conclusion, IMMENSIVA Day (mid/late November) will present the projects to institutions and stakeholders, showcasing the immersive experience ecosystem.

Social and inclusion component

Unlike previous multidisciplinary exploratory IMMENSIVA editions, this edition strengthens its social impact goals, achieving more tangible, scalable, and measurable prototypes:

• Inclusion and diversity: Narratives that represent diverse identities, cultural minorities, gender perspectives, and migration experiences.
• Environmental awareness: Immersive sequences depicting deforestation, polar ice melting, and emphasizing collective action urgency.
• Accessibility: Inclusive dynamics allowing the participation of people with different abilities and backgrounds.

The playful and dance elements serve as tools to enhance empathy and social expression.

Educational and scalable impact of XR SOCIAL BLOCKS

6.1 Modular Tool

The main outcome will be a modular immersive experience ecosystem, with AI-enhanced scalability:

• Personalization: Blocks can be arranged to create different narrative itineraries.
• Thematic focus: Each Block tackles a specific theme (environment, diversity, inclusive dance) combining images, sounds, and interactive mechanics.
• Easy editing: Institutions with basic Unity knowledge can adapt assets and narratives efficiently.
• AI/XR Toolkit: Provides libraries and templates, simplifying AI and XR integration.

Conclusion

The XR SOCIAL BLOCKS project within IMMENSIVA 2025 aims to:

• Consolidate a scalable AI and XR platform for social and artistic innovation.
• Train creators in hybrid skills (technical-artistic) and raise social awareness.
• Develop high-quality prototypes focused on inclusion and sustainability, leveraging collective movement (dance, play, interaction) to foster empathy and expression.
• Leave a lasting legacy by making Blocks available for licensing and adaptation by institutions (museums, schools, cultural spaces).

Thus, IMMENSIVA 2025 positions itself as a convergence space between art, technology, and social values, fostering real and sustainable impact in the artistic and cultural landscape.