EXTREME Consortium Meeting | Athens, 8–9 January 2026

The XTREME project consortium gathered in Athens for two focused days of exchange, alignment, and forward planning as part of the final year of the Horizon Europe XTREME project. The meeting brought together project partners to reflect on progress to date and to advance the next phase of development at the intersection of immersive technologies, artistic practice, and cultural production.

Day 1 – Research progress and shared insights

The first day focused on work package updates, with partners presenting exciting research results and technical developments from across the project.

• Sami S. Brandt opened with updates on an overall project status overview.
• Yannis Parcharidis presented updates connected with the common infrastructure.
• Bodo Rosenhahn facilitated the research updates, coordinating contributions and research outcomes from multiple project partners.
• Paul Tennent  provided updates on the current status of the artistic productions.
• Martin Cunneen presented progress on the Living Labs and evaluation activities.
• Justyna Starostka covered communication and dissemination, as well as ethics.
• Lucas Katsikaris shared updates on the current status of exploitation of the project’s results.

Together, these presentations highlighted the depth and diversity of ongoing work within XTREME, spanning mixed reality infrastructures, artistic experimentation, and audience experience.

The day concluded with a live demonstration of the XTREME App, offering a tangible view of how research and project outcomes are being translated into an immersive tool for the arts and culture sector.

Day 2 – From research to production

The second day shifted toward hands-on and strategic discussions, with parallel sessions and open conversations focused on upcoming XTREME productions, audience engagement, living labs, impact evaluation, and exploitation of project results.

Particular attention was given to the forthcoming Finnish National Opera and Ballet production, which served as a concrete case for discussing how XTREME’s technologies and research insights are being integrated into large-scale artistic productions.

Warm thanks to our hosts, Yannis Parcharidis and Lucas Katsikaris from Bolt Virtual, for their generous hospitality and excellent organisation in Athens.

Special thanks also to Pille Pruulmann Vengerfeldt, XTREME Advisory Board member, who joined us in person and provided thoughtful and valuable feedback.

Our sincere thanks go to all consortium partners and contributors for their continued engagement, insights, and collaborative spirit as we move into the final phase of the project.

Photos: Justyna Starostka