2025 Kaohsiung XR Dreamland Exhibition

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Kaohsiung’s remarkable journey from a heavy-industry port city to Asia’s XR innovation hub is the core inspiration behind XR DREAMLAND. Since 2017, when the Kaohsiung Film Festival launched Taiwan’s first VR program, the city has embraced immersive storytelling with bold vision and passion. At the Pier-2 Art Center, it established the permanent VR FILM LAB, which has grown into one of the largest XR immersive platforms in Asia, shaping Kaohsiung’s cultural identity around creative technology.

Dimensions & Packaging

Within an approximately 1,000-square-meter space, the exhibition features 22 XR experience booths, ranging from 3 to 12 square meters. Each booth is independently designed by physically extending its specific virtual XR content into the real world. Unified under a central Future Retro theater framework, these varied spatial installations are cohesively presented as individual cinema halls.

Tags

XR, DREAMLAND, Film Festival, Kaohsiung, Pier 2 Art Zone, VR, MR, AR, fundesign

Production Technology

The design team employs immersive narrative to bring the Crossborder Reincarnation concept to life. Utilizing a Future Retro aesthetic, the spatial execution contrasts a nostalgic exterior—such as the vintage ticket booth—with avant-garde, high-tech exhibition interiors. By juxtaposing these distinct temporal elements, the architecture functions as a dimensional portal. This curated pacing guides visitors from reality into the XR realm, establishing design as a language of the future.

Design Challenge

The primary internal challenge was synthesizing diverse cultural perspectives into a unified Future Retro narrative. They addressed this through deep interviews, digital collaboration tools, and frequent meetings, ensuring local creative concepts were respected. Externally, technical hardware constraints were significant. They utilized 16-panel transparent LED arrays to create a ship bridge entrance. This achieved spatial permeability, allowing visitors to glimpse the XR realm while maintaining a high-tech aesthetic that balanced production limitations with immersive design.

Research

Our research profiled Pier2 visitors and XR enthusiasts to design a seamless transition between realities. They employed trend analysis, benchmarking Tesla’s unique coffee shop for its blend of futuristic aesthetics and functionality. By observing visitor flows and preferences, They identified that a future retro style effectively lowers technological barriers. Results proved this design language invites exploration, turning space into a communal interface. This directly contributed to record-breaking attendance, validating that intuitive design makes complex tech accessible.

Inspiration

Inspired by the concept of Future Vintage, the design reinterprets the romantic futurism of the 1950s to 1970s: streamlined curves, metallic gleam, and cosmic aspirations. From the glowing entrance to the dramatic ticket booth and screening area, nostalgia and avant-garde aesthetics intertwine. Grand light gates, retro sci-fi details, transparent LEDs, and mirrored acrylic create a theatrical atmosphere, while flowing pathways gradually blur the line between physical and virtual realms.

Project Duration

The Kaohsiung film festival xr dreamland exhibition was held at Warehouse P3 of the Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from October 10 to October 26, 2025.

Operation Flow

To maximize physical presence, the design focused on creating a visually striking entrance and ticket booth. This strategic architectural attraction served as a high-conversion funnel, guiding visitors from curiosity to entry. As the primary touchpoint, the Future Retro facade’s captivating aesthetic drove foot traffic and directly translated visitor engagement into a record-breaking box office performance of over one million dollars, surpassing all previous festival records.