DIVINE CYBORG: AN XR EXHIBITION
AN EXPANDED REALITY JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE OF KARLA KRACHT
CATEGORY
Immersive Experience
LOCATION
Espronceda — Creando el Metaverso Arts Residency, Barcelona
YEAR
2023
ROLE
Creative Director · Experience & XR Designer · Exhibition Designer · Storytelling Designer
About the project
INSIDE/OUT: Divine Cyborg was conceived as a story that visitors would live rather than simply observe.
Inspired by Karla Kracht's fictional world of Divine Cyborgs, the experience transformed visitors into Future Excavators investigating the disappearance of humanity centuries after the rise of a post-human civilisation.
Rather than entering an exhibition as spectators, visitors became protagonists within the story itself. Guided by an experienced cyborg excavator, they gradually uncovered the mythology, symbols, rituals, and technologies of the Divine Cyborg universe while progressing through a rite of passage that blurred the boundaries between observer and participant.
Every interaction, technology, and environment was designed to move the narrative forward.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN VISITORS BECOME PART OF A SCI-FI MYTHOLOGY?
Rather than presenting Karla Kracht's sculptures as isolated objects, Divine Cyborg invited visitors to enter the speculative civilisation from which they emerged.
The exhibition became an archaeological expedition where every interaction gradually revealed the beliefs, rituals, symbols, and histories of an imagined post-human world.
A RITUALISTIC SEQUENCE OF SPACES INSPIRED DIRECTLY BY THE ARTIST'S OWN MAP OF THE DIVINE CYBORG UNIVERSE
Developed in collaboration with Le Freak Shows and 3D artist Marc Sanchez during Espronceda's Creando el Metaverso residency, Divine Cyborg translated Karla Kracht's speculative universe into an immersive exhibition combining physical installation, augmented reality, virtual reality, photogrammetry, spatial audio, and interactive storytelling.
The project began with an extensive study of the artist's mythology. Karla's ceramics, drawings, symbols, and fictional histories were analysed to understand the internal logic of the Divine Cyborg universe before being translated into an experiential journey.
Envisioned as a large-scale physical exhibition with integrated XR technologies, the project was developed as a prototype demonstrating how audiences could inhabit the artist's world rather than simply observe it.
PARTICIPATION & EMBODIMENT
Rather than consuming the exhibition from the outside, visitors progressively became part of the Divine Cyborg civilisation.
Each room invited a different form of participation, transforming audiences from investigators into participants within the fictional world.
Immersive Narrative
Become the Future Excavator
Visitors assumed the role of an archaeologist from the 29th century tasked with uncovering the mystery behind humanity's extinction and the rise of the Divine Cyborgs.
The entire exhibition unfolded from this first-person perspective, giving every interaction a narrative purpose.
Augmented Reality
Decode the Mythology
Inside the Goddess Shrine, visitors used augmented reality to reveal hidden meanings embedded within Karla Kracht's drawings, uncovering the cultural, symbolic, and spiritual references informing the Divine Cyborg universe.
Virtual Reality
Join the Ritual
The experience culminated inside a virtual reality ceremonial space where visitors stood at the centre of a gathering of Divine Cyborgs.
Rather than watching the ritual unfold, they became part of it, completing their symbolic initiation before leaving the exhibition.
Expanded Reality
Investigate Artefacts
Using augmented reality, photogrammetry, spatial audio, and interactive storytelling, visitors decoded the histories of the Three Kings by examining their ceremonial artefacts.
Rather than reading labels, knowledge was discovered through investigation.
Augmented Reality
Become a Divine Cyborg
Augmented reality face filters gradually transformed visitors into one of Karla Kracht's cyborgs, reinforcing the feeling that the expedition was changing them as much as it was revealing the world around them.
EXPERIENCE OUTPUTS
Exhibition Masterplan
A complete spatial concept originally envisioned as a physical exhibition integrating immersive technologies throughout the visitor journey.
Virtual Reality Prototype
A metaverse demonstration translating the exhibition concept into an explorable virtual environment.
Audio Guide with a Personality
Information about the series was transformed into an audio guide with its own personality.
Artist Research
An extensive collaborative research process documenting Karla Kracht's mythology, symbolism, speculative narratives, and artistic philosophy to ensure the experience faithfully represented the Divine Cyborg universe.
Tested XR Assets
Augmented reality interactions, photogrammetry models, virtual environments, spatial audio, and interactive storytelling systems developed for the exhibition prototype.
BEHIND THE EXPERIENCE
Rather than adapting Karla Kracht's artworks into digital experiences, INSIDE/OUT: Divine Cyborg translated her fictional universe into an immersive narrative where visitors became protagonists within the story itself. Through exploration, role-play, and interaction, audiences gradually uncovered the mythology of the Divine Cyborg civilisation while becoming active participants in its rituals and beliefs.
The project emerged from an extensive collaborative research process exploring the artist's mythology, symbolism, visual language, creative process, and conceptual foundations. These insights became the blueprint for every spatial, narrative, and interactive decision, allowing the experience to faithfully reflect Karla Kracht's worldview rather than simply represent her artworks.