Immersive Assembly is an international, multidisciplinary, digital residency that is focused on new work, new innovations and new paths to sustainability for the media arts sector. The residency brings together a cohort of international artists, technologists and cultural influencers to learn, share, network and play.

Immersive Assembly Vol.1: Ritual & Connection ran from October to December 2021 and supported 9 emerging practitioners from Argentina, China, Ghana, Mexico, United Kingdom and Zimbabwe in developing new ideas for immersive experiences that invite us to collectively share in rituals and connections. The programme also included a series of sessions hosted by leading UK digital artists in Mediale’s community, including art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast, artist and film-maker Kit Monkman, and Alexa Pollmann, director of performance design collective Peut-Porter. This volume of Immersive Assembly was supported by British Council, Art Council England and Goldsmiths, University of London. 

You can learn more about Immersive Assembly Vol.1 and the cohort’s final project proposals below. 

Unlike the first volume, Immersive Assembly Vol.2: ‘Bodies & Geometry’ is a hybrid residency, beginning and ending in site-specific activity in York and Viborg with a series of online talks, sessions and workshops in between. This volume began in April 2022 inviting artists to consider how emergent technologies inform the relationship between bodies and geometry across ‘real’ and virtual contexts. The programme then supported the artists in collaborating and creating a prototype project, to showcase at Viborg Animation Festival in September 2022. Immersive Assembly Vol.2 is a pilot programme for the developing cultural partnership between York and our fellow UNESCO City of Media Arts, Viborg and is supported by Arts Council England and the Danish Embassy in London.

You can learn more about Immersive Assembly Vol.2 below.