Tribeca Immersive Panels 2025
PANEL DETAILS: 🗓 June 7-8 📍 WSA Floor 6, 161 Water Street, NYC
For the first weekend of Tribeca Immersive: In Search of Us, there will be 5 panels focused on the boundaries of immersive media, delving into curation, social justice, spatial sound, storytelling, and the pipelines behind the creation of what we consider “immersive” art. Listen to cultural leaders from institutions that support and incubate, the curatorial process behind placing works in museums and out in the world, and how you can apply the medium towards social justice, narrative, and music to take your storytelling to the next level.
Tickets are for the day, and include conversations alongside the Tribeca Immersive exhibition.
JUNE 7
Space is the Place: Curating Immersive in Museums and Beyond Saturday, June 7. 1:30-2:30pm
This conversation, moderated by PHI Centre’s Myriam Achard (Chief of New Media Partnerships & PR), will cover strategies for curating immersive art in museums, festivals, and beyond. Panelists including Andrea Lipps (Digital Design Curator, Cooper Hewitt),Caspar Sonnen (Curator, IDFA DocLab), and Kat Cizek (Co-Creation Studio at MIT Open Documentary Lab)will explore how cultural institutions develop XR programming in response to the evolving needs of 21st century artists and audiences.
Tell Me More: An Introduction to Immersive Storytelling—and Why It Matters Saturday, June 7. 3:00-4:00pm
This panel moderated by Agog’s Erika Croxton will explore how and why immersive storytelling is such a strong medium for creative expression. Panelists including exhibiting artists Kidus Hailesilassie and Cameron Kostopolus, and Ingrid Kopp (Co-founder and Director of Labs and Partnerships at Electric South) will discuss the medium’s ability to bridge barriers and create meaningful connections. This session will also look at what motivates creators to enter the field, and the decisions-making processes behind some of their boldest statements.
JUNE 8
Pipelines of Support: Incubators, Residencies, and Platforms Sunday, June 8. 1:30-2:30pm
This panel moderated by Karen Wong (Chief Brand Officer, New Museum) assembles cultural leaders from around the world to look at strategies for supporting artists - from incubation to production and distribution. Speakers including Prodromos Tsiavos (Head of Digital Development & Innovation, Onassis Foundation), Rae Yen (Senior Project Manager, TAICCA), Salome Asega (Artist and Director of NEW INC), and Camille Jeanjean (New Media Officer, Villa Albertine) will address their unique geographical contexts, interlocal priorities, and programs that they see as particularly impactful.
Impact & Audience: Making Art for Social Justice Sunday, June 8. 3:00-4:00pm
This panel will address the strategies of artists making art for social justice. Exhibiting artists Meghna Singh (Artist, Founders Pillars & The Power Loom), Ryat Yezbick & Milo Talwani (Artists, The Innocence of Unknowing), and Rashin Fahandej (Artist, A Father’s Lullaby & Lullabies Through Time) will open up about engaging with at-risk communities, transforming live and lived experiences into art, and creating avenues for participation, inclusion, and community in creative practice. Moderated by Andrew Goldstein.
Listen Up: Sound, Music, and Voice for Immersion Sunday, June 8. 4:30-5:30pm
Spatial sound is front and center in this conversation which includes artists Yusuf Siddiquee (Artist, New Maqam City), Matt McCorkle (Sound Artist, Boreal Dreams), and Alan Kwan (Artist, SCENT). The panelists will delve into music, and sound in general as part of immersive artworks, moderated by sound artist Chloe Alexandra Thompson. Topics discussed can include sound as a vehicle for immersion, decision making around music and dialogue, and the role of sound in worldbuilding.
ABOUT THE TRIBECA FESTIVAL The Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, brings artists and diverse audiences together to celebrate storytelling in all its forms, including film, TV, music, audio storytelling, games, and immersive. With strong roots in independent film, Tribeca is synonymous with creative expression and entertainment. Tribeca champions emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning talent, curates innovative experiences, and introduces new ideas through exclusive premieres, exhibitions, conversations, and live performances.
The Festival was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2001 to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan following the attacks on the World Trade Center. The annual Tribeca Festival will celebrate its 24th year from June 4–15, 2025 in New York City. In 2019, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems bought a majority stake in Tribeca Enterprises, bringing together Rosenthal, De Niro, and Murdoch to grow the enterprise.
ABOUT AGOG: THE IMMERSIVE MEDIA INSTITUTE Agog: The Immersive Media Institute is a philanthropic organization founded by Chip Giller and Wendy Schmidt that helps people use extended reality (XR) to create human connection, cultivate empathy, and inspire action toward a more just and sustainable future. Agog brings together nonprofit leaders, thinkers, and creators to harness the power of emerging media like virtual and augmented reality to develop new ways to communicate, learn, inspire, and collaborate. Agog’s initial areas of focus include social justice and equity; high-impact storytelling and world-building; policy and ethics; education and outreach; and research. To learn more, visit agog.org.
ABOUT WATER STREET PROJECTS & WSA Water Street Projects is a roving interdisciplinary nonprofit platform amplifying creative voices. Our projects include performance art, fairs, festivals, music shows, culinary experiences, and visual arts which champion diversity and global points of view. WSA is a cultural ecosystem and hub of artists, producers, and creative businesses. Housed in an iconic Fox and Fowle 1980s skyscraper, WSA interweaves working, production, wellness, and social spaces. WSA takes an artist-first approach, and provides a new anchor and catalyst for cultural life within Lower Manhattan. The WSA ethos is indebted to entrepreneur Mark Wadhwa, whose cultural venue 180 Strand in London serves as a model.
