Barcelona Workshop Week 10-14.3.2025

Join us in Barcelona for an inspiring week of workshops exploring the intersection of art, storytelling, and technology. Learn how cutting-edge AI tools can empower artists to bring their visions to life more efficiently. Dive into the art of creating empathy-driven, immersive narratives through virtual reality, using innovative techniques to share personal stories in powerful ways. Expand your skills further with hands-on sessions in XR technologies, exploring spatial computing, the AR Cloud, and immersive gadgets while mastering the creation of virtual environments. This week offers a unique opportunity to combine creativity and technology, leaving you inspired and equipped to shape the future.

WHO AND HOW TO APPLY

PMP NAT members can apply to this Workshop Week by sending a Motivational Letter in English (max. 1800 characters) and an updated portfolio OR a Motivational Video (max 3 mins., link to YouTube/Vimeo video) by email to your local PMP Partner organization by 31 DECEMBER 2024.

NOTE! In your motivation letter, please specify your preference to participate in workshop 1 or workshop 2. Please note that these preferences will be considered in the process of group allocation. However, due to organizational requirements, it may not be possible to accommodate all preferences, and you may be assigned to a different group.

Important: In order to apply and be accepted for the Workshop Week, it is mandatory to also attend the ONLINE SEMINAR on 06.02.2025.

To participate in the Online Seminar register here until 5 February at 12.00 AM:  Registration to the Online Seminar.

Please ensure that your application includes your commitment to attend this seminar.

Venue

ESPRONCEDA Institute of Art & Culture

Carrer D’Espronceda 326 Nave 4,5 & 10
08027 Barcelona, Spain.
Metro: Navas or La Sagrera
Venue: https://www.espronceda.net/
Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/AHxisydp2GtF3af9A

TWO ALTERNATIVE WORKSHOPS

Discover the transformative power of storytelling and Extended Reality (XR) in two immersive workshops blending creativity and technology.

There will be two workshops that offer complementary/alternative approaches: one focusing on human connection through embodied narratives, the other on building advanced virtual environments. Together, they empower participants to harness XR’s full potential for creating meaningful, impactful experiences.

1. Embodied Narratives Production Workshop – BeAnotherLab guides participants in crafting deeply personal, empathy-driven stories using The Machine To Be Another. Through sensory immersion, teams create intimate portraits that invite audiences to step into their perspectives, bridging self-reflection and human connection.

2. Virtual Environments Workshop – introduces participants to XR technologies like spatial computing, AR Cloud, and immersive gadgets. Through hands-on experiments and collaborative sessions, attendees explore storytelling in virtual environments, digital twins, and interactive design, while mastering tools to create immersive worlds.

• To better manage the participants and offer tailor-made and interest-oriented training, the week-long workshops will be divided into two groups, each accomodating 15 participants. We ask you to indicate your preference in the motivational letter as part of your application. 

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Alternative 1
EMBODIED NARRATIVES PRODUCTION WORKSHOP IN VIRTUAL REALITY 

Explore the art of storytelling through sensory immersion and empathy in this workshop designed by BeAnotherLab, pioneers in creating embodied narratives through virtual reality. Inspired by The Library of Ourselves, this space aims not only to teach innovative immersive dramaturgy techniques but also to provide participants with an opportunity to reflect on their own stories and share them intimately and creatively with the world. Workshop is facilitated by Daniel Conzález Franco.

Workshop Description

During this five-day workshop, participants will work in teams of up to 15 people, divided into smaller groups of five, each guided by a BeAnotherLab expert. Each team will aim to create a unique narrative that allows others to “step into their shoes” and experience a deeply personal story from an immersive perspective.

Instead of crafting a single collective story, each group will design a narrative piece as a personal statement to the world: an intimate portrait inviting the audience to experience their identity, dreams, reflections, or experiences from their unique point of view. This approach bridges empathy and self-exploration, using The Machine To Be Another technology as a tool to amplify human connection.

Methodology

The workshop combines immersive technology with collaborative creation techniques:

• Immersive Introduction: Participants will begin by experiencing pre-developed narratives from The Library of Ourselves to familiarize themselves with the tools and sensitivities of embodied storytelling.
• Personal Reflection: Each participant will explore aspects of their life or identity they wish to share, discovering ways to transform these into sensory-rich virtual experiences.
• Collaborative Creation: Each group will develop a script and plan the staging of their narrative, integrating elements such as touch, sound, movement, and olfactory stimuli to enrich the immersive experience.
• Technical and Artistic Development: Participants will learn to work with virtual reality technology and design multisensory interactions.

Workshop Objectives

• Explore Empathy: Facilitate emotional connection through narratives that allow others to experience new perspectives.
• Develop Technical and Artistic Skills: Integrate visual, tactile, and spatial elements into virtual reality narratives.
• Encourage Self-Reflection: Enable participants to discover new ways of expressing their identity and personal vision.
• Promote Creative Exchange: Share the final work as open-source tools to inspire other artists and foster further development of these ideas.

Content

• Introduction to immersive dramaturgy based on The Machine To Be Another
• Writing scripts from a personal and creative perspective.
• Designing multisensory interactions to enrich the theatrical experience.
• Recording 360° narrative pieces for integration into virtual reality environments.
• Collaborative construction of immersive experiences in small teams.

Inspiration from The Library of Ourselves

The workshop draws directly from the experience of The Library of Ourselves, a project that uses virtual reality to tell personal stories, opening dialogues about identity, empathy, and human connection. Just as in BeAnotherLab’s archive of embodied narratives, this workshop aims to generate a living collection of stories reflecting the diversity of human experiences and serving as a bridge toward mutual understanding.

An Open Legacy

The narratives created will be conceived as shared (open-source) works to promote the participating artists. Participants will leave with a unique tool to showcase their most human and authentic sides, opening doors to new forms of communication and expression.

Program, alternative 1: Embodied narratives production

Monday 10.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Team introduction, workshop overview, and goals presentation.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Group dynamics: participant introductions and creation of working subgroups. Initial brainstorming on the creative direction of the narratives.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break
• 15.30 – 17.00: Lecture about AI Art Adventure by Daniel Sabio_The Glad Scientist. Attendees will go on a wild ride through the latest in artificial intelligence (AI) tools and how they can be used by artists. Expect a ton of references, examples, and interactivity to learn new ways that AI can help artists holistically share their visions with less resources at their disposal. Attendees should leave inspired, and with a list of tools they can immediately start using for their own art.

Tuesday 11.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Introduction to narrative and multisensory techniques using The Machine To Be Another. Review of examples from The Library of Ourselves.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Conceptualization and design of personal narratives. Drafting basic scripts and initial planning for recordings.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break
• 15.30 – 17.30: Recording session: participants work on initial recordings of their narratives. Files must be submitted by 17:30 to review, ensure quality and confirm that all takes are complete.

Wednesday 12.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Technical development: recording narratives with a focus on perspective and multisensory elements.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Continuation of recordings, incorporating feedback and refining performances.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break
• 15.30 – 17.30: Additional recording session. Files must be submitted by 17:30 for review and quality assurance.
• 18.00 – 19.00: Sound Art Performance and Lecture by Maribel Tafur. In collaboration with the Theatre in Palm European project.

Thursday 13.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Integration of sensory elements: fine-tuning and coordination of recorded materials.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Preliminary assembly of narratives: teamwork to consolidate visual, tactile, and auditory content.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break
• 15.30 – 17.30: Submission of final recordings with precise timing details for video editing. Participants should also bring one or two images with credits, names of “actors,” titles, and other supporting materials. Additionally, two audio files (e.g., narration or effects) and optional background music should be submitted for inclusion in the final experience.
• 17.30 -18.30: MOTHER performance. Produced by Perypezie Urbane.

Friday 14.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Final rehearsal of completed narratives. Final adjustments to ensure coherence between narrative and sensory elements.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Presentation of the participants’ created narratives. Space for feedback, final reflections, and closing remarks.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break and end of day
  

 

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Alternative 2
VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS WORKSHOP

This workshop is your gateway to the exciting world of XR (Extended Reality). Over five days, we’ll dive into cutting-edge topics like spatial computing, AR Cloud, and the metaverse while also exploring the history and future of immersive technologies.

We’ll start by tracing the evolution of the reality-virtuality continuum, defining head-mounted displays and immersive gadgets. You’ll experience hands-on activities like the Rubber Hand experiment, monoscopic and stereoscopic visualization, and uncover what makes storytelling in virtual environments so powerful. Together, we’ll discuss real-world applications, from digital twins to simulation design and various use cases for virtual reality, as well as different navigation and interaction techniques.

Whether you’re new to XR or already experimenting, this workshop will inspire and prepare you to build your own immersive worlds through collaborative working sessions after the main activities. Workshop is facilitated by Marc Galvez.

Workshop Objectives

• Understand the Foundations of XR Technologies: Explore the history and future of XR, including the reality-virtuality continuum, spatial computing, AR Cloud, and the metaverse.
• Master Immersive Tools and Techniques: Gain hands-on experience with head-mounted displays, immersive gadgets, and visualization techniques (monoscopic and stereoscopic) to deepen technical knowledge.
• Develop Critical Perspectives on XR Applications: Analyze real-world use cases for XR technologies, including digital twins, simulation design, and interaction techniques, while critically evaluating VR apps and games.
• Cultivate Embodiment and Narrative Skills: Investigate concepts like embodiment, presence, and plausibility through experiments like the Rubber Hand activity, and learn how to craft compelling storytelling and story-living experiences in virtual environments.
• Enhance Collaboration and Creation in XR: Collaboratively design immersive worlds, applying navigation, interaction, and simulation tools to create meaningful virtual experiences.
• Prepare and Present XR Projects: Synthesize learning into practical outputs by developing, testing, and presenting a final immersive project, gaining feedback from peers and facilitators.

 Program, alternative 2: Virtual environments

Monday 10.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: General Presentation. Introduce yourself, and presentation of the Workshop: Virtual Environments.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: History about reality-virtuality continuum. Creation of subgroups for group dynamics.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break
• 15.30 – 17.00: Lecture about AI Art Adventure by Daniel Sabio_The Glad Scientist. Attendees will go on a wild ride through the latest in artificial intelligence (AI) tools and how they can be used by artists. Expect a ton of references, examples, and interactivity to learn new ways that AI can help artists holistically share their visions with less resources at their disposal. Attendees should leave inspired, and with a list of tools they can immediately start using for their own art.

Tuesday 11.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Definition about Head Mounted Displays and examples. Spatial Computing & AR Cloud.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Immersive Gadgets for AR/VR. Use Cases for Virtual Reality / Mixed Reality and Digital Twins. Monoscopic and Stereoscopic theory.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break.
• 15.30 – 17.30: Homework: “Mono/Stereoscopic visualization”.

Wednesday 12.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Homework review from the previous day. Software Virtual Reality and examples about Immersive virtual environments. Install APK in HMD and VR/PC test session.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Embodiment, Presence & Plausibility. Activity: Rubber Hand experiment. Storytelling & Storyliving. Explanation Analysis VR.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break.
• 15.30 – 17.30: Group dynamic: “Analysis VR App/Game experience”

Thursday 13.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Homework review from the previous day. Extended Reality Interaction and examples. Virtual Reality Navigation and examples.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Definition of Simulation Sickness. VR Template explanation and inspiration. Communication masterclass.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break.
• 15.30 – 17.30: Homework: Conceptualization of a VR immersive experience using Miro board.
• 17.30 -18.30: MOTHER performance. Produced by Perypezie Urbane.

Friday 14.3.2025

• 10.00 – 11.30: Homework review from the previous day. Final adjustments of the concept. Pitch preparation.
• 11.30 – 12.00: Coffee Break
• 12.00 – 14.00: Showcase of the VR experience analysis and Pitch Presentation about the concepts in Miro.
• 14.00 – 15.30: Lunch Break and end of day

 

Experts and facilitators

MARC GALVEZ graduated in Video Game Design and Development from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (CITM), with extensive experience in virtual reality (VR) development and user experience (UX) design. Worked as a VR Developer and Project Manager at Espronceda Institute of Art and Culture, a UX Designer and UI Developer at Digital Twin Technology in Germany, and a VR/WebGL  Developer for children’s serious games in MRI environments for the Ready Teddy project in the U.S. Contributed to artistic VR projects, including Temples del Zenit by Enric Pladevall, and cutting-edge initiatives like immersive drone-based light painting with Ars Electronica’s Futurelab. Designed Beat the Impact, a VR music game for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and developed VR platforms such as Inmensiva and Mozilla Hubs Virtual Gallery. Passionate about merging technology, art, and innovation. Linkedin Website: https://optus23.github.io/

 

 

DANIEL GONZÁLEZ FRANCO (Spain/Colombia) is an Interdisciplinary researcher, artist, and entrepreneur. Special interest in social innovation, developing immersive experiences towards a more empathetic society. One of the founders of the collective BeAnotherLab, creators of “The Machine to Be Another” an Embodied Virtual Reality system that addresses the relationship between identity and empathy. Their work has been awarded with the European Social Innovation Competition award, Laval Virtual Awards (‘Learning and Humanities Award’),  2 times Ars Electronica (Honorary Mention), and N.I.C.E. awards (‘solving the world´s major challenges´) among others. Daniel received the prestigious Laval Virtual Award 2019 in the Art&VR Category, And the VR Grand Prize in Kaoshiung Film Festival in Taiwan with his VR/Dance hybrid piece; “Eve, Dance is an Unplaceable place” along with Margherita Bérgamo. Website:https://beanotherlab.org/

 

DANIEL SABIO is a Puerto Rican conceptual artist living and working in Barcelona. Their work focuses on audiovisual performance and installation arts and is driven by a deep interest in science and spiritualism balanced with an understanding of emotional and transformational responses (plus a dash of humor). The artist’s solo work and collaborations have been consistently welcomed at diverse festivals and events worldwide including Ars Electronica, Venice Biennale, ISEA, FILE, LEV, and DreamHack, among others. It has been awarded residencies for both art and music, and shown in galleries in Shanghai, Tokyo, New York, and Berlin. Commercially, they have worked with Grammy-award-winning musicians, Under Armour, and Super Nintendo World, among others. They are a professor at La Salle BCN, teaching AI animation and artistic system design in the Master’s of Digital Art and Creative Technology. Website: https://thegladscientist.info/4023/

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICES

BYOD – IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR PARTICIPANTS!

For the work you should bring with you tools that enable the work:

1. a) your own laptop, if you have one,
2. b) your preferred digital device for capturing things, moments and places (smartphone, tablet, digital photocamera, etc). You need to bring it with you during the week, so it should be light and easy to carry around.

BYOD = Bring Your Own Device.

Artistic work and copyrights

The ownership, copyright and Intellectual Property Right (IPR) of the artistic work created in PMP stays with the artists, with a right to publish this work as a part of PMP outcomes (e.g. Toolkit, webpage, social media accounts). Any creations will not be shared or published without permission from the artist. With all legal and contractual questions, including the ownership, copyright and Intellectual Property Right (IPR) issues, the project will follow firstly the laws of Europe and their country, secondly the Grant Agreement done with EACEA, and thirdly the Professional Media Presence Co-operation Agreement.

Photo consent

Please note, by attending the PMP Workshop week, you consent to participate in events that will be videoed and photographed for future educational use and public media dissemination by the PMP Project and project partners.