SomaFest is a 7-day festival with a public exhibition, specialist workshops, and industry meet-ups to explore full-body engagement as the future of XR. It took first place in August 2023 at Cologne Game Lab!
About the Festival
Just in time for Gamescom, the creative community of Schanzenstrasse in Köln-Mülheim brings together industry professionals, artists, researchers, and those curious about the future of virtual worlds to explore the true nature of virtual and mixed realities. Visitors of the two-day festival will encounter a selection of outstanding exhibits from AR smartphone apps to full VR games and XR performances that all place the body of the player at the heart of the experience.
Join us for an unparalleled celebration of the senses at SomaFest, a festival dedicated to taking a deep dive into the thrill of full-body engagement in spatially immersive media. Discover compelling Mixed Reality experiences and the hardware, software, and design techniques that make them come to life.
SomaFest 2023 is over but you can already save the date for next year´s event:
We will be back September 16-22, 2024.
For more pictures and videos go here!
Photo Credits: Guido Löhrer
The Organizers
SomaFest is a research-creation-dissemination project initiated by the Cologne Game Lab – Institute for Game Development and Research at TH Köln. It is supported by Film und Medienstiftung NRW, the Consulate General of the Netherlands, KölnBusiness and Friends of CGL e.V.
The Cologne Game Lab, an institute at the faculty for cultural sciences at TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences, researches and develops games and other interactive content, and its bachelor’s and master’s programs educate future game industry professionals and academics who conduct research and transfer knowledge in the field of digital games. Our interdisciplinary team of practitioners and scholars from various fields, such as Applied Arts, Game and Sound Design, Informatics, Economics, Psychology, Game, and Social Studies, conducts research in theoretical and applied projects. With a long list of internationally recognized academic publications as well as an exceptional track record in hosting public events, such as the NotgameFest Trilogy and the annual Clash of Realities Conference, the CGL has become a hub for industry and academia alike to exchange ideas and innovate.