Oxford University will be transforming a disused venue in the city centre into a free pop-up immersive experience this month. 

TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities) at the University of Oxford is bringing an Extended Reality (XR) experience to Oxford.

From November 11 to 24, Fantasy Futures: Guardians of Oxford, will showcase the latest innovations in motion tracking technologies, provided by Vicon Motion Systems, and take visitors on a narrative journey through an alternative Oxford.

Visitors will interact with a multisensory, gamified environment, guided by computer-generated gargoyle characters as they battle to protect the city from climate change.

The project seeks to share the rich Humanities research narratives of the University of Oxford with diverse, younger audiences, through a free, family-friendly public offering open to all.

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By bringing to life a historic but currently empty city centre building, formerly home to NatWest bank, the project aims to augment the cultural offer of the city, and aspire to scale the project nationally and internationally to widen its impact and help address the decline of the High Street.

Working with the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, the team at TORCH has transformed the venue to offer a bespoke, unique experience for visitors as they pass from room to room on an interactive, gamified narrative journey.

Fantasy Futures is an experiment in XR based on the research of former Director of TORCH Professor Wes Williams, and co-created with experts from the gaming and arts sectors.

Professor Williams said: "The experience conjugates the visual exploration of hybrid ‘humanimal’ creatures with place-based gaming narrative to create an innovative experiment in participatory research.

"Fantasy Futures focuses on the often-overlooked representations of hybrid creatures in Oxford’s architectural heritage to bring to life for younger audiences the effects of climate change in the Anthropocene on the city’s built environment."

Fantasy Futures is the result of an inspiring interdisciplinary collaboration with Creative Industries project partners Brian Mitchell, former Head of Audiomotion Studios, and Ian Wallman, photographer and virtual content creator.

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Through this partnership, TORCH has co-created a novel prototype experience, with the aim of widening impact by both engaging the public in the research outcomes and delivering socio-economic benefits to the creative and cultural sectors.

Brian Mitchell, founding director of The Mocap Academy (TMA), added: "We have been supported by some great companies and individuals on the journey, from concept artists to character creation, game engine environments to audio recording and effects.

"The motion tracking system we used for the viewer interaction was supplied by Vicon Motion Systems.

"Vicon is the market leader in this technology and are constantly pushing the limits to open up new opportunities. We will see more applications like this tech to create fully interactive shared experiences in all sorts of ways in the future."

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