Fresh off its tour at SXSW 2025, IDFA and the Venice Biennale join the West Coast Premiere of Dutch XR Collective Smart Phone Orchestra’s Ancestors: An Interactive Journey into the Future. This cutting-edge, AI-driven group experience transforms your selfie (and your physical self) through a journey six generations into the future, connecting you with fellow players to explore how collaboration can shape a better world and a deeper understanding of self.
Guided by AI and speculative storytelling, you’ll explore a world shaped by climate change, technology, and evolving social dynamics. Together with your “coparents,” you’ll make real-time decisions that influence the collective narrative, revealing how collaboration today can shape tomorrow’s world.
Instead of watching a performance, Ancestors invites you to co-create a living story: you’ll laugh, question, and reflect as your choices ripple through a shared vision of the future. Come alone or bring friends: either way, you’ll leave with fresh perspectives, unexpected connections, and plenty to talk about long after the experience ends.
Perfect for the curious, the hopeful, and anyone excited by bold, participatory storytelling, Ancestors makes you more than a spectator: it makes you part of what comes next.