The 5th edition of San Francisco's premier annual festival advancing culture and common good through the lens of art and technology.
Powered by our Experiential Space Research Lab, the Gray Area Festival 2019 plots the future of world building through AR, VR, XR, installation, and immersion with four days of art, technology, music, and culture.
The Gray Area Festival redefines the conversation around experience design with the United States debut of two international, sensory enveloping art experiences: the immersive exhibition ISM Hexadome & robotic exoskeleton performance Inferno.
International thought leaders in immersive design, experiential technology, spatial computing, and culture converge in San Francisco for two full days of discussion around the history, impact, and trends in the growing fields of analog and digital world building.
Conference Speakers
On Friday and Saturday, we welcome the public to two full days of talks and panels from leading international thinkers and practitioners, for discussions uncovering art and technology’s impact on culture.
United States Premiere of Inferno Performances
Gray Area Festival 2019 debuted the US premiere of interactive robotic performance Inferno by artists Louis-Philippe Demers and Bill Vorn.
The immersive performance features 12 machine-powered exoskeletons installed on the bodies of participating audience members. The computer-activated robotic exoskeletons mobilized audience members into performers, giving a radical instance of immersive and participatory experiences. Shifting the command from artist to computer and role of audience to performer, Inferno questions the nature of control and agency in the landscape of technology and performance today.
North American Premiere of ISM Hexadome
The Gray Area Festival Exhibition presented the North American Premiere of the ISM Hexadome in partnership with the Institute for Sound & Music and the Goethe Institute.
The ISM Hexadome Exhibition is a 360° audiovisual experience featuring the US debut of nine immersive installations by the following exhibiting artists:
Ben Frost & MFO
CAO & Michael Tan
Frank Bretschneider & Pierce Warnecke
Holly Herndon & Mathew Dryhurst
Lara Sarkissian & Jemma Woolmore
Peter Van Hoesen & Heleen Blanken
René Löwe & Pfadfinderei
Suzanne Ciani & AudeRrose
Thom Yorke & Tarik Barri
Gray Area Festival 2019 debuted the world premiere of Suzanne Ciani’s Under the Electric Sea, in a live concert performance together with French visual artist AudeRrose.
Workshop Instructors
On Sunday, we held a series of Creative Code workshops taught by talented instructors, recognized for actively shaping their fields and practices.
Special Thanks to our Partners
Lead Sponsor
Showcase Level
Network Level
Community Level
ISM Hexadome Partners
