LAHORE: The Lahore edition of VXR, the Virtual and Extended Reality Festival, concluded on Wednesday at Beaconhouse National University (BNU), drawing a large audience for its closing-day programme.
The four-day festival brought together immersive artworks, international artists, students and audiences across the city. It now moves to Islamabad, where its second edition opens on Friday (tomorrow).
Earlier, on the third day of the festival, the National College of Arts (NCA) hosted an Artist Talk featuring international artists and researchers Lola Zoido, Marie Lienhard and Sandrine Deumier. The session brought the visiting artists into conversation with NCA students and faculty, offering insights into their creative practices and explorations of art, technology and digital culture. The artists also visited studios and interacted with students.
Madrid-based researcher Lola Zoido explores the relationship between image, technology and memory. Stuttgart-based artist Marie Lienhard examines the boundaries of physical reality through installation, virtual reality, performance, photography and drawing, while multidisciplinary artist Sandrine Deumier works across performance, poetry and video art, exploring post-futurist themes and digital imaginaries.
The NCA engagement provided students with an opportunity to interact directly with international practitioners and explore emerging intersections between contemporary art and technology. It also highlighted VXR’s focus on connecting artistic experimentation with academic exchange and emerging creative talent.
The closing-day programme at BNU brought together students, faculty and members of the public in partnership with the university.
”Lahore has been ready for this work for a long time,” said festival director Dr Najamul Assar. “A full room at BNU on the last day tells us the audience is already here. VXR has no fixed home by design. It goes where the conversation is, and next that is Islamabad.”
Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2026
