CASE | The future of culture: physical, digital, or both?
The cultural sector has been grappling with the same question for years: how do digital means relate to the live experience? It often ends up on extremes. Either it is seen as a threat or as a marketing tool when the artistic work has already taken shape. Metavenues made the digital space the core of the approach. Together with SPOT Groningen, European Concert Hall Organisation, Komodal, Studio Immersief, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Hanze University Foundation, and Karen Lancel / Hermen Maat, we explored the question: the future of culture: physical, digital, or both?
Research in Practice
We examined that question not theoretically, but through concrete experiments:
Sleepy Hollow (hybrid XR format): a live experience in which visitors simultaneously participated in digital worlds via XR technology. Not as spectators, but as participants.
Digital onboarding beforehand: the audience was already engaged before the live experience through an online interactive quest. The experience did not begin at the foyer, but at home.
Metaverse showcase of creators: four artists developed complete digital variations of their work, presented in virtual spaces. From a conversation with an AI composer from the past, the kiss of a digital choir to a 100% digital K-pop band and an online ghost experience.
What it yielded
The main outcome is not technological advancement, but organizational transformation. Digital innovation in culture is not about tools, but about how you program and collaborate.
Once design, marketing, and audience dialogue no longer take place sequentially but are developed in parallel, the whole process changes:
The audience becomes not a target group, but a co-creator
Online components are not a 'gimmick', but context and depth
The experience does not stop when the house lights go on, but continues in digital space
The Conclusion
Digital innovation only works when you incorporate digital means from the beginning into the design of the experience. Not as a livestream or separate campaign, but as part of the dramaturgy, the onboarding, and the post-experience. Then it increases your reach, extends your impact, and keeps the audience connected longer. Even outside the venue.