Welcome to this month’s round-up of Extraordinary Experiences across all experience sectors and around the globe. 

September is upon us, and while many countries will be gearing up for their grape harvests, the city of Munich will play host to the world’s largest folk festival: Oktoberfest, which, slightly confusingly, starts in September. Expect lashings of local beers, copious Bratwurst and other Bavarian delicacies, colourful traditional costumes and a plethora of live performances. 

Barcelona will usher in the autumn months at its five-day La Mercè festival, the street party to end all street parties, featuring sparkler-wielding devils setting off handheld fireworks and giant effigies of famous kings and queens being paraded through the streets to the beating of drums. 

Gaming is expanding into new territory this month with the launch of the first real-world immersive adventure based on smash hit Minecraft in Dallas, which will see players taking part in an epic rescue mission where collaboration is key. At PortAventura World in Tarragona, mixed reality experience Hysteria in Boothill immerses theme park goers in a paranormal adventure that melds the real and virtual worlds. 

Aiming to tackle the loneliness epidemic head on are a series of experiences that put connection at the forefront, from the London Mural Festival, which will feature 100 artworks based around the theme of connection, to The Strangers Project in New York, where you can read stories submitted by thousands of strangers on love and loss.

Proving that immersive experiences can do more than entertain are a pair of new experiences that shine a light on the importance of conservation. La Selva in Colombia takes attendees deep into the Amazon rainforest via cutting-edge projection tech, while teamLab’s latest pop-up in Tokyo offers a deep dive into our oceans and the endangered species found within them in a playful experience that highlights the need to protect them.

20. Beats Antique

Open: 21-22 September
Location: San Francisco, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Theatre

Step into the whimsically eerie world of “House Of Tarot,” where Beats Antique and zoe jakes — with a little help from The Experientialists and Non Plus Ultra— have transformed the historic San Francisco Mint into a playground for the paranormally curious. Here, the stage vanishes, placing you directly into your own haunting narrative, where you’ll navigate cryptic riddles and encounter spectral dancers.

This part performance, part immersive escapade crafted by Beats Antique invites you to fully immerse in the mysteries of tarot, making it entirely possible you’ll leave questioning whether those tarot cards were merely playing with you.

19. Minecraft Experience Villager Rescue

Opens: 20 September 2024
Location: Dallas, US
Experience Sector: Gaming, Competitive Socialising

Diehard fans of Minecraft will be excited to know that the game is moving beyond the limitations of a screen into a real-world immersive adventure. Set to make its debut in Dallas this month on the first leg of a global tour, the Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue was created by Experience MOD and Mojang Studios to mark the game’s 15th anniversary, giving fans the chance to play the game IRL. In the real-life version of the game, players can take part in an epic rescue mission and story-based experience in the Minecraft Overworld featuring iconic places and creatures from the game. Gamers begin the one-hour journey by entering the forest, where they will learn the ropes of their new world and help out their fellow players. 

Moving into the village, they will receive their quest and embark on a rescue mission with a team of fellow Minecrafters. On this interactive scavenger hunt, adventurers will journey through multiple biomes while building structures and interacting with mobs, some of which are more friendly than others. During the adventure gamers will encounter pandas and dolphins, and face skeletons, spiders and creepers. Once they complete their quest, they can celebrate at the Minecraft Experience Trading Post with a memento from their adventure. With over 300 million copies sold, Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time.

18. Space Explorers: The Infinite

Open: 20 September until 10 November
Location: Charlotte, NC, USA
Experience Sector: Immersive, Location-Based Experience

Shortlisted for a World Experience Award for Art earlier this year, Space Explorers: The Infinite is co-created by PHI Studio and Felix & Paul Studios and is now being brought to North Carolina by WXO Member Blumenthal Arts. The “world’s largest immersive experience about space exploration” – in a crowded field – can pulse more than 150 visitors at once, inviting visitors to roam freely inside a virtual life-size replica of the ISS.

The experience is based on the Primetime EMMY-Award® winning series “Space Explorers: The ISS Experience”, the world’s biggest media project ever filmed in space, created and produced by Felix & Paul Studios in collaboration with TIME Studios and NASA. It has welcomed over 400,000 visitors to journey into space with the only 3D 360-degree content ever filmed inside and outside the ISS.

17. The College of Extraordinary Experiences

Open: 23-27 September
Location: Kliczków Castle, Poland
Experience Sector: Live Events

Every year, more than 100 exceptional experience people from over 30 countries and a multitude of industries decamp to a castle in Poland to discover extraordinary connections and experiences – many of them WXO Members.

This year’s edition takes place at the beautiful castle of Zamek Kliczków. Previous editions have been called “The Harvard of Experience Design” and “more than just a little crazy”, and applications are still available for the last remaining spots

16. Under Construction

Open: 25 September until 8 December 2024
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Art

Anything that cannily combines art and tech gets our attention and we love the sound of this daring new show at the ICA from cutting-edge Korean artist Geumhyung Jeong, which explores the link between humans and machines. Featuring sculptures, human skeleton models, in-process constructions and live performances that document the artist’s interactions with her creations, we’re perhaps most excited by the fact that throughout the run of the show, Jeong will perform live with her figural machines, continually evolving the installation.

The sculptures are more co-performers than objects, acting in a clumsy and human-like manner soliciting empathy and amusement from the viewer. Jeong’s work includes animated self-constructed robots made from mechanical and tech hardware tools, spare mannequin parts and medical dummies. She constructs, cares for, and communicates with these homemade robot partners through an intimate dialogue of gestures and choreographed movements.

15. Impressions Of Monet

Open now until 17 September
Location: Singapore
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment

There’s no stopping global experience entertainment company Neon at the moment, which is behind a slew of new experiential openings around the globe. One of its latest and most colourful is Impressions of Monet, which pays tribute to the master of French Impressionism. Taking place at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, the show fuses the horticultural and the digital into a kaleidoscopic showcase. Among the attraction is a floral display that recreates the landscapes of Monet’s renowned gardens: Clos Normand and the Water Garden, featuring over 18,000 plants across 40 species mirroring those seen in Monet’s gardens during the peak of summer, such as cleomes, delphiniums, digitalis, geraniums, hollyhocks and sunflowers.

In a bid to recreate the French garden as faithfully as possible, eight of the ten varieties of water lily on display were sourced from the Latour-Marliac nursery in France where Monet procured his in 1894. His iconic Japanese bridge in the Water Garden has also been recreated, and a replica of Monet’s pink house with green shutters takes a pride of place in the centre of the Flower Dome. The exhibition also includes a digital, multi-sensory experience that celebrates the life and works of the painter and his contemporaries through projections, colour, fragrance and an original score. In a space called Vivid Dreams, visitors learn about Impressionism through its pioneers, including Renoir, Cézanne, Degas, Manet and Pissarro.

14. La Mercè

Opens: 20-24 September 2024
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Experience Sector: Live Events

September marks the harvest season for many of the world’s wine-producing countries. It’s also the month when Barcelona is turned into a city of fire and light with the five-day La Mercè festival. One of the world’s biggest and brightest street parties, the festival is held in honour of Mare de Deu de la Mercè, the patron saint of Barcelona, to usher in the autumn in style. Among the highlights is the Correfoc fire run, where you’ll be engulfed in light from hundreds of sparklers, so be sure to cover up to protect yourself from the flying sparks. A tamer, child-friendly event takes place earlier in the day before the adult-only procession at dusk.

Look out for the devils during the fire run, who will be parading through the streets indulging in devilish deeds like setting off bangers and handheld fireworks. You’ll also see fire-breathing dragons roaming the streets alongside the devils with spiralling fireworks in their hands. The festival includes an evening projection show where images are shone onto the sides of buildings, and a giants parade where effigies of famous kings and queens march through the streets, towering above and spinning around the crowds to the hypnotic beating of drums. 

13. Escape From Godot

Open now until 8 September 2024
Location: Los Angeles, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Theatre, Escape Room

Giving an innovative spin to a Samuel Beckett classic, Escape From Godot is part escape game, part immersive theatre, and will appeal to fans of both. Taking place at the Moving Arts Theatre in LA, the show takes Beckett’s satire Waiting for Godot and turns it on its head. The brainchild of Mister & Mischief (Jeff and Andy Crocker), attendees find themselves within the play, only there’s a twist: they have agency and the chance to escape. With just eight spots per show, gamers have to work together and with the actors to solve puzzles, find clues, and observe the performance in order to exit the play in less than an hour. The show is highly participatory, casting attendees as detectives that have to solve the riddle of the play to escape. 

Fun, irreverent and engaging, Escape from Godot shines a new light on an old work while delicately dealing with important questions of existential dread, how we communicate, or fail to, with others, and the balance between fate and free will. With roots in theatre and themed entertainment, Mister & Mischief create fun-forward journeys beyond the fourth wall. Through an unexpected blend of storytelling and real-world engagement, the husband-and-wife team help foster curiosity and connection through immersive experiences that encourage participants to play pretend.

12. Catching And Collecting In The Sea Of Life

Open now until 14 January 2025
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning

Digital art collective teamLab‘s latest pop-up inside the Galaxy store in Tokyo’s trendy Harajuku district transforms an enchanted forest into an underwater fantasy land with an interactive element, allowing visitors to use their smartphones to catch, study and release the colourful sea creatures they encounter in the space. Called Catching and Collecting in the Sea of Life, you can use an app on a Galaxy smartphone to study the marine life swimming about the space, from tuna and tropical fish to endangered or extinct species.

The educational space is based on the concept of Catch, Study, Release. Working with those around you, you can use your body to drive sea creatures from the seafloor into a Study Net, via an arrow that flies our from your smartphone into the gallery space, and watch as they disappear from the sea and appear in your collection book. The more times you capture the same sea creature, the more detailed information you can record about it. To release your captured fish you have to swipe towards a location in the app’s camera and it will safely return there. While fun to explore and engage with, the show shines a light on the importance of marine conservation in order to protect our oceans and endangered species.

11. Stone Soup

Opens: 6-10 September
Location: Oltenia, Romania
Experience Sector: Experience Design

Brilliant name aside, Stone Soup looks set to be one of the go-to events for experience designers this month. Its organisers go as far to say that those who attend will be taken on a ‘profound and life-changing journey’. Taking place over five days of spontaneous creativity in Oltenia in southwest Romania, at Stone Soup you’ll have the chance to share your expertise and collaborate on extraordinary experiences. It’s a unique opportunity to unlock the secrets of your craft and explore your passions alongside a vibrant community of makers, doers and dreamers within the experience design field. Having run since 2018, the boot camp is designed to spark ideas through workshops, co-designed experiences and skill development.

Expect to see artists, woodworkers, physicists, designers, entrepreneurs, chefs, architects and actors among the attendees. Each event brings together an inspiring mix of new participants with returning alumni to ensure that the gatherings remain fresh and exciting. Attendees have the option of sleeping in shared bedrooms or tents, and a limited number of scholarships are available for experience designers needing financial assistance. Recognising the importance of on- and off-boarding, groups will be assigned before the event and you’ll be introduced to your guide and group members to set intentions for the camp. Afterwards, all attendees will gather virtually to share feedback and reflect on the experience. 

10. Evolution: The Drone Light Show

Opens: 21 September 2024
Location: Durham, UK
Experience Sector: Live Events

Brightening Britain’s skies this autumn will be a series of drone light shows at a number of stadiums across the country, where immersive storytelling and pioneering creative tech will unite to create mesmerising spectacles in the sky. Created by experiences platform Yuup and Celestial, the visionary light artists behind shows at Eurovision and London’s New Year’s Eve celebrations, each epic, 45-minute production features hundreds of animated drones performing on the world’s biggest stage: the sky, alongside a cinematic soundtrack, captivating narration and spectacular animation, offering a more sustainable alternative to fireworks. 

During the show, called Evolution, spectators will witness history being reimagined, from mighty dinosaurs and the origins of conscious life on Earth to monumental moments in history such as the Big Bang and the moon landings in an all-consuming journey through space and time. Expect immersive storytelling of extraordinary proportions. Kicking off in Durham, the family friendly show includes local food and drink from the food village and live music. A UK-based collective of animators, filmmakers and tech specialists, Celestial creates pioneering drone art that encourages a deeper connection with nature and the planet. 

9. La Selva

Open now
Location: Medellín, Colombia
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning

Keen to shine a light on rainforests and their inhabitants, which make up 37% of Colombia’s territory, Selva is a light and sound show created by Lonko Labs with the help of cutting-edge Christie projectors. Taking place inside the Parque Empresarial El Tesoro shopping mall in Medellín, the ‘edutainment’ experience, enjoyed from the comfort of deck chairs, was designed to foster appreciation and preservation of the Colombian rainforests within the Amazon and Chocó regions, which are home to a diverse array of animal species, plants and fungi, and contribute to Colombia’s status as the second most biodiverse country in the world.

La Selva features a 288-foot high dome with a negative pressure system. The exterior closely resembles a traditional maloca or jungle dwelling, while inside the dome, six 13,500-lumen Christie HS Series projectors are blended to create 360-degree, high resolution projected images including 3D animations of flora and fauna. Visitors can immerse themselves in the Colombian rainforests and interact with mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects and plants with audio channels providing surround sound to enhance the immersive experience. The voyage lasts around 15 minutes with a capacity for 60 people per performance. 

8. The Strangers Project At Oculus

Open now
Location: New York, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Storytelling

Living in crowded cities, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most: the need to form meaningful connections with our fellow humans. In New York, these connections are being explored at The Strangers Project on the south concourse of the Oculus at the World Trade Center. The brainchild of Brooklyn-based artist Brandon Doman, the ambitious archive of urban life was founded in 2009 by Doman, who has travelled around the US to exhibit these notes, telling strangers stories back to strangers in the hope that they will find something moving in them. All of the stories were collected in person from passers-by, adding to the chance nature of them. 

Each note contains a true story by a stranger, ranging from funny tales to inspiring anecdotes and heartbreaking revelations. In the 15 years since the project started, Doman has amassed over 95,000 stories and allowed thousands of strangers to empathise with each other without meeting. The storytellers span all age groups and come from all walks of life. If you’re so inclined, you can become part of the ongoing and ever-growing project by telling your own story, which will be added to the sea of paper notes on display at the venue that seek to offer moments of shared connectedness and empathy in a sometimes fragmented city.

7. Jurassic World: The Exhibition

Open now
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Experience Sector: Themed Attraction

In addition to its Monet extravaganza in Singapore, Neon has also been sprinkling its experiential magic in Melbourne this month through its family friendly Jurassic World: The Exhibition based on the popular blockbuster franchise. Inside visitors walk through the iconic Jurassic World gates and explore richly-themed immersive environments including an up close encounter with a life-sized brachiosaurus. As they weave their way through the venues they’ll meet velociraptors, including fan-favourite Blue, and the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex. Manned by handlers, the animatronics of the dinosaurs is impressively, sometimes unsettlingly lifelike. 

Giving fans the chance to roam around Isla Nublar with these ancient beasts, there will also be the chance to meet baby dinosaurs, including Bumpy from the animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. A roaring success, the show has become one of the world’s fastest-selling exhibitions, with nearly eight million tickets sold in 20 cities around the globe. The Australian iteration takes place at the Fever Exhibition and Experience Centre in Brunswick, where kids can learn about dino science at The Creation Lab.

6. Inside The Conscious Mind

Opens: 7 September
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Live Events

If you’re interesting in gaining a deeper understanding of how the brain works then head to Conway Hall in London, where New Scientist will be taking a deep dive into grey matter in a day-long event called Inside The Conscious Mind, which attempts to unravel the mystery of consciousness and the unique inner world that seems fundamental to human existence. During the event you’ll be privy to the latest groundbreaking discoveries in neuroscience, meet and learn from leading researchers at the forefront of the field, and engage in discussions about the future of our consciousness during a series of thought-provoking talks. 

The conscious mind acts like a conductor, orchestrating a symphony of sensations, perceptions, thoughts and memories to create the narrative of a person’s life. The greatest challenge facing neuroscientists is understanding how this arises from a complex network of brain cells. Among the topics under discussion will be whether octopuses can feel pain and pleasure; when foetuses in the womb start to have conscious experiences; how studying consciousness can help physics, where the self comes from and how the brain creates it; how colour perception differs among individuals, the importance of self-awareness, and whether gut bacteria can influence and alter emotional behaviours and cognitive function.

5. Ramses And The Gold Of The Pharaohs

Open now until 6 January 2025
Location: Cologne, Germany
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning

The Odysseum in Cologne will be going back in time this month to explore the wonders of ancient Egypt at an ambitious new exhibition showcasing over 180 antiquities and telling their extraordinary stories. Visitors can discover priceless artefacts and ornate treasures such as sarcophagi, animal mummies, jewellery, royal masks and amulets, many of which have never left Egypt before. The exhibition features the coffin of Ramses the Great, the golden masks of Amenemope, the necklace of Psusennes, and mummified cats, crocodiles and a lion cub. The carved cedar coffin of Ramses II was discovered in 1881 within the Royal Cache at Deir el-Bahari, an archaeological site located on the west bank of the Nile.

All of the objects have come from museums and historical sites in Egypt and are on loan from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. The show also includes a VR experience that takes history lovers on a tour of two of Ramses’ most impressive monuments: the Tomb of Queen Nefertari and the temples of Abu Simbel. Ramses the Great ruled Egypt for nearly 67 years. Behind the building of scores of monuments, he epitomised the power and wealth of Ancient Egypt during the New Kingdom period, when Egyptian civilisation was at its height. Created in partnership with Neon and World Heritage Exhibitions, Cologne will be the last stop on the show’s global tour before the exhibition is displayed for an extended period in Asia. 

4. Bureau Of Nooks And Crannies

Open now
Location: Los Angeles, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning, Competitive Socialising

Something is stirring inside the Lincoln Heights branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. A legion of tiny beings have taken over the venue, hiding themselves in the racks, tucked behind books, lodged inside magazines and nestled amid ancient tomes. It’s your job to try to find them, or at least their little homes, which are filled with tiny beds, microscopic stools and furniture fashioned from found objects. Called The Bureau of Nooks and Crannies, the play-inspired experience was created to get visitors to view their local libraries more imaginatively. Offering both moments of delight and introspection, the initiative tackles important topics, from what makes a good home to tough questions on the future of the human race.

In the experience you are cast as a Teeny Tiny Beings Residential Specialist and are charged with finding the micro-humans new homes as the librarians have been moving them around. During the experience you’re encouraged to find inspiring passages from books and are asked to compose a short story from prompts hidden within hollowed-out encyclopaedias. Each art piece aims to place the visitor into a meditative state. Other libraries in LA will soon follow suit with their own game-like initiatives, including a ghost-themed adventure. The project is the brainchild of LA-based artist Andy Crocker (of  Escape from Godot fame) and is part of a residency programme established with the Library Foundation of LA.

3. Hysteria In Boothill

Open now
Location: Tarragona, Spain
Experience Sector: Mixed Reality, Theme Parks

Spanish entertainment Mecca PortAventura World has launched what it claims is the world’s first Mixed Reality (MR) experience at a theme park. Called Hysteria in Boothill, the experience was created in collaboration with Spatial Voyagers – Spatial Computing’s content and app creation agency, and will immerse park goers in a paranormal experience in the Far West area of the park. Guided by infamous medium Madame Bladsky, visitors will participate in a seance to help find the bodies of the McGregor family, who disappeared a decade ago in the town of Penitence. 

Armed with Meta Quest 3 goggles, users will be able to see and interact with supernatural beings and environments in real time, while confronting evil forces and unravelling a dark ritual in an abandoned house. Participants will be able to see their real world environment complemented by virtual effects and characters, creating an 360-degree immersive experience. The VR adventure takes place in a fully themed area across several rooms inside a house from the Old West. It is being offered to groups of up to six people per turn and is available in Spanish, Catalan, French and English. 

2. London Mural Festival

Opens: 5-29 September 2024
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Art, Live Events, Placemaking

Having made its debut in 2020, the writing was on the wall for a re-run of the London Mural Festival, which is back with a colourful bang this month, turning the city into a giant canvas. Organised by London-based Global Street Art, the festival will include over 100 murals around the theme of connection from leading artists such as Aches, eL Seed, D*Face, Marija Tiurina, Rosie Woods, Sebas Velasco and Seb Lester across multiple locations in 15 London boroughs. During the festival Tea Jurisic and David Maker will be transforming two sites at the 1980s Surrey Quays Shopping Centre in Canada Water into an outdoor art installation centred around storytelling, featuring a playful cast of characters and objects.

Bellmouth Promenade in Canary Wharf will host three new figurative murals by Hixxy, Venessa Scott and Zoë Power reflecting the diverse street art community, while Sophie Mess will create a new botanical work at The Stage in Shoreditch, and Sr. X will bring his signature pop-art infused style to a new work at Paternoster Square. With Banksy’s recent spree of animal artworks in the capital shining a light on the importance of street art, there will be plenty of events to get stuck into, including a pop-up in Shoreditch where you can have a go at spray painting; an interactive illustrated map of London by Angry Dan that you can take pieces from; collaborative mural painting, calligraphy workshops and street art tours.

1. Oktoberfest

Opens: 21 September 2024
Location: Munich, Germany
Experience Sector: Live Events, F&B

Dirndls at the ready as Oktoberfest is back in all its beer-swilling glory. Don’t let the name fool you, Oktoberfest starts in mid-September, when the city of Munich plays host to the largest folk festival in the world. Kicking off with the traditional barrel tapping by Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter at midday on 21 September in the Schottenhamel Festhalle, the festival will take place across an area of 35 hectares and for the first time this year, will include a virtual visit for children and people with disabilities. The 2024 event includes a number of shiny new rides, such as the Kick Down, a dynamic experience combining three different motion sequences. 

Also new for this year is the Hupferl, a classic Bavarian carousel ride from 1987, and The Grand Carousel, a multi-storey carousel that combines Baroque and Rococo art with modern technology. Laser-Pix, meanwhile, is an immersive game where you shoot at moving targets with a pistol. The show ground will also be home to a multi-sensory cinema that uses wind and rain effects, and Europe’s largest transportable wild water ride, Blume. Fairground classics like the bumper cars will also be present and correct. Expect lashings of local beers, copious Bratwurst and other Bavarian delicacies, colourful traditional costumes and a plethora of live performances from upcoming folk acts in the new musicians’ tent.