Visitors to The OuternetLondon can watch digital butterflies land on their fingertips this September when the venue launches its brand new immersive experience.
Titled ‘The Butterfly Trail’, the installation in the space’s flagship Now Building on the corner of Tottenham Court Road transforms Outernet’s famous floor-to-ceiling screens into an indoor jungle. When QR codes embedded in the walls are scanned, viewers can interact with the stunning display, watch swarms of butterflies fly around the space and even see a butterfly land on their hand.
“The Butterfly Trail is probably our most ambitious, immersive experience yet,” said Alexandra Payne, Head of Creative at Outernet. “We really hope to surprise and delight audiences and visitors who come and escape the hustle and bustle of London and immerse themselves in a little jungle.”
The project was developed in collaboration with Outernet’s production partner, Pixel Artworks, who proposed and designed the final product – with the aim, says Payne, of promoting accessibility of this type of immersive experience for all.
“Not everyone has done AR before; not everyone has done mixed reality experiences,” she added. “So we really want to normalize this kind of immersive experience and offer something new and different to the audience that comes to us.”
The Outernet has only been open for 12 months (it opened its doors on September 9, 2022), but has already become one of London’s most popular tourist destinations, attracting more than 1.5 million visitors a week with its large-scale immersive experiences – its giant 8K 360-degree screens have hosted everything from dance performances to a moving ceiling inspired by the Sistine Chapel.
“Outernet, at its core, wants to try to create large-scale experiences for the public,” Payne added. “We’re not a place you have to pay to get in, we’re free, so we want everyone to be able to come into our spaces and enjoy them.”
The butterfly trail will be open from tomorrow until Christmas from 12pm to 6pm and organisers hope to extend it until 2024: plenty of time to flutter.
outernetglobal.com
