LAHORE: The provincial metropolis is set to experience an exciting intersection of traditional art and emerging technology as VXR Festival brings celebrated paintings, classical storytelling and hand-drawn illustrations into virtual and augmented reality from Nov 8 to 11.
Offering free public access, the festival will allow visitors to step inside artworks, explore fantastical worlds and discover new ways of engaging with cultural heritage.
Organised with the support of the Embassy of France in Pakistan, Alliance Française de Lahore, the Institut français, the Embassy of Spain in Pakistan and AECID, and in collaboration with Unesco, VXR Festival will take place at four venues across Lahore: Alliance Française de Lahore, the National College of Arts (NCA), R Space and Beaconhouse National University (BNU).
A major highlight of the festival is the Claude Monet VR experience, being presented in Pakistan for the first time through the Institut français collection. It transports visitors from the celebrated artist’s garden at Giverny into his iconic Water Lilies at the Musée de l’Orangerie, offering an opportunity to experience one of the world’s most celebrated painting series from within an immersive virtual envi-ronment.
The festival also features contemporary artists reinterpreting cultural heritage and traditional artistic practices through immersive technologies. Sana Akram’s Sun transforms the Urdu Tilismi Dastan tradition into an enchanted canyon that visitors can explore while listening to its narrative. AB Rehman’s Al Buraq 2.0 brings a figure rooted in cultural memory and mythology into a futuristic science-fiction setting.
Further expanding the boundaries of digital storytelling, Jérémy Griffaud’s Under the Sky animates nearly 300 watercolour paintings created in Borneo, while Fageha Nadeem’s Every Day uses augmented reality to bring the pages of a hand-drawn sketchbook to life.
Together, these works demonstrate how immersive technologies can open new possibilities for experiencing traditional art forms, connecting classical painting, folklore, illustration and contemporary digital expression.
‘Immersive technology does not have to replace tradition. In the hands of these artists, it becomes a way of carrying inherited forms forward on their own terms, whether a French painting series or an Urdu tale of enchantment,’ said Dr Najamul Assar, the festival director.
Following its Lahore programme, VXR Festival will continue in Islamabad from Nov 13 to 15.