Grand Theatre & WERC are joining forces to showcase northern digital art pioneers at Noorderzon Festival Of Performing Arts & Society. In our container, the future of art becomes tangible with screenings of new works and previous successes. Fascinating video installations, multi-disciplinary performances, and daring audio-visual experiments that could become leading in the theater in the near future, both offline and online.
Location: Kruissingel Container island at Noorderzon 14 AUG - 24 AUG
Tickets are only available during the festival on the day itself at the ticket sales point near the containers. Pin only! WERC_Residencies are supported by the Gemeente Groningen. Grand Theatre’s digital future vision is made possible in part by Fonds21.
An experimental VR experience created collaboratively with artificial intelligence. Participants enter an AI-generated world filled with broken and fragmented objects, resembling a demolished landscape.
The goal is simple: the VR participant has 15 minutes to find enough familiar-looking pieces (not completely AI generated objects) to assemble a stool on which they can rest. The experience mixes virtual reality gameplay and live spectatorship.
Ephemeral Echoes is an audio-visual live show, a collaboration between Vida Kashani, Amir Komelizadeh and Kamran Arashnia. The project emerges from our shared exploration of digital media, cinema, sound art and spatial design, creating a rich tapestry of sensory experiences that delve into renature of the human existence and identity.
Through the use of immersivity, Ephemeral Echoes embarks audience on a live audio-visual odyssey, unfolding in four distinct acts. Each act, resonating with fluidity, urgency, tranquility, and serene calm, invites audience to navigate the shifting landscapes of emotion led by productivity. This journey traverses the delicate boundaries between the ephemeral and the eternal, challenging audience to confront the impermanence of their perceptions in a world ever poised on the brink of transformation.
TESTBEELD is a testing ground for an experiment from the project UMBILD. Its aim is to give new expression to existing visual art through media installations. What shifts artistically in a representation, and what does that teach us about then and now? This work is an invitation to become part of the art history of the present.
TESTBEELD is a continuous standalone media installation in which the viewer themselves is placed ‘in the spotlight’. Do you give light or take light? And is that cheerful or sorrowful? Step into our field of Noorderzonnebloemen.
UMBILD is a project by developer Wieger Steenhuis and visual artist Jules van Hulst, under the wings of production house Vaktor and Museum De Fundatie. From February 2026, their artistic and technical research results will be exhibited at Museum De Fundatie in Zwolle.
What happens when art becomes autonomous, responsive, or shaped by algorithms? At Embed Talks, a new wave of digital artists explores the cutting edge where technology meets imagination.
What does the future of art look like in an increasingly digital world? At Embed Talks, you’ll get the chance to meet and engage with a new generation of digital creators. From artworks that respond to your movements to installations powered by algorithms – these artists are pushing the boundaries of technology and creativity.
Where do their ideas come from? What inspires them? And how do these interactive works actually function? At Embed Talks, we’ll explore these questions in conversation with the artists themselves – and you’ll have the chance to ask your own. The talks are held in English and are lead by Sarah van der Meere.
Embed is an initiative by WERC and Grand Theatre, providing a platform for emerging artists working in digital media. It’s a place to discover fresh perspectives, innovative forms, and the future of art like you’ve never seen it before.
Curious? Visit the Embed container on site. Be surprised, inspired, and don’t hesitate to ask the artists your questions.
16 August 15:00 NOVA - Noorderplantsoen
Tickets: https://www.noorderzon.nl/en/programme/embed-talks
