Wayne McGregor: On The Other Earth – the 26-million-pixel immersive experience will leave Venice for London and Hong Kong
Wayne McGregor: On The Other Earth is “the world’s first post-cinematic choreographic installation”.
McGregor, enamoured with technology, continues his quest to exploit the latest technologies. This installation “refracts, evolves and reimagines dance performance in a startlingly original new form of experience”.
It is set within Jeffrey Shaw and Sarah Kenderdine’s immersive, panoramic, 360-degree stereoscopic screen. The nVis screen gives a 12k LED, 26-million-pixel experience where 3D imagery is experienced within a large cylindrical space, eight metres wide and four metres tall. It has been created with artists Ravi Deepres and Theresa Baumgartner, combining dance, choreography, digital imaging, spatialised sound, and AI. McGregor challenges the viewer to rethink ideas about movement, the body, and performance.
On The Other Earth eliminates the fourth wall by inviting visitors into the heart of the dance, connecting in close contact with the hyperreal dancers of Company Wayne McGregor and the Hong Kong Ballet in a sound environment designed by Invisible Mountain. Groups of up to 20 people can experience its visual and sonic landscapes, which are unique to each viewing.
Wayne McGregor: On The Other Earth made its world premiere as part of the 19th International Festival of Contemporary Dance of La Biennale di Venezia on 25 July and ran until yesterday, 2 August at the Sala d’Armi E at the Arsenale in Venice. It will next be presented at Venice Immersive (“The Best of”), the XR extended reality section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival from 27 August to 6 September 2025.
The presentations in Venice will be followed by the UK premiere, which will extend the visitor experience of the exhibition Infinite Bodies at Somerset House as a major off-site installation at London’s Stone Nest. On The Other Earth will be on view as part of Infinite Bodies from 30 October 2025 to 22 February 2026.
In 2026, On The Other Earth will receive its Hong Kong premiere at Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts.
Wayne McGregor: ON THE OTHER EARTH
DIRECTION and CHOREOGRAPHY
Wayne McGregor
nVis 360 3D EMBODIED VISUALIZATION CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Jeffrey Shaw, Sarah Kenderdine
CINEMATIC DESIGN 3D 360 ANIMATION and EDITING
Ravi Deepres, Theresa Baumgartner, Jeffrey Shaw
with Luke Unsworth, Paul Bourke, J.Him, Paul Nichola, Chris Parks, Carlos Serrano, Chris Stephens, and Nice Monster.tv
SOUND COMPOSITION
INVISIBLE MOUNTAIN (Powered by Bronze)
Foley artist: Grégory Vincent
nVis 3D 360 TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT, HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
PERFORMED BY COMPANY WAYNE MCGREGOR AND HONG KONG BALLET
COMPANY WAYNE MCGREGOR
Rebecca Bassett-Graham, Naia Bautista, Kevin Beyer, Julia Costa, Salvatore De Simone, Chia-Yu Hsu, Jayla Jacobs, Hannah Joseph, Jasiah Marshall, Salomé Pressac and Mariano Zamora Gonzalez
HONG KONG BALLET
Luis Cabrera, Jeremy Chan, Albert Gordon, Vanessa Lai Nok Sze, Nana Sakai, Gouta Seki, Sun Jia, Wang Qingxin
COSTUME DESIGN
Ilaria Martello
JEWELLERY DESIGN
Hannah Martin
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
I’d never heard of “Stone Nest”. It turns out to be the former Welsh Presbyterian Chapel on the corner of Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue, some fifty feet away from the Palace Theatre – current home to “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” – and better known for nigh-on twenty years to punters of a certain age as the nightclub “Limelight”. Since the chapel also once functioned as a baptistery for London’s little Taffs, this won’t be the first time it’s hosted an “immersive” event. So now you know….
Thanks Stephen, I was wondering.