XTREME
XTREME aims to redefine how audiences experience and engage with art through mixed reality, through a narrative journey that fuses music, poetry, objects and visuals.
Silvana Imam and Paula Strunden, Rebirth, 2026. Photo: blind
At MUNCH, artists Silvana Imam and Paula Strunden collaborate with researchers and technologists to explore how mixed reality can transform the experience of art, sound and space. As part of the Horizon Europe project XTREME, the museum functions as a living laboratory where artistic experimentation is developed, tested with audiences and examined as research in dialogue. MUNCH is one of 14 European partners in the project.
Unlike virtual reality (VR), which replaces the physical world, Extended reality (XR) expands it – layering sound, image and performative presence, by merging the digital with the physical environment.
Silvana Imam and Paula Strunden, Rebirth, 2026. Photo: blind
Silvana Imam and Paula Strunden, Rebirth, 2026. Act III, Death Portal.
The commissioned work "Återfödelsen/Rebirth" blends spatial sound, XR environments, physical object and collaborative storytelling, with young adults involved in testing and co-development through MUNCH Ung.
The work is described as an “espresso shot of life” by the artists and is structured in three parts—birth, love, and death/rebirth each exploring different emotional states.
The first on-site prototype was introduced in Oslo in October 2025, focusing on the first part of the work and the relationship between spatial audio, immersive visuals and audience positioning. Insights from these sessions informed the next iteration, presented at MUNCH May 2026. In the second prototype the audience was invited experience all three acts, presented as a processviewing, which means the work is still in process and their feedback will further shape the work.
Read more about the work "Återfödelsen/Rebirth", written by a member of the MUNCH youth collective.
The audience was also invited to take part in research interviews carried by researchers by IT University of Copenhagen and University of Nottingham, where they were asked to describe their experince interacting with the work in their own words.
Through this process, XTREME investigates new formats for performance, new modes of audience participation and new methodologies for artistic research in museums, while contributing to broader questions of accessibility and engagement.
XTREME is an EU-funded project as part of Horizon Europe. Read more about the project.
“XTREME – Mixed Reality Environment for Immersive Experience of Art and Culture” is an EU-funded project which started in January 2024 and runs until December 2026. The project is financed via Horizon Europe: grant agreement No. 101136006.
